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Keeping Palestinian identity alive in Hebron
Once a thriving marketplace, Hebron’s Shuhada street has been closed to Palestinians for the past twenty-one years.
Israel used the 1994 massacre at the nearby Ibrahimi Mosque — during which the extremist American settler Baruch Goldstein killed 29 worshippers — as a pretext to tighten its control over the occupied West Bank city.
Today, Jewish-only settlements have surrounded Hebron and taken over parts of the city. These settlements are illegal under international law.
The closure of Shuhada Street is vigorously opposed by Palestinians. The organization Youth Against Settlements (YAS) both documents human rights abuses carried out by the Israeli military and takes direct action against Hebron’s suffocation.
In a symbolically important move, the group has succeeded in setting up a kindergarten on Shuhada Street.
Doing such work is highly risky. Youth Against Settlements has repeatedly found itself attacked by Israeli settlers and the military. Last month, for example, some of its activists were fired upon by residents of the Jewish-only settlement Karmei Tzur.
Issa Amro is a founder of Youth Against Settlements. He spoke to Narjas Zatat.
Source: electronicintifada.net