Chana M

>Art as a powerful and nonviolent political tool

Posted on September 25, 2010. Filed under: Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, Chana M, Words Without Borders |

Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi and Chana M write on efforts by artists and writers in Israel and Palestine to confront violence and conflict @ Words Without Borders.

On Friday afternoons the streets of Jerusalem begin to empty out. Friday is a holy day of rest for both the Muslims and the Jews of Jerusalem, and as the Jewish Sabbath is about to begin, the Muslims’ afternoon prayers have just concluded. But for the hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians who gather to demonstrate against the eviction of Arab families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, this quiet, sanctified hour is precisely the time in which the work and struggle begin each week. The demonstrations, which have taken place every Friday since last November, have been compared to weekly prayers, pilgrimages, and even the laying of phylacteries, by protestors who see them as a deliberate, restorative religious act of protest against the actions of the Orthodox Jewish settlers that have evicted hundreds of Palestinian families and moved into their homes here in East Jerusalem.

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