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5 Jul, 2015 09:47

​House divided: Israelis, Palestinians live under same Hebron roof, separated by brick wall

​House divided: Israelis, Palestinians live under same Hebron roof, separated by brick wall

The divisions between Palestinians and Israelis are probably nowhere as evident as in one house in the city of Hebron. Two families live in it, separated by a brick wall, their lives as apart as those of their two nations, RT’s Paula Slier reported.

Hebron is the only West Bank city that was not fully returned to the Palestinian Authority’s jurisdiction by Israel. About 20 percent of it, sector H2, is governed by an Israeli administration. The sector is home to several hundred Jewish settlers concentrated in the old city, as well as a declining population of thousands of Palestinians, who are kept apart from their Jewish neighbors by IDF security forces.

READ MORE: Israel to be fully encircled with hi-tech fence

Paula Slier visited a home in Hebron’s old city, where a Palestinian and an Israeli family live together, or rather in the same compound separated by a brick wall. The wall is part of the Israeli family’s living room and the Palestinian family’s stairway.

"In the past I used to know them, they used to make trouble,” Israeli settler Batya said of her neighbors. “I had to call the police a lot, the army. The Palestinians used to try to get closer to us, to reach us, to break into the neighborhood from the roof, from the windows. It was very unpleasant."

Paula Slier visits the Israeli part of a Hebron house divided between two families. Screenshot from RT video Screenshot from RT video

Her counterpart behind the wall is equally oblivious to her neighbor’s life.

"I don't know anything about their lives. They live there. I don't know any more," she said.

Apparently, the only thing the families share is the view from the rooftop, as they don’t interact with each other, Slier reported. And what they most often see is the heavy police presence in the neighborhood, indicating that peace is nowhere to be found in this place.

Watch Paula Slier’s report to find out more.

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