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Occupation magazine - Jerusalem

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Dreaming of Jerusalem
Julie Holm
MIFTAH
December 07, 2011


http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=24184&CategoryID=13


In Ramallah, as any other place in the world, people have dreams. They dream of traveling, seeing the world, studying abroad, getting married, having a family, being happy. The difference is that while my European friends dream of seeing the world, many of my Palestinian friends dream of somewhere or something that might not be further than 20 kilometers away.

Being young we have a lot in common; we joke, we laugh, we cry, we go to school and study hard; we get annoyed with our parents, go to parties, fall in love and have our hearts broken. And yet, in many ways our lives are very different. Much of what my European friends and I take for granted is only a dream for my Palestinian friends.

One of my best friends here in Ramallah is going to an engagement party at the end of December. As most other girls our age, she has already started to plan what she is going to wear. Ramallah has a huge amount of clothes stores, with dresses in all colors, shapes and sizes, but as a young girl going to the party of the year, my friend wants to stand out, not wear the same as everyone else. So she went online, and fell in love with a dress from an international clothing chain. It is just right – the right color, the right length and perfect to wear with hijab and high heels. The closest store that sells the dress is in Jerusalem, less than 20 kilometers away, a perfectly legitimate and reasonable distance for a girl to travel for an amazing dress. Nevertheless, getting to the dress is not as easy as one might think. In fact, my friend has not been to Jerusalem in six years.

This story has little to do with a dress and everything to do with an occupation, a wall and a checkpoint. The restrictions put on the Palestinians by the occupation limits their movement, their mobility and their dreams.

There are Palestinians who travel between Ramallah and Jerusalem every day, but it requires a permit. Obtaining such a permit is not a given and requires fighting with bureaucracy and days, if not weeks of waiting, and not everyone is granted one in the end. When, or rather if, a permit is obtained, the travel to Jerusalem in itself is seldom a pleasant experience. Being harassed by soldiers and spending hours in line at checkpoints should not be the reality of people anywhere.

The wall and the checkpoints are literally dividing my Palestinian friends from their dreams; their dream job, their dream dress or even the dream of reuniting with family. A friend of mine applied for a permit to visit his mother in Jerusalem, but was turned down. For family gatherings, weddings or funerals there is always someone missing. They might not be far away, but the lack of a permit prevents them from crossing the checkpoint. Families are forced to live apart, separated from their loved ones by a wall, the separation wall that has become the very symbol of the Israeli occupation.

For a writing project at Birzeit University my friend (the one with the dress) was asked to bring a picture that represented something she dreams of; she brought a picture of Jerusalem. Her dream is to go to Jerusalem, visit the Aqsa mosque, go shopping and see her family. Her eyes tear up as she talks about it, mostly because of how absurd this injustice really is. Her dream of reaching Jerusalem is physically so close, and yet so far away.

Julie Holm is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
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