Article74 Magazine

On 26 August 1998, Sumoud Camp was once again resurrected as a symbol of living resistance inside occupied East Jerusalem.  This day marked the first year of Sumoud's existence and the men, women, and children of Sumoud Camp, in conjunction with the help of the Sumoud Solidarity Committee and the Lobby for Human Rights in Jerusalem, celebrated their first year achievements by organizing a Palestinian Popular Arts Festival.  Artists from the Al-Wasiti Arts Center, the Jerusalem Center for Arabic Music, the Jerusalem Theater Group, the IBDA Dancing troop from Deheisha Camp, and approximately 300 visitors joined the festival to make the celebration a success.  Immediately following the festival, the entire camp rallied together for a march on the Interior Ministry to protest the ethnic cleansing policies in Jerusalem and demand the right to have Jerusalem as the future capital of Palestine.

From the perspective of the Israeli soldiers and police, this march may only have appeared to be more Palestinian noise, but for the members of Sumoud Camp, or "Compound" as the 6 meter sign above the front door boldly declares, it was a long awaited opportunity to raise their voices and express their outrage.  The Israeli government continues to confiscate 2 to 3 Jerusalem ID cards a day in an effort to reduce the overall Palestinian presence in the Jerusalem and secure its claim on the city.  In the ongoing demographic war over Jerusalem, ID card confiscation has become a central Israeli strategy against the Palestinians' claim to have East Jerusalem as their future capital. In fact, the power to unilaterally issue and confiscate ID cards remains the cornerstone of the Israeli occupation and the primary means by which the Israeli government monitors and controls Palestinian activity and movement between Jerusalem and the West Bank.  Without a valid Jerusalem ID card, Palestinians no longer enjoy the privilege to enter Jerusalem or receive the Israeli state benefits of health insurance, child allowance, and access to public education.

The threat of ID card confiscation poses serious problems for Sumoud Camp residents.  According to the 1996 "center of life" policy, Jerusalem residents must prove that they have a permanent residence in the city.  As "Sumoud Camp" is not recognized as a valid address, even families with valid Jerusalem ID cards must avoid contact with state agencies or risk losing their ID card and being arrested for illegal entry.  For Abu Mahmood Hamden, lifetime resident of Jerusalem, this poses a serious dilemma.  His newborn, known to the camp as Baby Mustafa, has Down's Syndrome and requires regular medical attention but, as Abu Mahmood is employed in Jerusalem and is the sole source of income for his family, he cannot expose himself to the risk of registering at the Israeli state insurance bureau.  Instead, he continues to work the seventy to eighty hour weeks necessary to feed his family and take care of his son.

Unfortunately, Abu Mahmood is not the only victim of Israeli's ethnic cleansing policies.  Zarifa Mizero, one of the mothers at the camp, watched her baby die on the door steps of a Jerusalem hospital after being rejected for treatment on the grounds that she carried improper identification.  Moreover, many of the children at the camp, some of whom do not carry either Israeli or West Bank identification, failed to registered for school this year either because they were rejected from public schools or because their families were unable to afford the tuition of private schools. For those who are registered, their families face the additional difficulty of financing daily transportation to and from school, especially as many children were forced to register in West Bank schools.  The denial or the inability for families to adequately educate their children, seriously undermines the foundation and the future of Palestinian society.

However, Sumoud is taking action.  A Learning Center is being built on the second floor of the building and several organizations, including the Tamer Institute, AFSC/Ramallah, the Jerusalem Fund, Diakonia, and the Palestinian Ministry of Education, have already pledged their support for the project, which will provide a space for after-school enrichment programs.  The Orient House and several NGOs are also helping the families in the search for schools.

Other urgent issues at Sumoud concern the inevitable approach of winter and the need for improved toilet facilities.  On 20 August, the chemical toilets, provided to the camp by Caritas International, were taken away after the budget ran out.  The need for adequate lavatory facilities is now becoming desperate, especially for the families living in the basement.  As the cold weather quickly moves in, the camp is preparing for the winter by securing industrial strength plastic to the many open windows in the building. Funds are also being provided to the families, in order that they replace their haphazard wood and plastic sheet walls with cement.  A project which would create more privacy, insulation from the cold, and protect the families from the risk of fire.  However, approval must first be obtained from the Waqf, who want, eventually, to reclaim their building.

Sumoud is on the move once again and the 16 core families, as well as seven part-time resident families who maintain a shelter in the camp to keep a foothold in Jerusalem, remain committed to find a permanent solution to their residency problems.  Despite all the hardships, the building is their last and only refuge left in Jerusalem and it will continue to stand as a landmark of Palestinian steadfastness in Jerusalem.  Sumoud Camp is changing but its message remains the same: "We will remain in Jerusalem, no matter what the cost.  This city is our home and we have a right to live here with security and dignity."  For the people of Sumoud resisting Israeli policies of ethnic cleansing is not an option --  it is a way of life.