Presence as a Purpose

Gaweis, Southern West Bank 8 May 2009

As I have written, the ‘radical’ left in Israel is small. We do not have many people that are willing to give up their free time to monitor, confront and experience the occupation. Many of the radical left groups share resources and support each other in as many ways as possible. Such was the case today when, at 8:15 in the morning, Amiel received a phone call from Arik Ascherman from Rabbis for Human Rights. He was calling to see if anyone from Ta’ayush would join him in accompanying farmers near the settlement of Mitzpeh Yair. Ta’ayush did not have any plans that required many people, so Mairav and I volunteered to help out Arik.

Arik arrived with a sort of intensity that I have only seen among North American Jews. We were late before we left Jerusalem and had to make up time along the way. The story today was this: Abu Halil is the landowner of a wadi just under the settlement of Mitzpeh Yair. He has not experienced too much violence over the years from the settlers and the situation has been generally good for him. Recently, the IDF has been stopping him from working the land informing him that the land is “sterile”, which is a term I have not heard them use in the past. Rabbis for Human Rights have been monitoring the situation, filed a complaint and have received official permission for Abu Halil to use his land. We planned on calling the IDF on the way to Abu Halil’s land and informing them that we were planning on farming with them. There was no need today as the army was there before we arrived.

After some confusion in finding the right place to park we got the wadi of Abu Halil. Arik began informing the soldiers that the army is not allowed to impose a ‘closed military zone’ order on the area, according to the recent Supreme Court decision. He had all the proper documents including the land deed of Abu Halil. There was nothing the army could legally do to stop Abu Halil from working his land.

More soldiers arrived. One began asking how much money we get paid to be there. I informed him that we do not get paid. Because we are taking video, he asked if we were going to upload the videos to ‘hate websites’. Not sure what I have here is a hate site. After we explained our goals, a fellow soldier reported that he is more left than we are. At this remark, I stopped my conversation with the soldiers for the day.

The Palestinians continued to herd their sheep while we waited for the commander to arrive. Abu Halil was worried as his sheep ascended the wadi getting closer to the settlement. It is his land but he was too afraid to let his sheep herd without an Israeli by his side. As I was standing there, the banality of the experience sunk in. The livelihood of these farmers was being taken away and they could only maintain it with the help of Israelis standing guard making sure the IDF and the settlers would not attack them.
The sheep were scurrying around the wadi making a gentle rustling which sounded like the wind. It was calm but I was growing worried. The commander had not yet arrived and we were about two hundred meters below the settlement. I had not yet seen a settler and feared their arrival. The sheep kept rustling and we kept waiting for the commander.

Abu Halil's Land Deed

Suddenly the commander arrived, made a couple of phone calls and left, wishing us a Shabbat shalom. Two soldiers remained and one of them started up a conversation with one of the Palestinians about Ezra. The IDF is convinced that all peace activists and Palestinians that know Israeli peace activists have something to do with Ezra Nawi. There is good reason for this and that is why Ezra’s upcoming sentencing is so important for anyone that cares about the peace movement in Israel/Palestine.

After the conversation the soldiers return to the settlement which presumably functions as an IDF base as well as living quarters for radicals. Mairav, Arik and I laid down on the barren windswept earth and watched the sheep herd for four hours. It was hot and got to be boring. The Palestinians said that they were too afraid to be there alone and so we saw no other alternative but to stay. I was happy to have had the chance to talk with Arik about the situation and Rabbis for Human Rights. While we baked in the sun, we witnessed a sheep give birth which was a new experience. Baby sheep are really cute.

The situation in Israel is bad. The occupation and the settlers pose a significant threat to our democratic system of government and laws. Often the system does not work in the West Bank but sometimes it does. Today, Israeli laws regarding Palestinian shepards living near the settlement of Mitzpeh Yair were honored (not by the IDF’s own tuition but rather because of the tenacity of three activists carrying a copy of the Supreme Court ruling). Of course, not everything is perfect. All of this happened because three Israeli peace activists sat and guarded the farmers all day. One step at a time…

So we sat in a strange calm until the early afternoon. Of course we drank tea and Abu Halil’s wife back up at their home even prepared a meal for us. It was a quiet and successful day. If we do not continue to come, then Abu Halil will not able be able to his sheep. After a while of inactivity, the settlers will build something on the farm land (or just make it their own farm) and the army will recognize it as part of the settler territory. This is one of the ways that settlement expansion works. Today, our only purpose was a presence.