Gjermund in Palestine

By: gjermundgranlund

Nov 05 2009

Tags: Hannoun, Human Dignity Crisis, Israel, Sheikh Jarrah

Category: Uncategorized

2 Comments

This is Mohammad Hannoun. He lives in Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. He is eight years old. His dream is to own a computer store when he grows up.

His family was thrown out on the street the second of August this year. And on the same street you can find them sitting in a circle underneath an olive tree. They wait for justice.

They were thrown out because a settler organization claims ownership of the house of the Hannoun family, and other families’ houses in this neighbourhood. In 1948 the Hannouns fled Haifa because of the war. Since they were not allowed to return back, the UNRWA together with the Jordanian government provided them with this house in 1956. So for more than fifty years this house has been their home.

Law is being used against the Hannouns. Not justice! I wonder why Palestinians who have ownership papers of their houses, or keys for their homes, inside Israel are not allowed to return. I wonder if they would have been protected by the police if they threw another family’s belongings on the streets?

But most of all my heart breaks when I see the settlers on the roof, waiving the Israeli flag, smiling and cheering at a family that has to live on the street because of them. I echo the statement of the general secretary of the World YWCA, Niaradzai Gombonzvanda that this is a human dignity crises.

A woman from Save the Children asked Mohammad if he thinks that they will get the house back. “Yes”, he said. Because his sister is in America advocating for their rights. So I would like to share Mohammads optimism. They will get their house back, and all the refugees will have the right to return. The wall will fall, racist laws will disappear and peace will happen in this land for both people. When justice arrives.