notes of a non-combatant

abed’s land

After walking for twenty minutes outside of Beit Jala, around a terraced mountainside and down a dirt road, we arrived at the small cave on a hillside overlooking the Green Line. Without the knowledge of fickle political boundaries or random imaginary lines, it’s simply a shack on a beautiful hillside, on the edge of the town of Walaja. For those who know the political boundaries, Abed’s property lies on one of the front lines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Across the valley from the settlements surrounding Jerusalem, Abed’s land covers most of the hillside in plain view from Gilo and Malha. In the valley at the bottom of the mountainside, a checkpoint splits the wadi between Israeli and Palestinian territory. An imaginary line driven between two peoples.

Abed’s land: patio, cave, and fields opposite the Green line from Gilo

Court cases, demolition orders, excessive fines, and travel permits are all issues that hamper daily life for Abed and his Palestinian friends. It’s no problem for his Israeli or foreign friends to travel to his land and sit with him around the fire, eating chicken with pita and hummus, washing it down with arak. It is a hassle for him just to live on the land he owns. Oddly enough, it is a happy life with many peaceful days. It’s only the occasional harassment from armed Zionist settlers or from the Israeli military that really disrupts his life. Not to mention the laws that prohibit him from developing his land like any farmer or landowner would.

Nimrod collecting drinking water for Abed, at a spring nearly a kilometer from the cave.

It was a small gesture just to be there; the ten of us, a mix of British, Italian, American, Israeli, and Palestinian nationals, can’t do much except to help Abed work his land. We can’t just stop the IDF from demolishing Abed’s cave. We can’t make the courts reverse the racist laws and policies they enforce. But we can, and did dig out a pad and erect a large, permanent canvas tent on Abed’s land, set up as a home for travelers or visitors.

Adil in front of the tent dubbed Mona’s Tent, with Gilo in the background.

Erecting a tent overlooking the Green Line is quite symbolic. It creates a guest house for people who would visit Abed, regardless of whether they hold animosity towards Palestinians or peacefully accept them. Creating another domocile on a hillside directly opposite from large Jewish settlements is a way of saying that Jews and Palestinians will forever live together in these valleys. It is up to both sides to do so in harmony, so long as Israel doesn’t act on their standing demolition order against his property.