Behind the Wall - Ibrahim's Pavement Café (1/4) By Rich Wiles, of Hull and Hebron

(1/4), (2/4), (3/4), (4/4).

Most cities and town across Europe have a central square, or several, around which the city or town is built. These can include bustling market squares in rural England, lazy plazas in small Spanish villages, and huge piazzas in Italy's great Roman cities Al-Khalil's (Hebron's) Beit Romano Square bears little in common with these other hubs of social activity. Around the square are nineteen shops units, many of their doors are scarred with bullet holes.

Photograph from socialistunity.blogspot.com

On top of them sits a small cream coloured unit covered with camouflage netting from which Israeli soldiers watch the area twenty four hours a day. Two IOF watch-posts dominate the small square, between which hangs a huge reinforced metal gate which is permanently locked to Palestinian residents, behind this gate are areas of Al-Khalil that have been totally occupied by Zionists. Opposite the gate another road leading onto Beit Romano is blocked with a four foot high yellow gate wrapped in razor wire preventing Palestinian vehicular access. From an abandoned Palestinian house next to this gate (abandoned as Palestinian residents have been violently forced out) a blue and white Israeli flag flutters in the wind.

Diagonally across the square from the flag a towering new looking building looms ominously over everything, this is the Yeshiva (religious Jewish school) attached to Beit Romano Zionist Settlement. Around fifteen years ago the site of the Yeshiva hosted a Palestinian school. Until very recently every one of the nineteen shop units was closed, some have had their metal doors welded shut, welded shut by the Settlers after they chased Palestinians out of the area.

But then, just over two weeks ago, one shop unit directly in the shadow of the Yeshiva, and within a few metres of the IOF watch-posts, opened its doors once more. Welcome to Ibrahim's Pavement Café. "Ernesto Che Guevara." These were the first three words Ibrahim said to me as he brought over two cups of hot, sweet 'shai m'a nana' (mint tea) for us. "...he is my hero!" Ibrahim is proud to talk about his Marxist ideology, and he is equally proud to tell his life story. It is a remarkable story which could be reported as a story of endless suffering. But when Ibrahim tells it, he tells it proudly as a story of endless resistance.

Continued .... Next Page (2/4)

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