What on earth am I doing here? I am asking myself this question a lot over the past twenty minutes or has it been an hour? By now I have been coming with Taayush for the past couple of months and have understood the risk involved with being a peace activist in the South Mt Hebron area of the West Bank. I have been aware that I could be arrested or hurt by a rock thrown by a settler (which happen two weeks ago in Asahel) but live bullets; I have not been expecting that. Now here I am in the middle of a confrontation between the IDF and the villagers of Safa.

We began our day with a group of former Israeli combat soldiers called Combatants for Peace on a visit to Susya. The trip was a bit boring for us, the members of Taayush, as we are accustomed to traveling to Susya every Saturday and consider the village a bit of a home base in the Southern West Bank. The goal for Combatants for Peace was a solidarity visit and an educational tour. Taayush wanted to accomplish other objectives, namely showing the group the illegal outpost of Givat HaDegal which the settlers of Susya have been building for the past five months. After some convincing, we were able to persuade the group to walk to the well of Nasser, the owner of the land in Susya. We understood that the Army would surely block the action and thus create a standoff between us, 50 or so Israeli peace activists and the IDF. Indeed that was the case and as soon as we arrived at the well the army produced a military closed zone order and gave two minutes to leave or face arrest. Logically, the members of Taayush wanted to create a media event exposeing the arbitrary nature of the order but Combatants for Peace were not interested and as it was their activity, we followed their directive not before getting the absurdity of the IDF order on tape.

So our band of ten Taayush members decided to check on a illegal outpost called Givah(hilltop) 26. We have been monitoring the creation of ‘clubhouse’ of sorts for the youth of Kiryat Arba right outside the settlement on privately owned Palestinian land. Often the settlers are able to create insane legal ‘justifications’ for their activities of taking land. A common example is the ShBam which is an acronym for special security zone. Basically the army and the settlers are able to draw up an invisible barrier that no Palestinian is allowed to enter for security reasons. Sometimes these areas are a couple of hundred meters, sometimes they can be a kilometer, and there are no rules. The land within the ShaBam, if it is suitable, is often incorporated into the settlement by way of caravan’s and other illegal structures.

The situation at Givah 26, the land outside of Kiryat Arba is beyond the grasp of the ShaBam and as such there is no, not even weak, legal foundation for taking over the land. So we paid a visit to see what the facts on the ground were. To our dismay, the ‘clubhouse’ had grown in size from our last visit and the settlers had brought gas for cooking and sofas for hanging around. Our objective today was clear; have the IDF come and issue a closed military zone order which applies to all citizens in said zone and document the fact that they remove us from the area and not the settlers in clear violation of the law. Yesterday, that did not occur because we received a frantic call informing us that settlers from the settlement of Beit Ayin, the site of the attack on a 13 year old boy settler exactly a month ago, had opened fire on local Palestinians civilians in the neighboring village of Safa. Our presence as Israelis was needed to help end the violence and we jumped in the van.

Of course, all the details were not clear as we made the journey to Safa through the West Bank. All we knew was that something major was happening and our unofficial leader, Amiel, informed us that there was a serious risk involved in this action; if we wanted to remain in the transport no one would be offended. Of course, no one remained in the transport when we arrived in Safa.

As we walked through the village, the feeling of uncertainly and fear grow inside of me. For one, we were walking through an Arab village in which everyone was on the street ready for a fight. Everyone was waiting to see what was going to happen next. Entire families were on their rooftops and every male from the age of 10 was on the street. We walked through the village and tried to ascertain what to do. In the distance, we could see the army in positions in the settlement overlooking the village with guns drawn. We were tense and it was not clear what should be done and then it all began. All of sudden, everyone on the street started to shout and clap and collectively yell in anticipation. With the yelling came the first stun grenade.  And then came the gunfire.

Quickly we realized that we were in an exposed position. We were in the middle of the street in an Arab village that the IDF had just invaded.  One of the Palestinian members of Taayush, Issa, who looks a bit like Santa Claus informed us with a caring but scared smile that we must enter a house and get out of the line of fire. And so there we were on the balcony of a house owned by an Arab family who welcomed us amid the violence and terror with tea and coffee.

And so we kept our position next to the house of the family that was kind enough to allow shelter and coffee. Women around were in tears as a result of the fear and uncertainty. Some childern were crying others were trying to fiqure who we were and why we were there. I will never forget the eighty year women looking at us and repeating violence violence in Hebrew  amid tears as if it was the only word that she knew.

 The firing stopped and I found out later in the evening that Amiel had called the Army and informed them that Israelis were present. While it did not seem like it during the fighting, our presence made a difference. As the sun was setting the action came to an end. We encircled the gate of the kind family’s home and welcomed more tea. We drank our tea as the Army unit amassed in front of us on their way out of the village. Issa added, ‘that once you join our side you get tea until then no tea’ to the soldiers and they finally rumbled away in their jeeps kicking up dust and leaving the bitter taste of war and occupation in everyone’s mouth.

Issa is the man with the beard

So we packed up and made our way back to Jerusalem after another long and emotional Saturday in the occupied West Bank. This time I was too exhausted to reflect on the fact that I was going back to ‘safe’ Jerusalem while these people of Safa had to stay with the uncertainty of what the night and the next day will bring from the settlers.  

I feel like I am seeking to experience the paradox of Israel and the occupation. I want to be in situations that reflect the absurdity of this conflict. I want to experience the bonds that people form in spite of war and terror. The bonds that we are not supposed to have and have to face roadblocks in order to create. The issue that is pressing in my mind right now is our exit from the village. I mean, here we were a group of 10 or so Israeli peace activists in the middle of a Palestinian village during and after a confrontation between the IDF and the Palestinians. One would think that after the IDF had invaded the town and shot four residents that it would be a hostile environment for Israeli to be in but the opposite was true. As we left the city, the townspeople waved and smiled to us. Warm and friendly as they always are. At one point, a young guy asked Yehuda his name and when Yehuda responded he was obviously surprised to find an Israeli standing in front of him. We talked for a bit about what we were doing in village and our desire to protecting innocent people and expose what the IDF was doing. The conversation ended with handshakes and an invitation to come back and have tea. I realized that these Palestinians do not harbor hatred towards Israeli or Jews. They are engaged in battle for life with the IDF and the settlers.