The separation wall between West Jerusalem from East Jerusalem. Picture by MICK TSIKAS/AAP/PA Images. All rights reserved.Memories of the Jewish people´s suffering throughout history and the fear of Israel´s destruction have created an Israeli nation where Palestinians, at best, are treated as second-class citizens. The societal exclusion of Palestinians may very well have fatal consequences, as it leads to alienation and radicalization. Nowhere is this more evident than in East Jerusalem´s Palestinian neighborhoods. Last summer´s Palestinian uprising could very well have developed into a third intifada.
As I enter Isawiya, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, the soldiers have just left the area. In their wake medics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society are searching the surroundings for people in need of assistance. Children are playing football while trying to avoid the sewage and the garbage piling up on the sides of the streets. It is the middle of July and the Israeli government has recently decided to install metal detectors around the Muslim Quarter in Jerusalem´s Old City due to an attack killing two Israeli police officers. The fact that the assailants were Palestinian-Israeli citizens has led to a disturbed state of mind within the whole country. Although Jerusalem is on the verge of eruption and riots have ravaged Isawiya for days, life for residents in the neighborhood does not seem to differ significantly from the ordinary.
“This happens from time to time. Hopefully people will notice how we struggle for a better life”, Faraj*, a shopkeeper.
