commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Posts tagged Palestine
Filth and the Land
Jun 1st
Israel is a beautiful country with amazing landscapes and inviting geography. Given the central role this land has in the religion of the Jewish people and the amount of blood spilled to control it, I am surprised that there is certain nonchalance among the population with regard to waste and the natural surroundings. Even among the settlers there is indifference to the natural environment. For example, the settlers of hilltop 18 have created an outdoor bathroom area next to the outpost. They simply leave their toilet paper and feces on the ground which is destructive to the natural environment. They also leave poison throughout Palestinian farms lands that harm the Palestinian herds. Invariably gazelle and other precious animals eat the poison and spread it throughout the wildlife community of Israel. These are the people that love the land as a gift and right of God yet they treat it like a sewer. Closer to home, when I go to the market and buy an apple, they give me a plastic bag. I am not a whining environmentalist but it is absurd how many plastic bags are being used here. I feel like you could buy a package of gum and receive a plastic bag. We have longed for a state, a country, a homeland for thousands of years and now we fill it with plastic bags and feces.
As I try to achieve an understanding for the cause of this destruction/disregard of land and nature in Israel, I am struck by the words of Hanna Arendt, “the most radical and the only secure form of possession is destruction, for only what we have destroyed is safely and forever ours.”
Max Blumenthal Covers Ta'ayush
Jun 1st
Max Blumenthal, the cutting edge American journalist, has been covering Israel from the inside over the past month. Three weeks ago, he accompanied Ta’ayush to the village of Safa and the illegal outpost of hilltop 26 (18). Below is his video report from the day. I am interviewed from the fifth minute forward.
Hebron, Friday Morning
May 22nd
We arrived at the Jabari family home just outside of Kiryat Arba at about nine this morning. On our way there we could not help but notice that since last week, electrical poles have been added to Hilltop 26, the illegal settlement outpost we wrote about in our op-ed piece that appeared in the Haaretz English edition newspaper today.
Initially we had planned on helping the Jabaris farm their land, as we had done last week, but today Abu Enan, the patron of the family, was feeling under the weather. We decided to go meet with our friend and partner Issa Amro, who wrote an article in YNET about the restriction on Palestinian movement on the “Zion” route in Hebron.
Hebron is a ghost town, but one full of scattered pockets of Jewish life actively engaged in the oppression of Palestinian life. All of the Palestinians shops that once comprised a bustling market area are boarded up. Driving through the “Zion” route, one encounters checkpoint after checkpoint, soldier after wanton soldier, and since not a single Palestinian car is allowed on the road, one cannot help but feel that this city has essentially become a prison.
Hebron - Friday Morning
After parking the car, we were immediately flooded with threatening questions and comments from the soldiers, who are scattered throughout every corner of the city center: Where are you going? Why are you here? You can’t be here. Where do you live? We kept walking, well aware of our legal right to be there, but the soldiers stopped us, demanding to see our IDs, which would be a regular occurrence throughout the day. Since we don’t reside in Hebron, the soldiers wanted to see an order permitting us to be there, however we insisted that we, like other Jews there, were completely within our legal right and continued on our way. After meeting with Issa for a while undisturbed, a policeman approached us, asked for our IDs and informed us that the whole area was a closed military zone and that at any moment he was authorized to evacuate us. We were made to feel that it was a crime just being there to meet with a friend, although the policeman did allow us to conclude our meeting. It is clear that the IDF does not want Israelis and Palestinians meeting and uses any means at their disposal for preventing the maintenance of these relations.
As we were leaving Hebron, accompanied by police escorts both in back and in front of us, another policeman decided to stop us, gratuitously, right at the exit. Ezra got very angry about being stopped by this specific police officer, who has been known to repeatedly verbally abuse him. Today, Ezra’s frustration got the best of him and told the officer that he was “stupid.” This led to him and another Ta’ayush member (who defended Ezra) to be detained. Clearly it is extreme to be arrested for calling a police ‘stupid’. The remainder of the group was forced to leave the entire area of Hebron and Kiryat Arba under the authority of, you guessed it, a closed military zone order. The police escorted us out of the area under penalty of arrest. That was the end of our day.
Ezra after being arrested
Although we had planned on visiting Hilltop 26 to document the new additions constructed by the settlers, this was made impossible because the closed military zone order applied to this hilltop as well. As we drove out, beside the series of two-meter high electrical poles, we also saw an IDF jeep parked next to the outpost, clearly protecting the area. Issa informed me that the electric poles were put up within the last two days and that the settlers have been moving rocks making way for a mobile home. This is a major escalation in construction and exactly what we describe in our op-ed piece. The fact that the army has now stationed a jeep at the outpost is clear evidence of their intention to continue working together to create new facts on the ground in the southern west bank.
Joseph Dana and Mairav Zonszein
Presence as a Purpose
May 15th
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.
Double Standards at Hilltop 26
May 9th
Ta’ayush is on the frontline of the settlement expansion war. We have been observing illegal outposts and settlement growth and, more importantly, have been documenting how the State of Israel is helping and encouraging this process. The official Israeli position regarding settlements is borderline make believe. Yesterday, at a small hilltop outside of the uber-settlement Kiryat Arba, Ta’ayush experienced and obtained proof of this phenomenon.
To begin recounting the day, I am placing a video of Amiel explaining the objectives of Ta’ayush yesterday at hilltop 26.
After this video was taken we hiked up the hilltop and stumbled upon 20 or 30 Russians that were on a tour of the outpost. We were expecting to see the usual group of adolescents who hang out there, but were surprised to see a group of Russian-Israelis touring the area. As soon as we began building the structure, individuals from this tour group began using physical violence against us. The Russians were screaming, kicking the structure, and generally being very violent. I was personally pushed, kicked and screamed at as I stood in front of the structure as a human shield. More and more settlers from Kiryat Arba arrived at the outpost. The Palestinians began to sing various chants and then the settlers responded with the chanting of Hatikva.
The singing and insults continued as well as the building of the structure. Eventually the Army came along with what seemed like a unit of radical settlers, among them, the notorious and insane Baruch Marzel. The Russians vanished. It was clear to everyone that the army was going to declare a ‘closed military zone’ and remove us, the Israeli and Palestinian peace activists. It took a long time to get the order and so the Palestinians continued to build the protest structure while the settlers yelled and screamed at everyone that was in earshot.
The way that the settlers would talk to the Army was incredible. I have never seen such disrespect and vile comments. They would boss them around with insults, threats and screams. For example, Issa, one of the leaders of Youth Against Settlements and an amazingly brave man placed a Palestinian flag on top of the protest structure. The security officer of Kiryat Arba, Ofer (pictured) began yelling insults at the soldiers, shocked at the fact that they were allowing the flag to continue waving despite his calls to bring it down. He was screaming that the soldiers were weak and were defiling their own identity as Jews.
Ofer in the black T-shirt. Photo by acrosstheborderline.wordpress.com
Ultimately the famed settler leader Baruch Marzel climbed atop the structure and burned the flag. The soldiers were commanded to protect the settlers despite the latter’s insults. It was like watching an abusive relationship and I am left wondering why more Israelis and specifically former soldiers, regardless of political orientation, do not come out and say that the settlers are not nice people. Why then do we keep helping them? What have they done for the greater good?
As the settlers got more excited, they got more violent. One of the settler children, who must have been about 11 or 12, sat himself just outside the protest structure with a Torah and began chanting holy verses. This obviously created a huge commotion and the police forcibly removed him from the structure. Once this child was removed he ran over to the settler outpost and wrapped some cloth around a stick, set it on fire and threw the flaming stick on top of the structure. A Palestinian was able to quickly throw it off but it was a sign that the settlers were serious and that the army was not going to stop them.
After this incident, Baruch Marzel became violent. He attacked Amos repeatedly, each time pushing, kicking and shoving him. The whole time the army did very little to reprimand and remove Marzel. At one point, another settler with Marzel hit the head of a female member of Ta’ayush, Miriam, causing her to fall to the ground. Miriam is a small woman, but has more tenacity then the entire group combined and as soon as she got up she pleaded with the army to arrest the crazy settler, the entire settler group began laughing at her and making fun of her pleas. So picture the scene, a group of ten or fifteen settlers attacking Israeli peace activists, while the army, by this time at least two units, stood by and watched, protecting the settlers.
The ‘closed military zone’ order finally came and the soldiers, who had until now been quiet, almost stoic, became instantly violent. They began pushing, shoving and throwing women down to the ground as they commanded us to leave. Ta’ayush wanted to exercise our rights as citizens of the State of Israel and see the order, photograph it, make sure it was legal and make sure that the settlers would be removed as well, in accordance with the order. However we were not properly shown the order and the settlers were not removed. The army began throwing stun grenades at us and pushed us, screaming at us to leave the area or face arrest.
Amiel and Amos decided that they would stay until the settlers were removed because the settlers were not being evacuated from the outpost and so they sat down peacefully. You can clearly see in the video what happens to them. The Army began then to arrest anyone around Amiel and Amos even if they were walking. You have to keep in mind that we were about fifty or more people trying to walk down a hill with no road. The soldiers would yell WALK! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! And even if you were walking and wanted to leave, there were too many people and you had nowhere to go and so you would be pushed and shoved and kicked. The force was completely out of line and I am deeply saddened when I think of it. The message is clear: the IDF is protecting this outpost, we do not want you to come here and we have the power to beat you up if you come here.
Finally we got to an area that the army decided was ok for us to be in and after some more scuffles, the army left. Eight people from Ta’ayush were arrested. The three Ta’ayush members that were not arrested began to call the media in order to get the story out. Luckily, Mairav was able to get a hold of a contact at Haaretz and they agreed to get a story up on the internet. As we were making phone calls the Palestinians living in the area welcomed us for tea which is the standard among Palestinians in the West Bank. Nothing can be done without a lot tea.
After some deliberation, we decided that we would go back to hilltop 26 and record the fact that the settlers were still there in clear violation of the ‘closed military zone’ order. Actually, the settlers came to us. They descended the hill into the village as an act of provocation and machismo. I was later told by a resident of village that this is a usual occurrence especially on Fridays. We ran to the hill, thinking that the settlers were going to be violent but they quickly ran back to their outpost. We were able to see a couple of IDF soldiers standing on the hilltop and decided to leave. It was clear evidence that not only is the IDF protecting the illegal outpost but they are actively involved with it continued existence.
The members of Taayush in jail were going to be there for a while, and we had to get all the video to the media. At about five in the evening the police released all those arrested. Their crime? Not obeying the ‘closed military order’. The settlers were also guilty of this crime but that did not wind them up in jail for six hours. The jailed members of Ta’ayush had to sign a document stating that they would not enter the West Bank for six days and they were released. By this point in the evening, Reuters was publishing the story .
An Email from Friend Number 6
May 6th
I received an e mail this afternoon from a dear friend about my recent post. I would like to include it for his/her perspective is a welcome and interesting one. Please comment directly on the blog next time friend number 6 
Hey Ibn Ezra
I’ve been following your blog lately and after reading your latest post, I have to ask you why you think this is a new phenomenon or at least an uptick? It has long been known that the security forces in the territories often times use unnecessary violence against both Palestinians and activists who support them. The most famous example in recent years has been the weekly protests in Bil’in and Na’alin. Also, it is well known that the Shin Bet open files on activists, actively surveilles them and go so far as to block them from working for the government.
Regarding the New Profile protest last week in Tel Aviv, of course it is shocking and abhorant. My ex-girlfriend lives across the street from the police station and described to me in shock what had happened and showed me videos of clear police violence. However, to me there are two issues involved with this particular case. The first issue – that you wrote about – is the institutional violence of police and security forces against activists in Israel. As I said, this is shocking and wrong, but I do not believe that it is anything new – either in Israel nor in many other countries including the US. From the day after I arrived in Israel I have witnessed unrepentant violence at the hands of the police and the apathy of the public as well as the legal system towards this behavior. From stories that I have heard from my father going back 50+ years, this is no new phenomenon. Outisde of Scandinavia, it can pretty much be assumed that there is a good chance that any protest or protest activity that directly challenges the state or its polices might be met with violence, regardless of how non-violent the action is. Both Ghandi and MLK – the “Kings of non-violent protest” – were all too aware that their non-violent actions would be met with violence from the authorities. I don’t know about Ghandi, but before every action, MLK’s organizations would hold workshops to make sure that everyone involved would be willing and able to endure violence at the hands of the police without retaliating. I hope you don’t take this as any sort of justification or acceptance of violence by the police. I am merely trying to point out that it is nothing new, and furthermore something that should be expected when taking protest action (not because it is right, but because you should be prepared for the likely reaction of the other side–in this case, the police). The second issue, much more scary to me is what led to the protests in the first place. The outright silencing (shutting down their websites and arresting the leaders) of a peaceful activist group is much more severe in my mind. This to me represents something new, something completely undemocratic and vile.
Basically, even in a democracy violence at the hands (or rifle butts) of the police can be expected, not only towards activists but towards anyone who gets in their way, defies their orders, personally pisses them off or in one humorous case, refuses to put his wizard costume back on. I stand with you completely, but I’m slightly surprised by your surprise by the tactics of the police. Police are often-times thugs.
Uptick
May 6th
There is a question in my mind about the relative increase in violence used by the police against the left in Israel. As we can see by the accounts of the feminists in Tel Aviv from New Profile, the police violence is not limited to peace activists in the West Bank where there might be some, albeit weak, legal precedents for using force, bully force. I can say from my experience that in every situation that I have encountered with the IDF and the police in the West Bank there has been the same mix of violence and weird compassion displayed by the soldiers. I mean that every unit tends to have one or two soldiers/police officers that are visibly aggressive people. These are the soldiers that hit people with their rifles as they are peacefully respecting orders to leave the area or kicking activist’s cameras. Obviously, it is best to stay away from these crackpots that take pleasure in abusing the little power that they have. On a side note, often I feel in Israel, not just with soldiers but with society, that if someone has the power to inconvenience they use it. At cafes, the supermarket, on the bus, wherever. It is as if there is some irrational need for confrontation in our society.
I would not want to mess with this guy. photo by Jesse Hochheiser
Regardless, the other component that is intriguing about these army units are the soldiers that clearly understand what they are doing is wrong. An example sticks out in my mind,from a couple of weeks ago Taayush accompanied Palestinian farmers to their farm land just under the notorious settlement of Asahel. Upon our arrival the settlers unleashed a barrage of stone throwing and verbal insults, horrific verbal insults. The whole time the army sat and watched the situation protecting and enabling the settlers. As I often like to do, I began asking the soldiers to look at who they are protecting. I try and reason with them about their enabling actions and tell them that they have a voice and should use it. Often I am told to shut up but that day there was a solider from Boston. So we began to have a conversation in English which consisted mostly of me telling him that what he was doing is wrong and he should stand up and refuse to protect the insane people of Asahel. He obviously agreed with me but could not say anything as his commander was continually telling me to “shut the fuck up”. The look of disgust this solider had on his face has not left me. It is incredible to see someone’s conscience working in front of your eyes.
photo by Jesse Hochheiser
The following day I posted a video of part of our interaction on Youtube only to receive a comment from the solider informing me that he totally agreed with everything that I was saying and what Taayush was doing. He informed me that he was unable to talk further that day because his commander would have not taken it well, to say the least. This is a cute story but in the end I am sure that the solider is still serving in that outpost or in the area despite the fact that he knows it is wrong. The psychology of these people is an interesting subject for another post.
And that brings me back to violence against New Profile and the feminists in Tel Aviv. I wonder why all of the sudden the government is cracking down on these groups. Does it have something to do with our new right wing government? Are we heading for a period of crackdown on dissent? In the past month, members of Taayush have been followed by undercover Shin Bet officers and most members are convinced that their phones are being tapped. What can we do?
One of my reasons for traveling to the southern West Bank outside of forging meaningful relationships with Palestinians is to expose the blatant disregard of Israeli law as it applies to Israeli Jews by the IDF and police. The insanity that we find there, not enjoying freedom of movement because of political views for example, needs to be written about for the general Israeli public. Often I feel that it is beyond abuse of power and I am worried that it is on the uptick based on what has happened in recent weeks.
More Susya
May 6th
I have gotten some more photos from last Saturday’s action in Susya. These selective photos are coming from a photographer with Combatants for Peace. I am posting them because you can see the land owners enjoying their well as we are arguing with the IDF (see videos below). I think that they are powerful and reflect the absurdity of these military closed zone orders. Combatants for Peace have posted a small recount of Susya and can be found here.
Photo by combatants for peace
photo by Combatants for Peace
photo by combatants for peace
without explanation
May 5th
The following is a rough English transcript of two videos taken on Saturday at the village of Susya. For more information see my earlier post.
At Nasir’s Well in Susya 1:
Soldier 1: Closed Military Zone: 3 minutes to evacuate to the main road, or we will begin arresting people. 3 minutes.
Amiel: I want to see the order. Please I want to see the order. I want, please to see the Closed Military Zone, and the map, we will photograph both things.
Soldier 2: This is strictly kosher
Amiel: Now, everyone knows that the Closed Military Zone gives you the discretion to decide if to enforce it or not, and so the question is if you intend to enforce it or not on us presently.
Solider 1: 2 minutes.
Amiel: Do you intend to enforce it despite the fact that you are preventing people from reaching their well.
Photographer: It is their well.
Amiel: This is their private land and they are permitted to be here. You can decide not to enforce this order because this order is problematic. Are you insisting on enforcing it?
Soldier 1: The answer is affirmative. The answer is two more minutes.
Amiel: Can you please give me your personal information?
Solider 1: (interrupting) No.
Amiel: You are a soldier that is currently acting as a police office. According to the laws of the State of Israel you are obligated to give me your information.
Soldier 2: There is an order here that is signed by the commander.
Ofra: You are a border policeman. You are aware that he has to identify himself and disclose his personal number. He is not identified.
Solider 2: You have two minutes to evacuate the area, and if you do not, we will be forced to use our hands. I am informing you elegantly and officially that you have two minutes to evacuate the area. Otherwise we will be forced to use our hands. Goodbye.
Soldier 1: Two minutes.
Ofra: Tell me your name.
Second video which is a continuation of the conversation.
At Nasir’s Well in Susya 2
Soldier 1: (reciting the order to Amiel) A person is allowed to enter or remain in an area according to the commander’s discretion.
Amiel: Then according to clause number 4, this is what applies to him (the settler) according to your discretion, this man is allowed to remain here on private Palestinian land, he is not prevented from doing so, whereas others, who have come with the land owner, they are prevented from entry to this are. I just want to get an answer to this. And the answer is?
Solider 2: The answer is…this area is a Closed Military Zone. It is not private land.
Amiel: So Palestinians are…but this person is allowed…
Soldier 2: According to the decision of the military commander it is a Military Zone, and he decides who can and who cannot.
Amiel: His full authority. And this decision to have discretion, it should be explanatory. Can you explain it?
Solider 2: No.
Amiel: Without an explanation.
Solider 2: No explanation.
Amiel: Right? It is this kind of thing, whereby you illegally exploit…
Solider: No
Amiel: what are you granted, is the right to make a decision according to your discretion, and in this respect, you should be able to explain it.
Soldier: I don’t have to explain it to you.
Solider 2: He is exercising his discretion right now – that’s it. It is not up for argument. It is not up fro argument.
Amiel: Ok, we got that on tape. That’s all.
Ofra : What is your name?
Solider 2: Girman.
Ofra: Girman what?
Solider 2: Gilman, Girman Gilman.
Ofra: What is the name of your officer? He did not identify himself. Please teach him the protocol.
Solider 2: (turning to solider 1) You didn’t identify yourself ? Identify yourself.
Solider 1: (name inaudible)
Ofra: get to know the rules. Know how you are acting, what you are doing. Thank you everyone we are leaving.
More Questions at Hilltop 26
May 16th
Posted by Joseph Dana in Southern Hebron Hills
5 comments
Safa and Hilltop 26 16 May 2009
We met at the usual place. We split up our group and set off to the southern West Bank. My group was going to meet with farmers in the village of Safa. The other half of Ta’ayush was off to Um Zetuna. We arrived at Safa and met with the farmers that had been working since the early morning with a group of Israeli and international peace activists. The army had been quiet and since the farm land was in a deep wadi, it usually takes time for the settlers to understand that the farmers are working. After about an hour, a group of settlers appeared on the horizon and began chanting ‘death to Arabs’. This is predictable settler behavior and we continued working.
Eventually the Army arrived on the scene with a closed military zone order for the farm land that we were working. The normal conversations began but this time Amiel came with a print out of this Supreme Court decision. Amiel began reading aloud from the decision which states that the farmers must have access to their lands without the threat of closed military zone orders and harassment by the settlers. Amiel’s final plea was directly to the commander and he informed him that if the army evacuates us from the area it will be his personal decision and Ta’ayush will sue him directly for his illegal conduct. After that, the commander went back to his jeep. Apparently, Amiel had struck a nerve and the commander took some pause at the thought that he could be held personally accountable for breaking the law. Seldom have I witnessed a soldier ponder the ramifications of his decision to enforce a closed military zone.
The army did not bother us any longer after Amiel’s talk. The sun grew hotter and hotter as the day wore on. Eventually we sat and talked about the situation in the West Bank. Today, a journalist from the United States, Max Blumenthal, joined Ta’ayush. He is working on a number of web videos about the reality of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. We spoke with him about the work of Ta’ayush and the situation in south Hebron. I asked him if he planned on traveling to Gaza. Max reported that in to get press permission to travel in Gaza, one has to sign military censor permission. Journalists are not allowed to publish the names of any generals or commanders that are involved in war crimes in Gaza. Sounds like an interesting story in itself.
Doing some interviews in Safa
Everyone jumped on tractors for a lift out of the wadi, which was the scariest part of the day and went back to the village. We had a brief rest in Safa en route to hilltop 26 with the rest of Ta’ayush. I have written about hilltop 26 here and here.
Our goal today at hilltop 26 was simple: check the situation, view the almost certain ‘closed military zone’ order that the army would greet us with and document the fact that the army does not remove the settlers. Today, however, things took a slightly different course.
We arrived at hilltop 26 and were greeted by the same group of teenage settlers. There was an IDF jeep parked right on the dirt road leading to the outpost which was a new development. Upon our arrival, the settlers reacted with normal barrage of petty insults and provocations. Often their dogs come over to us for attention and love, something I am sure they do not receive from the settlers. The settlers were enraged when we would pet the dogs and immediately removed them and then yelled at us for touching them. One dog went to an Italian woman from the International Solidarity Movement for attention. The settlers proclaimed that a bitch was petting a bitch. This is the normal rhetoric that comes out of their mouths.
The army unit slowly grew over the course of half an hour and finally they imposed a closed military zone on the area as we had expected. We protested the fact that the settlers were not being removed. For some reason, still unclear at this point, the IDF removed the settlers. Removed is too strong a word. The IDF ‘removes’ peace activists and today they asked the settlers to leave, at their own pace and in their own time.
Why did the IDF honor the law today? You can see in the video that one settler informs the commander that we (Ta’ayush) want the army not to remove the settlers so that we can record it. His source for this information….this very blog. Thanks for the support!
Ta’ayush was not able to see whether the settlers were fully and permanently removed from the area because we were threatened with arrest and had to leave in a hurry. I can guarantee that the settlers returned to the outpost shortly after we left the area. Today was the first time that the IDF enforced the closed military zone on the settlers. What can this mean for the legality of the land? Can we expect the army to remove the settlers every time we show up at the outpost? Are we merely in a lull of intensity there because of the Prime Minister traveling to Washington in a couple of days? Are our actions contributing towards the ultimate removal of this outpost? Are the settlers going to continue to read my writing even if they cannot understand English?
Ta'ayush activsts standing where our protest tent was constructed last week
There are many questions and not many answers right now. We have had some successful actions over the past days but many questions have arisen out of them. Being a peace activist takes time, patience and now that the summer is close, sunscreen.