Shuhada Street

By Doron Isaacs

Below is a debate on Shuhada Street in Hebron. The first article is written by Daniel Mackintosh and Karla Green. They are both members of Open Shuhada Street, a description of which is given in their article. The article's depiction of the current reality is as I experienced it on a few visits to the street. The second article is by David Saks, associate director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies. Below the two articles you will find my comments on Saks' piece which point out basic errors of fact and logic, as well as a few tricks of the propagandist trade. If you've already read both articles, scroll to the bottom now.

Contents

• Shuhada: The road less travelled by Daniel Mackintosh and Karla Green in Times newspaper
• Response by David Saks of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies in Times newspaper
• Reply by Doron Isaacs to David Saks

South Africa

Open Shuhada Street

Social Justice Coalition

Students for Law and Social Justice

Muslim Students' Association

Women In Black South Africa

Palestine Solidarity Group

South African Students' Congress

New York

NYU Students for Justice in Palestine

NYU Arab Students United

Jewish Voice for Peace

Peaceful Gatherings

On 25 February 2010 activists and organizations from around the world will join together in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Hebron, through local protests and petitions to the Israeli Government. Our demands:

• Open Shuhada Street to Palestinian movement and commerce
• Full civil and human rights for all Israelis and Palestinians
• End the occupation

Open Shuhada Street! February 25, 2010 International Day of Action from Open Shuhada Street on Vimeo.

Join us on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=251984863283&ref=ts

Please read the guiding principles for the campaign which can be found under the About tab.

Click here for a list of the sponsoring organisations across the world on 25 February.

Click here for contact information for events across the world on 25 February.

Event locations in Google Maps

View Open Shuhada Street Campaign in a larger map

This evening, Open Shuhada Street activists handed out pamphlets and collected signatories on the Sea Point promenade. We will add the list of written signatories to our online petition in due course.

Over the next weeks, we will collect signatories in other parts of Cape Town as well.

Benjamin Pogrund is currently in South Africa, with one of the purposes being to deliver lectures on Israeli politics. Pogrund, former Deputy Editor of the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg, has been fairly critical of Israel, especially in regard to ongoing settlement expansion and the pervasiveness of checkpoints in the West Bank. He believes that the recent bombardment of Gaza did a lot of damage to Israel's international reputation. One of Pogrund's themes is to argue against an outright comparison of Israel with Apartheid South Africa.

We do not intend to debate with Pogrund here, but simply to correct an important factual error he is reported to have made during a talk he gave to the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) at UCT. Pogrund stated that Shuhada Street was opened last week by the Israeli military. This is false. Shuhadah Street remains closed. Recently the military publicly disavowed a news report  which indicated that it intends to open the street. On the contrary, the military indicated that it has no intention to open the street to Palestinians, including those who live on the street. An official document sent to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel by the military confirms this. Shuhadah Street, the central street in Hebron, was closed in 1994 after Dr Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Palestinians at prayer. It is open only to Israelis and to people who entered Israel on a tourist visa. The closure in respect of Palestinians has never been authorised by a written military warrant, but the street remains closed, 15 years layer, on the basis of oral orders only.