Two peaceful protests

Tent for Friday prayers in Silwan

In the Palestinian community of Silwan, a short walk downhill from Old City of Jerusalem, Muslims have been gathering for four years in a tent and on the street for midday Friday prayers. It is a religious observance with a political context. The organizing committee suggests talking points for the Imam to include in his sermon, such as recent police violence in the community and the threat of demolition of homes.

When we arrived prayers were underway in the tent, and within half an hour cars blocked the street and the throng of worshipers inside and outside had swelled to about 200, with many spreading their prayer rugs on the street.

Worshipers at Friday prayers in Silwan

Abid al-Halim Shlode chats with EAs

One of the organizers of the event, Abed al-Halim Shlode, told us he fears that time is running out for Palestinians in 88 houses in the Al-Bustan neighborhood that Israel wants to demolish, ostensibly to build an archeological park. Palestinians say the real agenda is political, to expand the line of Jewish settlements stretching east from Jerusalem.

Another big concern in Silwan, according to Abed, is the arrest of minors. He says in the past two years Israeli police have arrested 1,351 children under the age of 13, and their parents had to pay fines equivalent to $250 for their release.

Israeli police watching Silwan prayers

There was no violence at the Friday prayers. A small group of police monitored the event from a hilltop perhaps 300 yards away. Abed said there were probably 100 more police in readiness just over the ridge in case their intervention was needed. He said police had broken into houses in the community last night and beat the occupants, including women.



There were no police at all at the other nonviolent demonstration we observed today, in Sheikh Jarrah, which has also  been a weekly event for four years. The group was much smaller than the one we saw last week, perhaps 40 people. More than half of them were Israelis strongly opposed to the occupation and the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah to make room for Jewish settlements. Some were the "Women in Black" (see blog of Feb. 8). The Shamasneh family, facing eviction in 14 days, was there.

Sheikh Jarrah weekly demonstration

Hunger striker Samer Issawi

This week's demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah also sought to call attention to the plight of a Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for over 200 days and is reportedly near death. Samer Issawi began his hunger strike on August 1, 2112, to protest his detention without charge or trial. The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem (www.btselem.org) says "As of December 2012, Israel is holding about 178 Palestinians in administrative detention in facilities run by the Israel Prison Service (IPS)." The number was nearly 1000 in 2002 during the second Intifada.

In a park behind the demonstration was a sign of hope: some early spring blossoms...