"While I was there, I was "picked up" on the street by an ultra-orthodox woman who offered me free lodging in a hostel exclusively for Jewish travelers in the Old City of Jerusalem. I was a broke teenager at the time, so I said yes. It was Hanukkah, and all across the Jewish Quarter, picturesque oil menorahs twinkled in the windows and doorways of ancient-looking buildings built from a pearly-pink marble called "Jerusalem stone.""
"Luckily, a small group of rebels known as the Maccabees fought back and recaptured the Temple. Since then, they said, Jews have kindled Hanukkah candles every year in honor of this marvelous battle, and dreamed of a return to reoccupy these very homes, in this exact neighborhood. The fact that we were finally there, they said, was the Hanukkah miracle come true."
"John Tleel, a Palestinian whose family lived in the Old City for 400 years, describes how the residents of the neighborhood where I was staying were given only 12 hours to evacuate. New homes and plazas were hastily built over what is now known as the Jewish Quarter, and constructed to look as if they'd always been there."
A nineteen-year-old traveler accepted free lodging in the Old City during Hanukkah after being approached by an ultra-Orthodox woman. The neighborhood displayed oil menorahs and pearly-pink "Jerusalem stone" buildings that appeared ancient. Those buildings were largely constructed in recent decades atop Palestinian homes bulldozed after Jerusalem was seized by the Israeli military in 1967. A Palestinian whose family lived in the Old City for 400 years reports residents were given only twelve hours to evacuate. New homes and plazas were hastily built over the area now called the Jewish Quarter and constructed to look as if they had always been there. Hanukkah is framed as a triumphant battle narrative repurposed into a Zionist facade.
Read at Truthout
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