Settlement Update

Feb 28 1999

I want to update our friends on the latest troubles with Israeli settlers in the Bethlehem district.

Saturday, I had arranged a tour for members of the Israeli peace organization, Gush Shalom, including its leader Uri Avneri , so they could witness for themselves the furious pace of settlement expansion in our region.

Our convoy of two old buses and several cars made our way across the winding, narrow main road that links el-Khadr to several other villages to the east. The peace activists saw how the settlement Efrat had now expanded across the road, and uttered expressions of disgust as we drove past the trunks of dead trees that had been uprooted by Israeli bulldozers two months ago, silent witnesses to the settler activity.

We stopped in the village of Artas, where Palestinians have been manning a tent around the clock for the past three weeks in an expression of peaceful protest against efforts by Efrat settlers to enlarge their colony by pilfering more Palestinian land in the area. From a hilltop we could see the tracks of the settler bulldozers, still fresh from where they had gouged into Palestinian soil.

It was there where we received an urgent telephone call from Palestinians from the community of Herodian, near the mountain of the same name. We have established another protest camp at Herodian to fend off efforts by Israelis from a new settlement in this area to push Palestinians off their land in an obvious attempt to grab more territory, likely to expand their newly founded colony or create yet another new one.

The villagers, the caller told us, were under attack from the settlers. Several dozen unarmed Palestinians had gone to plant olive tree seedlings on their land - land that both the Israeli and Palestinian liaison officers had just days earlier agreed was the Palestinians' following an earlier confrontation, when the settlers struck. The settlers, carrying rifles and accompanied by large, rabid dogs, converged on the villagers and physically tried to push them off their land. Although it had not been part of our scheduled tour, we rushed to the scene praying we wouldn't find bloodshed.

We arrived shortly after the Israeli army did. As I mentioned, the army had already acknowledged that this land was Palestinian and that the settler actions were illegal. The army moved immediately to defend the armed settlers and their dogs against the helpless group of Palestinian farmers. That is Israeli policy. It is the policy of Israeli army the to protect settlers no matter how illegal the settler activity. And that is one of the reasons settlers are able to continue to expand in spite of protests from Palestinians, Israeli peace activists and much of the international community.

It was quite a picture: Several dozen soldiers, protecting a handful of miscreant settlers from the villagers and apparently from the peace activists and journalists who were also on the scene. Settlers also tried to chase the journalists and peace activists off land they now claimed was theirs. Mr. Avneri told me one settler was even threatening to forcibly evict members of the peace camp from the land. The army did nothing but stand guard at the caravan settlement. The soldiers, in fact, seemed to be taking orders from the settlers.

We left when we were sure that the confrontation had ended. Another day had passed without casualties, but we left wondering how long it would be before violence erupts. The Palestinians are increasingly feeling cornered, as they face daily harassment from settlers trying to steal the last bits of land that they own.

Today, Sunday, Palestinians were confined to their villages and towns - under siege as Israelis celebrate the Purim holiday. As always, on such occasions, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are subjected to strict closures under the label of "security." I wonder when we will reach a time when Israeli authorities are wise enough to stop imposing such unjust and absurd collective punishment.

Purim Someach,

Sincerely,

Salah Ta'mari