Head-shaving, humour and hoax calls: How Palestinians are rallying around Jerusalem’s Shuafat
Head-shaving at a salon in Hebron on 16 October 2022 in solidarity with a bald-headed Palestinian reported to be behind an attack on an Israeli checkpoint in East Jerusalem
Huthifa Fayyad reports in Middle East Eye on 18 October 2022:
As the Shuafat refugee camp entered a second week under strict Israeli restrictions, Palestinians have turned to head-shaving and humour to rattle Israeli forces and rally around the residents of the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood.
But the latest trend, which includes calling out the name and imitating the hairstyle of a man wanted by Israel for allegedly shooting a soldier, has now come under scrutiny.
Sources from Shuafat camp, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Middle East Eye that at least three bald men have been denied the right to leave the camp. A dozen others have reportedly been fired by their Israeli employers after shaving their heads.
The camp and surrounding areas have been under Israeli restrictions on movement since 8 October after a suspected Palestinian shot dead an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint leading to the camp. A full closure of the area’s two checkpoints, which left almost 140,000 people trapped in densely populated neighbourhoods isolated by Israel’s separation wall, was eased on 13 October.
People were allowed to enter and leave the camp under intrusive and restrictive searches, according to residents. The following day, families in the camp announced that they would halt a civil disobedience state they had declared, which included commercial strikes and confrontations with Israeli forces during their repeated raids of the camp.
Those methods have now been replaced by new forms of resistance, say the camp residents, which includes a haircut, WhatsApp messages and prank calls.
Viral trends
Israeli authorities last week released the details of the man they accuse of the fatal shooting outside Shuafat: a 22-year-old bald man from the refugee camp, named Udai al-Tamimi.
A small group of men from Shuafat responded to the announcement by filming themselves shaving their heads and posting it online. Their video quickly went viral, and encouraged dozens more Palestinians across Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank to do the same thing.
Others in the camp began calling the name “Udai” repeatedly in their WhatsApp messages, in an attempt to distort algorithms in the area that could potentially be used to track and locate Tamimi’s whereabouts. “Did you change Udai’s diaper?” said someone in one voice note shared online.
Others at the camp also prank-called the police.
Since the manhunt was launched, surveillance drones have been buzzing, a consistent noise in Jerusalem’s sky. Some of the city’s residents say the noise has been disrupting their sleep, and took their complaints to the Israeli-run emergency services.
“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz,” one disgruntled caller sounded in a phone call with a 911 operative. “My problem is that I couldn’t sleep last night, the flights were zzzzz all night,” another said.
Udai’s name has also been shouted out loud on the streets to disturb Israeli police, similar to when Jerusalem residents kept calling out Zakaria Zubeidi’s name during his five-day escape from Israeli prison last year with five other Palestinians.