Posted on February 21, 2010 by realistic bird
At a time when extreme and even unthinkable measures are being taken to completely sever the few remaining passageways of life into Gaza through Rafah’s underground tunnels into Egypt, other tunnels of a different kind and a different purpose are being dug elsewhere everyday in broad daylight for all the world to see in occupied East Jerusalem under the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and its surrounding areas, these illegal underground Israeli excavations – done underneath civilian populated areas – not only threaten the very foundation of Islam’s third holiest shrine, but it also poses a serious threat to the residents of the neighborhoods under which these non-stop network of “archeological explorations” are taking place, the latest victim of these excavations was the Wad Hilwa Street, in Silwan which collapsed last week causing a 10 meter deep ditch near which a child fell and was consequently wounded.
This “incident” is only one episode of an ongoing series of collapses which jeopardize the safety of residents and passers-by alike in the town of Silwan and the old city of Jerusalem.
Just last year, it was a United Nations-affiliated school in East Jerusalem that took the hit when a landslide caused one of the school’s floors to collapse over the heads of the stunned students injuring 14 Palestinian schoolgirls.
The looming menace of structural damage and hazardous cracks is omnipresent in the old city, haunting every Palestinian citizen living in that entire area; for tomorrow it could be anyone’s house, commercial propriety or even mosque; and of course should any of these buildings survive the aforementioned risks, there will always be possible future land confiscations and arbitrary demolition orders.
Now the real “smuggling” goes down through these Israeli tunnels (and contrary to the ones in Gaza; it does not involve the trafficking of canned food, milk or medicine), as according to a report issued by Al-Aqsa Foundation for Religious Endowments and Heritage; many Islamic-era artifacts and valuable antiquities are being stolen by the Israeli Occupation forces and removed from the Palestinian territories to unknown places.
Whereas Gaza’s network of underground tunnels that reach the Egyptian side of Rafah are constructed out of despair and absolute necessity by a besieged and cornered population, Jerusalem’s underground mining is carried out by -and with the tight guardianship of- the Israeli military; allegedly to unearth historical evidence for the presence of King David in that area when in reality these operations are solely driven by a salivating desire to Judaize the entire city and drastically alter its Palestinian identity.
by Fahed Bahadi
Needless to say; these Israeli tunnels are dug freely and openly; its accelerated mining activities and daily construction go unabated and unchallenged by the international community, no one went out of his way to “think outside the box” to come up with a brilliant scheme of super steel walls and cutting-edge monitoring technologies to try and halt these illegal underground tunnels, it does not even get sufficient media coverage, and of course that makes perfect sense, because evidently nowadays unless it involves an exaggerated malicious feud over a football match or a six-year-old boy on a home-made helium balloon; stories from occupied East Jerusalem simply do not make the cut.
And with each Israeli violation in Jerusalem; The frustratingly disjointed Arab league and the lamentable Organization of Islamic conference tend to grow a thicker callous skin, splashing around in the safe, familiar water of political pragmatism, issuing the same old recycled “strong-worded” condemnations (which by the way are a dime a dozen); never really taking any long strides outside the confines of what we have all become accustomed to over the years despite the ever-increasing existential threats to Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock which are both considered the oldest surviving examples of early Islamic architecture and religious heritage.
Everything is a myth until it’s too late to face the fact that it’s reality; and sadly, that’s exactly the case with our perception of what’s happening right now in Jerusalem, Unfortunately, it seems we have somehow over the years mastered the art of not caring, we turn a blind eye to the Israeli Occupation Forces’ daily exercises of humiliating the City’s citizens and desecrating its holy sites, we know that it is “easier” to sweep everything under the rug and pretend that we’re not there yet, but make no mistake; the absolute worst of what could ever happen to Jerusalem is happening right now, warning signs are far behind us, and the fact that we have managed to fail miserably in acknowledging them does not make what’s happening any less real and frightening.
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