I have this flaming gold Obama tee-shirt that looks like something I won in a giant cereal box, or maybe at a NASCAR event for democrats. It reads “Obama! Our 44th President!” in bubble letters, and boasts a sparkly sketch of our new leader. 

Since arriving in Israel I’ve kept my Obama shirt under wraps in the bottom of my suitcase, a safe distance from the controversy and disapproval surrounding Obama’s Cairo speech, and away from debates about settlements, outposts, and home demolitions. Of course, my own Obama fever has not gone anywhere, nor have my personal political convictions changed. But at the end of a long day I prefer to get on the bus politically ambiguous and wait until I get home and write these blogs to let it all out. 

A sign hangs in a tent where a Palestinian home once stood in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood

In light of yesterday’s bleak news--two new evictions were carried out in Sheikh Jarrah despite international outcry--we’re all hoping that the residents’ attempts to leverage Obama’s motto can garner further support from the international community. 

Sheikh Jarra has fallen into the middle of Netanyahu’s struggle to make Jerusalem the unified capital of a Jewish state. In effect, this policy means the demolition of thousands of Palestinians’ homes in East Jerusalem and the building of apartments for Jewish residents in their place. The demolitions are occurring under the premise that the Palestinian homes have been illegally built upon land conquered by Israeli military force in 1967, and based upon disputed land deeds from Ottoman days. Yet for residents such as the Ghawi family, their house has been their home for 53 years.  

A sign in Sheikh Jarrah next to a Palestinian house slated for demolition asks Obama to intervene

Yesterday I received a text from a friend saying that the Hannouns, a Palestinian family central to the struggle to resist displacement, had just been evicted. While my friend sat near their house, the Hannouns stood on the street watching the army and border police throw all of their belongings into a dumpster. Because Mr. Hannoun did not have time to put on his shoes before the eviction, he had to search the dumpster for his shoes while onlookers watched. By the time my friend left the house, a new family of settlers had already moved in. 

Of course Obama can’t flash a smile and suddenly break the self-defeating policies of a right-wing government. But even though the Hannouns have already been evicted, I still hope that somehow the image of the Hannouns being forced to leave their homes makes it to Foggy Bottom so that Washington can advocate more strongly on behalf of East Jerusalem, even if it means further aggravating a relationship with Netanyahu. As it is, Netanyahu does not want any peace defined by compromise. Yes, the neighborhood has now received New York Times coverage, and Hillary has spoken about East Jerusalem in front of dignitaries and reporters. But Washington is racing against the slated eviction of thousands of other Palestinians in East Jerusalem, and tomorrow more settlers are preparing their belongings for their new homes.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.