Ongoing Holocaust in Gaza, Ongoing Kristallnacht in Al-Khalil
On 7 April 2025, there was a general labor strike in Al-Khalil (Hebron), West Bank, illegally occupied Palestinian territories. Merchants great and small–in my estimation 95 – 98%–participated in the strike, keeping their businesses closed, in solidarity and in protest against the ongoing genocide perpetrated by illegal Israeli occupation troops, in violation of ceasefire terms, in Gaza.
I interviewed a dozen shopkeepers whose businesses ranged from a single-cart produce stand near the city center to a family-owned (60 years) artisan woodcraft shop on the main street headed down to Old City. There was a general consensus that the strike was a good idea, but it wasn’t unanimous. What was unanimous was the sentiment of solidarity for the Gaza martyrs and those still suffering from unchecked barbarity and oppression by the occupation. Make no mistake: the term “Israeli Defense Forces” is an outright lie. It is “Israeli Occupation Forces.”
The army. What city or country has its own army wandering around, terrorizing and arresting common people? Israel, that’s who. Palestinians aren’t even deemed citizens in their own land, a land they have lived in for thousands of years. Hence the apartheid military laws and occupation and oppression they live under, powered by the most corrupt and insane country on the planet today, “The United States of America.” There’s another lie: the U.S. isn’t even close to being united. It’s the twenty-first-century iteration of the Roman Empire, with corruption and greed as the rule, and the citizenry being trampled by unfit government. It can’t fall soon enough. And when the U.S. falls, Israel will fall, which also can’t come soon enough.
Originally, this piece was meant to present the array of opinions of those shopkeepers and few customers who participated in the survey of a dozen or so questions with me. However, the story and plight of one shopkeeper in particular, whose story wasn’t all that different from most of the others, moved me so much that his is now the focus.
Wahbullah (not his real name) has a shop in what seems like an ideal location in Old City in Al-Khalil: at an intersection of paths leading to residential areas and mosques. Before the genocide started after 7 October (It is not a war: a war is two-sided; this is genocide and ethnic cleansing), this area was bustling with locals and tourists. Every kind of shop you can imagine lined the alleys: souvenirs, jewelry, a juice stand, clothing, bulk pickles and olives, toys, coffee, shoes.
Today this area is a ghost town, with fewer than thirty percent of shops open on any day, and very few customers. After 7 October, settlers who invaded the area and took up residence in apartments above the alleys started throwing rocks, trash, and even raw sewage down upon the shopping area from their overlordly-positioned domiciles. The Palestinian shopkeepers installed tarps over the alleys. Today there is visible trash still sitting in clumps on the top of the tarps. Local customers have not returned to this area because their expectation is that what they want either isn’t available here at all, or it’s easier to find in the hundreds of more upscale shops on the main streets in the city. Tourists have not returned because tourism to the West Bank has plummeted since the start of the genocide in October of 2023.
Most of the businesses are permanently closed, due to their failure economically, lack of customers, or, worst of all, forced closures for illegitimate and fabricated reasons that the IOF throws around at its whim. This happened once to Wahbullah, but he persevered, moving his souvenir business to a different location in resistance to the psychosis of the IOF. His wares are beautiful: jewelry, kuffiyahs, tote bags, clothing, carved wood ornaments, and even some inexpensive trinkets. He was threatened with arrest for displaying items that showed Palestinian images such as the flag or olive trees. He defied the orders to remove the marked items, and dared the IOF to name a law he had broken. Some of his inventory was confiscated, but he was not arrested. Not yet, anyway. He is by far not the only victim of this injustice: the goal is to have all Palestinians give up and move out (that is, ethnic cleansing).
I did my interview with Wahbullah during Holy Week. Al-Khalil should have been bustling with tourists. Sadly, it was not.
Wahbullah is at an age where he is ready and wants to get married and start a family. He can’t afford it, though, and it is obvious that this weighs heavily on him. He can’t imagine when it will be possible. He spends time with his parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews when he isn’t tending the shop. He is a kind man—as are almost all Palestinians—who speaks very good English. He told me that he learned his English not in school, but by interacting with tourists. Illegal settlers, unfortunately, are not temporary inhabitants of Al-Khalil for the time being. Wahbullah told me that he is friendly with everyone—as, again, are almost all Palestinians—and greets Jewish visitors with “Shalom Shabbat” when appropriate. He has been spat on in response by hateful, immature bullies. Adults, no less.
This year, Passover and Holy Week overlap; in fact, they started on the same day. During the afternoon I spent with Wahbullah, I witnessed the single most beautiful and hopeful thing so far in two months in this beautiful country inhabited by Palestinians who are kind, generous, gracious, friendly, and hospitable beyond measure: a Russian Jewish family walked by the shop. Wahbullah rose from his seat in our conversation space to go out to the cobblestone walk to greet them. Everyone was kind to each other. The family asked for a photo with Wahbullah. The two men hugged. This is how it should be every day from now until the end of time.
As the afternoon came to a close and prayer time approached, Wahbullah prepared the shop for closure. He informed me that the ten shekels I spent on bracelets (to which he added a hand-embroidered coin purse for free) was the only income he had made that day. Unfortunately, the following day was set to see the Old City market area overrun by soldiers and settlers; Palestinians would not even be allowed to attend prayers at the mosques. Wahbullah would not be back to open shop, because there would be no customers to serve. He planned to spend the day with his family.
How these people’s resilience carries them through. How their faith sustains them. How brightly their beautiful spirits shine. How wronged they are by a world given to greed, corruption, hatred, violence, and indifference.
How richly they are rewarded spiritually for being the truly moral inhabitants of the land. May Allah protect them from the evil that is rampant in their midst. May Old City flourish again in the near future, insha Allah. May Palestine be set free from the scourge of occupation. It is time.
