Get On The Wheel!: Bethlehem Settlements

How do I make sense of what I saw today?
On my first trip into Bethlehem, expecting an easy couple days, I crossed the imposing checkpoint and found closed hotels and shops and a town in decline because of the separation wall put up by the Israeli government 6 years ago. After not finding a hotel room for a decent price, I headed back into Jerusalem. While I was looking at the separation wall, Toufik, a taxi driver there, approached me and started talking about the wall and the settlements around the area. He said he could show me first hand what he was talking about. The next day, I took him up on it. What Toufik showed me solidified the reality of the settlements for me. To see how they lay on the land and to get his first hand account was invaluable. I feel I need to write about it and flesh out all the meaning from the experience before I forget some details.

The first settlement I saw was called Abu Ghnaim, and it was near the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour, which borders Bethlehem. It was huge, modern, and a stark contrast to the aging houses of the Arab towns. Toufik said the first houses went up before the separation wall(which went up 6 years ago), but once the wall went up, the second spate of building began outside the boundaries of the first. There was an electrified barrier fence around the whole settlement. It was hard to believe. To build illegally, then erect an electrified fence to keep people off their land?

There was a road with a checkpoint, for Israelis only to get into the settlement, that went conveniently straight towards Jerusalem. But people like Toufik haven’t been able to visit Jerusalem or anywhere past the wall for over 6 years. You had to apply for a permit, and Palestinians that had jobs in Jerusalem or nearby before the wall went up could get one. For others it was not possible. Toufik said he had applied 3 times, and then was threatened with jail by the officer after expressing frustration.

The second, third and fourth settlements near the site of Mt. Hadrian- about 5 km from Bethlehem- were even more striking, as there was an Israeli army post and prison situated within a kilometer from them. Nearby was also a small Israeli farm and industrial site. All these were blatantly on Palestinian land. There was one older Arab town now squeezed between them all. It was easy to see and hear construction in progress in the settlements. Despite calls by the U.N. to stop this, and promises by the Israeli government to do so, it still is happening. I also read about how a settlement of 67,000 is being proposed near the town of Al-Walaja right now, about 20 kilometers from Bethlehem. How far this idea has come yet, I don’t know.

Toufik described how after a site was picked by the settlers, an observation tower would conspicuously and suddenly go up. Money would sometimes be offered by the settlers to the owners of the land, most often not. If the Palestinians said no, building would start anyway- olive trees torn down and settlers squatting on Palestinian land. When the settlement got to a bigger size, they would have the protection of Israeli soldiers. In the meantime before that, settlers would rely on guns for protection, and had been known to use them. After a while, inevitably, the army would provide complete protection, setting up army checkpoints on roads, a base if the settlement was big enough, fences around the area, and providing security. From there, it would most likely spread to the next hill or area.

It became obvious, the frustration and powerlessness a Palestinian must feel when having to go through checkpoints on their land- and often being cut off from areas altogether. I felt their humiliation, watching 4 or 5 men from the Palestinian security forces stand in town, powerless and under-funded, standing there while Israeli soldiers drove down the road setting up checkpoints where they pleased. We went through one, and when we came back around 20 minutes later, they were gone. It seemed like just an exercise in power, not anything really meant to defray terrorism.

He talked a little of Israeli soldiers periodically coming into homes or arresting men for little or no reason. He said this was the reason and purpose of the prison being situated where it was, and that during the last intifada, Israeli soldiers were going through towns, arresting people, and sometimes shooting indiscriminately.

I know that most things that happen in this area are interpreted differently according to who is talking. I know Toufik might have been biased. I know I have to remember the history of the area. The allocation of this land by the Balfour declaration, multiple wars started by both sides Israeli and Arab, the complicated, contentious exchanging and allocation of land, the intifadas, suicide bombings, the fear of Israeli citizens and their desire to have a homeland, all of it. There have been horrible acts by people on both sides. But I know what I saw, and it is an illegal occupation of another people’s land. It is fact that there are tens of thousands of peaceful Palestinian refugees that once called what is now Israeli land their home. History will be what it is, but to a Palestinian civilian just trying to live, this ongoing grabbing of land is nothing but humiliation and a constant reminder that they are powerless to change what’s happening. In most situations and countries, this blatant flouting of international law and occupation of another country's land would be considered an act of war. But it has become obvious that the people that own this land have no recourse, because this crazy situation leaves the Palestinians with two governments, a split population, and no real country. I am not proud to be an American taxpayer at this very moment, as we have had a huge influence on Israeli actions, and will in the future. But even the U.S. government has publicly called for a halt to all illegal settlements. What our government really means is anyone’s guess. So it is very hard to make sense of what I saw today, very hard.

In every society there is a left and right, and these settlers are on the far right of Israeli society. By reading some of the papers here in Israel, it becomes obvious these settlements and the settlers creating them are a shame for many Israelis, making it much harder to find a peaceful solution to this conflict and in regional politics, and at the same time misrepresenting the idea of the Jewish state of Israel. But why do they get the full protection of the Israeli army, and what will make them stop? I would like to know. Toufik expressed exasperation and resignation when he thought of a possible end to all the conflict. He said he honestly could see no end to the problems of the Palestinians and Israelis here.

These are some of the pictures I was able to take, hopefully they get the idea across. They are all taken on Palestinian land.

Right after crossing through the checkpoint.