Jerusalem's Afro Palestinians feel more integrated

(29 Jan 2017) LEADIN:
A third generation of Afro-Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City are growing up more integrated and confidant about their place.
Despite poverty and occasional discrimination, many say they now feel more accepted by their fellow countrymen.

STORY-LINE:
In the shadow of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City lies the "African Quarter", home to a little-known community of nearly 50 Arab families of African descent.
Descended from Muslim pilgrims from a variety of African countries, they now consider themselves proud Palestinians, despite widespread poverty and occasional discrimination from both Palestinians and Israelis. Several have even participated in violent attacks against Israel.
The forefathers of Jerusalem's African Quarter are mostly Muslim pilgrims from Chad, Sudan, Nigeria and Senegal who settled here or got stuck during periods of war.
Some are the descendants of slaves or soldiers brought in during Ottoman times. Others came with The Arab Salvation Army, an army of volunteers that fought on the Arab side in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.
Ali Jiddah is a well-known Palestinian tour guide in Jerusalem's Old City.
A former member of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Jiddah spent 17 years in an Israeli prison for taking part in a 1968 bombing that injured nine Israelis before he was freed in a prisoner swap. Having long ago renounced violence he now offers what he calls an "alternative" perspective on the conflict with Israel through his tours.
"Concerning the second, third, fourth generation, if you ask us to identify ourselves we say we are Afro-Palestinians," he says. "We were born here, we grew up here, we have the same history like Palestinians. Even whenever I sit with Palestinians I say 'look brothers, sisters, you are oppressed by the occupation but we as Afro Palestinians, we are double oppressed, first as Palestinians, second because of the colour'."
But despite being oppressed in some ways, Jiddah believes that the political contributions of Afro-Palestinians have elevated their status in the eyes of their fellow countrymen.
While Jerusalem's Afro-Palestinians have been here for decades, fitting in was not always easy and can still be a challenge.
Many newcomers, such as shop owner Hawa Jibril Balalawi whose father was from Chad, faced discrimination based on the colour of their skin.
"Some will deal with you as a friend, a colleague at his school, but some other people don't accept this thing, they exist even now. But when you treat them well, they will feel ashamed and behave a bit better", she says.
Most of Jerusalem's Afro-Palestinian residents live in old buildings which were originally built in the 10th century for the city's poor.
Made later into prisons by the Ottomans, the buildings were handed over to the Old City's Islamic trusteeship during the British Mandate, which rented them to members of the African community as many served as guards and servants to the Al Aqsa Mosque.
Despite these deep roots to the area, some Palestinians still refer to them with a local derogatory term "abeed" (Arabic for "slaves") and to their neighbourhood as "habs al-abeed" (the slaves' prison).
Many do not enjoy the same access to education as other Palestinians. Standing under posters of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Nelson Mandela, Mousa Qous - Director of the African Community Society in the Old City - explains:
Economically, Afro-Palestinians are among the most disenfranchised in the city. However as Jiddah explains they've always been amongst the most "avant-garde".

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