Jump to content

Al-Shuhada Street

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 2606:6000:f241:7a00:819a:d74a:3062:dbe6 (talk) at 06:21, 7 June 2014 (Added context explaining why it is "occupied."). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Al-Shuhada Street in 2007

Al-Shuhada Street or Shuhada Street (Arabic: شارع الشهداء), also spelled (in accordance with the pronunciation) a-Shuhada Street or ash-Shuhada Street, is the official name of a street in Hebron. Israeli settlers refer to it as King David Street; Palestinians call it Apartheid Street.[1] Many of the "Israeli settlers" are descendants of families who were ethnically cleansed from Hebron in the wake of the 1929 Hebron pogrom.

Shuhada Street, the main road leading to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, used to be the central wholesale market of the Hebron region and northern Palestine, as its central location to the tomb, and the location of the bus station and police station, made it a natural gathering place.[1] After the February 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, Israel closed the street for Palestinians.

After the closure of all Palestinian shops, the Palestinian municipal and governmental offices, and turning the central bus station into an Israeli army base, al-Shuhada Street became virtually a ghost town. The Vegetable and Wholesale Markets next to the Avraham Avinu settlement are a closed area for Palestinians now. An annual international "Open Shuhada Street" demonstration is organized since 2010.

Map of the Shuhada Street, with closures as of 2011

Name

While there are no official signs, al-Shuhada Street is the official name of the street,[2] meaning Martyrs Street. Israeli settlers renamed it into "King David Street", while Palestinians call it "Apartheid Street"[1] as a protest against the occupation and referring to the division of Hebron into a Palestinian area and an Israeli area, and a different treatment of Palestinians and settlers by the Israeli government.

History

Israeli checkpoint in Shuhada Street, guarding the Jews-only area. Palestinian house owners may enter by foot. (2012)

Following the Israeli occupation of Hebron in 1967, a number of settlements were established in the city. The first settlement, being Kiryat Arba, was started in 1968 near the Cave of the Patriarchs, which is located a few hundred meters north of the Shuhada Street. Sarah Nachshon, the wife of its founder, started another settlement in a police station in the Shuhada Street in 1979.[3]

In February 1994, a Jewish settler from Kiryat Arba killed 29 Muslims in the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. Rather than imposing restrictions on the Israeli settlers in the city, the Yitzhak Rabin-led Government closed the Palestinian shops and prohibited Palestinian vehicular traffic in the nearby Shuhada Street, to protect the settlers. The army closed down 304 shops and warehouses along Shuhada Street, as well as Palestinian municipal and governmental offices. The central bus station was turned into an army base.[4] The Tomb of the Patriarchs was divided into separate sections for Jewish and Muslim worshippers.

In the 1997 Hebron Protocol, more specifically the Agreed Minute of 7 January 1997, Israel agreed to completely reopen the Shuhada Street and restore the situation which existed prior to February 1994 (article 7 of the Protocol).[2] The street was reopened for traffic for a year; the shops, however, remained closed. In 1998, vehicles where prohibited again. The street was alternately opened and closed, until it was definitively closed for all Palestinians upon the Second Intifada.[4] All entrances to the houses in al-Shuhada Street were sealed. Since, the house owners can only enter their home through climbing the roofs or through holes in the wall.[5][6]

In 2005, after the ACRI had petitioned the state, Israel presented to the High Court a "plan for protection of the Jewish community in Hebron", according to which Palestinians would be allowed to walk on the street, but the prohibition on opening shops and on vehicular traffic on the street would remain in force.

Shuhada Street with closed Palestinian shops in 2010. Forbidden for Palestinians. Only Israeli settlers and tourists are allowed.

In December 2006, the IDF declared that Palestinian pedestrians had been refused entry for six years "by mistake".[4] After initially been stopped by soldiers, some Palestinians and activists were permitted access for 3 days. Stones were thrown at them by Jewish settler children, without being stopped by the accompanying policemen and soldiers. Instead, a 75-year-old volunteer was arrested, after she tried to prevent one of the soldiers from kicking one of her colleagues. Then, the street was declared a "closed military area" and entirely closed again, because ″there had been disturbances at that spot in the last few days″.[7]

In April 2007, under public pressure, and the night before the Supreme Court would hear the case, the Civil Administration issued temporary permits to some Palestinian occupants to re-use their main entrance on the street. Visitors were still denied use of these entrances. The army unsealed the welding on the front doors of homes. After August 2008, the permits were no longer renewed.[4]

Currently, Palestinian shops are still prohibited in al-Shuhada Street, and Palestinian vehicles forbidden to enter. Palestinian pedestrians are subject to frequent rigorous control by Israeli soldiers at the many checkpoints in and around the street, and in some parts completely banned from entering.

Violence against Palestinians

In April 2014, as reported by Ma'an, Jewish settlers invaded the home of Palestinian inhabitants of Shuhada Street, beat the family, and wounded Zidan Sharbati. Israeli soldiers, who accompanied the settlers, arrested his brother Mofid, while Zidan was evacuated to a hospital.[8]

Open Shuhada Street demonstrations

Open Shuhada Street demonstration in 2010

Annual Open Shuhada Street demonstrations

Every year, many demonstrations are held worldwide to call for the reopening to Palestinians of al-Shuhada Street. On the 25th of February 2010, which marks the anniversary of the 1994 massacre by Baruch Goldstein, the Palestinian group Youth Against Settlements organized the first demonstration of what would become the "Annual Open Shuhada Street Demonstration".[9] They take place in Hebron, attended by Palestinians from all political parties, joined by Israeli and international activists.[10][11] The peaceful demonstrations are invariably met by the army with violent reactions.

First Annual Open Shuhada Street Demonstration

At the first demonstration on 25 February 2010, Hebron residents, Israeli activists and international volunteer groups were gathered, accompanied by press and political leaders. After just a few minutes, about 150 meters from the Shuhada Street checkpoint, the IDF reportedly attacked the peaceful demonstration with sound bombs and tear gas. Children were threatened with rifles.[12]

Second Annual Open Shuhada Street Demonstration

At the second demonstration on 25 February 2011, the non-violent protestors were met with tear gas, sound grenades, and rubber bullets. Tear gas canisters were reportedly fired directly at the protestors. According to the organizers, 20 people were taken to hospital. One Israeli, two Palestinians, and three internationals were detained. Military sources only confirmed one arrest. The TIPH estimated that 1,500 people took part in the demonstrations.[13]

Third Annual Open Shuhada Street Demonstration

At the third demonstration on 24 February 2012, estimated 8,000 Palestinians from across the West Bank, joined by solidarity activists, participated in the demonstration in Hebron. Six demonstrators were arrested. Many protesters were injured by tear gas.[14]

Fourth Annual Open Shuhada Street Demonstration

At the fourth demonstration on 22 February 2013, the Israeli army sprayed the crowd with skunk water and threw stun grenades into the crowd. Dozens were wounded by rubber coated steel bullets or teargas. One journalist was hit in the leg.[15]

Fifth Annual Open Shuhada Street Demonstration

At the fifth demonstration on 21 February 2014, 5 people were arrested and 13 wounded by rubber-coated steel bullets. The army threw stun grenades and shot teargas into the crowd of peaceful demonstrators.[16] A cameraman for B’Tselem and a Palmedia journalist were, according to the organizers, shot in the head with coated bullets.[17][18]

Weekly protests

Since April 2010, the group Youth Against Settlements has organized weekly non-violent demonstrations on Saturdays for the reopening to Palestinians of Shuhada Street, and for freedom of movement for all Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian territories. Israeli, International and Palestinian demonstrators attended the demonstrations next to a closed entrance to Shuhada street and the Beit Romano settlement.[19]

On 10 August 2010, the Israeli army responded to the peaceful weekly demonstrations with collective punishment by closure of Palestinian shops near the start location and sealing the doors, after earlier threats. Afterwards soldiers attacked and arrested people. They declared the area a “closed military zone” and threw, before leaving, a sound grenade amid the bystanders.[20][21]

The weekly protests are part of many weekly demonstrations across Palestine, from which the protests in Bil'in internationally are well-known from the documentary 5 Broken Cameras.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Renaming Shuhada Street - Palestinian Activism and Spatial Narratives in Hebron, pp. 10, 38-39. Ea Arnoldi, 17 September 2012; dissertation School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London). Summary
    ″Shuhada Street is officially only called by this name, however as I was going down the street I noticed that there are no street signs on neither Shuhada Street or on any of the adjoining streets. While I passed many signs and a few wall size murals in Hebrew telling the history of Hebron according to the settlers, and signs hanging from Palestinian homes calling it Apartheid Street, there were no official street signs″
  2. ^ a b Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron - Agreed Minute. Israel MFA, 7 January 1997
  3. ^ Among the Settlers, p. 2. Jeffrey Goldberg, The New Yorker, 31 May 2004
  4. ^ a b c d 17 years after Goldstein Massacre, Hebron city center paralyzed. B'Tselem, 3 March 2011
  5. ^ The Rooftops of Hebron. Video of B'Tselem, November 2006
  6. ^ Hope in Hebron. David Shulman, New York Review of Books, 22 March 2013:
    ″Those who still live on Shuhada Street can’t enter their own homes from the street. Some use the rooftops to go in and out, climbing from one roof to another before issuing into adjacent homes or alleys. Some have cut gaping holes in the walls connecting their homes to other (often deserted) houses and thus pass through these buildings until they can exit into a lane outside or up a flight of stairs to a passageway on top of the old casba market. According to a survey conducted by the human-rights organization B’Tselem in 2007, 42 per cent of the Palestinian population in the city center of Hebron (area H2)—some 1,014 families—have abandoned their homes and moved out, most of them to area H1, now under Palestinian control.″
  7. ^ A six-year mistake. Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, 4 January 2007
  8. ^ Israeli forces detain Hebron man after settlers invade his home. Ma'an News Agency, 12 April 2014
  9. ^ Saving the West Bank's Shuhada Street. Dalia Hatuqa, Al Jazeera, 8 March 2013
  10. ^ Palestinians unite to demand ‘Open Shuhada Street’. Jews For Justice For Palestinians, 21 February 2014
  11. ^ Call for international day of action to re-open Shuhada street to Palestinians.International Solidarity Movement, 29 January 2010
  12. ^ Israeli forces commemorate Goldstein Massacre with tear gas and sound bombs. International Solidarity Movement, 26 February 2010
  13. ^ Many injured and several detained at al-Shuhada street demonstration. International Solidarity Movement, 26 February 2011
  14. ^ Thousands march to end settlements in Hebron. International Solidarity Movement, 25 February 2012
  15. ^ Violent confrontations during open Shuhada Street demonstrations. International Solidarity Movement, 22 February 2013
  16. ^ Fifth annual Open Shuhada Street demonstration in Hebron. International Solidarity Movement, 22 February 2014
  17. ^ Palestinians unite to demand ‘Open Shuhada Street’. Jews For Justice For Palestinians, 21 February 2014
  18. ^ Palestinians demand Shuhada St. reopened after 20 years. Haggai Matar, +972 Magazine, 21 February 2014
  19. ^ Youth Against Settlements-second weekly non-violent demonstration. International Solidarity Movement, 4 May 2010
  20. ^ Israeli army close down shops opposite Shuhada street in Hebron. International Solidarity Movement, 11 August 2010
  21. ^ Video: Army Seals Palestinian Shops in Hebron. B'Tselem, August 2010
  22. ^ Weekly protests continue across Palestine. International Solidarity Movement, 20 September 2010

Open Shuhada Street:

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Al-Shuhada_Street&oldid=611914842"