Imad Adwan

My Neighborhood’s Map

            Israel has been building settlements; walls; trenches; checkpoints; electrified and razor wires, and also military roads, as part of its policy to control after the occupied to the Palestinian territories 1967, under what known now as the 'Matrix of Control' to keep the 'security' of Israel, as Wendy Pullan said, "Israel has imposed an increasingly violent and oppressive occupation for nearly 40 years, it is particularly the Palestinians who suffer from what can called an 'asymmetrical' conflict, and are subject to imposed shifts in their own geography that are often incomprehensible and badly damaging to their well-being." She continued, "Israeli territory is also geo-politicized so that aspects of Israeli civilian life are eclipsed by security restrictions, and by the population's own fears and distrust." (261, Contested Spaces) Dr. Michael Ryce defined Violence when as he said, "Violence is an attempt to control. The more insecure or out of control people feel, the more violent will be their thoughts, words and actions." (Page 2, Why is This Happening to Me Again…) The violence which has took a place in the political plan of the matrix of control on the Palestinians both Muslims and Christian. Living as a Palestinian and facing the occupation's Policies towards the West Bank and Jerusalem; also living towards my town, and my neighborhood in particular, which is located between Jerusalem and the West bank, affected and changed my way of looking at things in my neighborhood, and changed my point of view about living in the prison of the Jerusalem-West Bank, and Jerusalem-Bethany at the same time.

I usually walk into my neighborhood peacefully thinking of the wall which was built to separate the town from Jerusalem. In this paper I am trying to show the details of my neighborhood where I live in a town called Bethany or Lazarus the historical name for the town.

Bethany which is two kilometers away to the East of Jerusalem. My neighborhood which is located now in area used to be known as Albawaba, which means the Gate; although it was not actually a gate, it was just a path to Jerusalem controlled by the Israeli army. It was the main Path for the West Banker of Bethany inhabitants to reach their jobs, schools, or even hospitals in Jerusalem. After starting building the Separation Wall in 2002 what made Bethany surrounded by a wall of apartheid from three sides the Western and Eastern, Southern and today the town's people live in a big prison.

The plan was not only to divide our neighborhood, or dividing my town, its major plan for the whole area, so after dividing Palestine and made it up of two parts, West Bank and Gaza Strip, the plan was to divide the West Back and divide the cities of it.

A house that now part of the wall itself where its residents live in their house that part of the apartheid wall where the house balcony is stretched among the wall and the barbed wire there are many reasons why my father choose that Bethany, and that neighborhood exactly to live in. But the main reason simply can be referred to Allan Jacobs and his book looking at Cities where he started his argument in the first chapter when he said, "You can tell a lot about a city by looking."  My father simply looked at the area, and it was the best decision to take at that time; a West Banker live ten minutes away from Jerusalem by car. Where his job, his children schools and his life city center the only place where he is in Jerusalem and West Bank at the same time.

Albawaba was the gate to Jerusalem for many years till they established Alzayton checkpoint. Students and teachers going to their schools, doctors or patients heading to the main hospital for the Palestinians in the West Bank Almakased hospital, and also the old ladies with the big bags upon their heads, filling with anything they produce or buy, to sell them in Jerusalem streets, all kinds of people used to come through Albawaba to reach Jerusalem.

Every Morning I wake up to start my day like I'm going out of a prison, by walking next to a huge wall was built by the Israelis just next to our house. And see the same view of the real occupation image, where the first thing I see when I look through my window or get out of my house is the huge wall and the control tower. A scary gray concrete tower with colored patches of paint, from the angry Palestinian opponents of the apartheid wall. The tower was built in the form of cylindrical on the top of it there are windows that allow to the soldier inside to see when nobody outside the tower can see if there is someone inside looking or not so all the time people act like there is always someone inside watching them, and their movements. For me too I don’t feel comfortable when I stand in front of the window in my room, where the curtains are usually closed, and if I was taking his path out of the neighborhood in front of the tower I walk fast. Next to that tower, there is a huge gate that can allow for a big tank to go though it easily.

While walking in the streets of that small neighborhood there are many things can't be seen anywhere else in the world, no such humiliating treatment for the people. One side of the neighborhood you see the mosque of Lazarus and the church of St. Lazarus are hugging each other. And on the other side, the one can see the hooligan activities of the Israelis toward the religious places to both Muslims and Christians of confiscating some of the lands of monastery of Albasionst. And the monastery of Alfrcescan (Der Biet Faga) was made as a prison by surrounding it of the wall and cutting the Historic monuments in Bethany from each others and divided the whole area.

The cemetery of Bethany is in our neighborhood there, where I see it everyday, and see the part of death, in this life. Some of the graves were destroyed to complete building the humiliating wall. Many other images you can see in my neighborhood, like the green ID inhabitant that living inside what's now known as Jerusalem and before a year it used to be part of our neighborhood in the West Bank. Our neighbor's life all in Bethany, the place where he and his family decided to live but the plan of construction of the wall put them in the other side of the wall where they are now in Bethany and Jerusalem at the same time, their names are written in that gate, and that’s the only place they can enter their houses if they were in the West Bank, and it's a very difficult process to have guests in their house because they need to have permit to get into that small gate that lead to a whole world behind it.

There is. And the same morning at the same time the soldiers open the gate twice for the children of Kindergarten in the other side of the wall. One time it opens about eight O'clock in the morning, and another time at one in the afternoon. The wall didn’t even have a mercy for the small children that go to the kindergarten where the apartheid wall is part of the kindergarten construction.