A Street Divided (35 page)

Rachel Machsomi talks to visitors at her home in the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. Rachel and her late husband Haim were some of the first people to move to the edge of No Man's Land on what became Assael Street. Photo by Seema Jilani.

Marchers carrying Israeli flags and weapons walk down Assael Street in June 2008 to celebrate Jerusalem Day, a national holiday to commemorate Israel taking control of all of Jerusalem in 1967. Photo by Dion Nissenbaum.

Alisa Maeir-Epstein (right) stands in front of her house in 2007 with Asaway Bazlamit, one of the girls who lived across the way on Assael Street. Photo by Katherine Kiviat.

Khaled Rishek takes a break in the West Jerusalem YMCA, where he works full time. As part of his work, Khaled serves as dialogue supervisor for an Arab-Jewish youth choir that is based at the YMCA. Photo by Seema Jilani.

Amjad Rishek sorts through stacks of papers documenting his long
fight with Jerusalem over his family home on Assael Street. He has spent years trying to prevent the city from demolishing their house. Photo by Seema Jilani.

Nawal Bazlamit stands in front of Israel's separation wall in 2007 on the outskirts of Azariya, outside Jerusalem. The wall runs through the backyard of her sons' apartment building, placing them outside the barrier, separated from the rest of the family on Assael Street. Photo by Dion Nissenbaum.

The wall on Assael Street that became the focal point of a bitter neighborhood feud over graffiti painted on the outside. The graffiti welcomes a Palestinian resident home from making his pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Photo by Dion Nissenbaum.

A woman walks down Assael Street past the widely derided building built by Israeli developers on the side of the street that used to be in No Man's Land. Many Abu Tor neighbors tried unsuccessfully to prevent the contractors from building the apartment complex. Photo by Dion Nissenbaum.

A graphic of Abu Tor shows the potential borders separating Israel and a future Palestinian state. The dotted line for one route runs down the center of Assael Street, the old path that marked the edge of Israel until 1967. Photo courtesy SAYA Architects.