Settlements

This week has been spent attending movement meetings, training and going on solidarity visits. Emotions have run riot inside of me and i have felt more highs and lows in the space of week than i thought humanly possible.. Despite regularly campaigning in solidarity with Palestinians back home, it's scary how quickly you can forget just how extreme this country is. I don't know why but this time, i get a much stronger sense of being in what could quite easily be one of the world's largest prisons. Barbed wire tops every wall, barriers flank every road and soldiers sit around casually, holding M16's and drinking coffee.
The feelings these sights evoke goes beyond words.

The day after i arrived, i re-visited Susiya, a Palestinian farming community in the South Hebron Hills. I was one of approximately 120 internationals, Palestinians and Israelis, all present to hear what the farmers had to say and show our solidarity with their particular struggle. Settlers.


Throughout the West Bank there are numerous illegal settlements. Illegal under Article 49 of the Forth Geneva Convention - "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies" - and additionally because in July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the occupation, Wall and israeli settlements were all in violation of international law and must therefore be ended. The ICJ has since urged the international community to uphold said law and in no way support or condone the existing situation. As it stands today, the Wall's construction continues as does the expansion of settlements.

The building of settlements first came about after the 1967 War because 'conditioned orthodox' israelis felt they weren't a real part of creating the State of Israel. Back then, they considered and called themselves the 'new pioneers', delving into land which they believed to be theirs by the Right of God. Nowadays however quite a few settlers, especially around Jerusalem, live in the settlements for convenience - in order to be close to the city.
But there remain those whose reason for being in the West Bank goes beyond convenience. Those who actively seek out confrontation and are one of the most extreme peoples you can ever come across. I say this from experience and next week, i think my blogs will reflect this. I'm going to work in the Tel Rumeida project in Hebron, H2 - the israeli settler area to be exact.
Physical attacks, stone throwings and house invasions aimed at both Palestinians and Internationals are a day-to-day occurrence. And that's the light end of the abuse. Due to their religious convictions and belief that the land is theirs, the main goal of the settlers is to terrorise the Palestinians to such an extent that they are forced away from their homes and land altogether.

Jerusalem is an interesting case. It has notably changed over the past 59 years, (since israel was founded in 1948). It is commonly known as being made up of three main areas:

• West Jerusalem - part of israel since before the 1967 Six Day War.
• East Jerusalem - taken from Palestinians and annexed during the 1967 War. It's worth noting that nobody, not even the US, recognises israels right to annexe E.Jerusalem.
• Greater Jerusalem - more commonly known as the 'Jerusalem Envelope'.

The largest settlements form the 'Jerusalem Envelope'. The clue's in the title as the four settlements literally 'envelope' or surround all three West Bank sides of Jerusalem.
To the north is Givat Ze'ev. To the east - Ma'ale Adumin (which cuts the W.B in half and runs from E.Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley) and to the south are Gilo and Gush Etzion (literally meaning Zionist Bloc).

The Wall is currently being constructed around the Envelope to form an enclave around the settlements, essentially cutting deeper into the already occupied West Bank and linking the Envelope more strongly and officially with israel.
Not only are Palestinians in Jerusalem politically cut off from their family and friends in the West Bank (and vice versa) but now, due to the construction of Wall, these settlements and the Wall will physically cut 1000's of Palestinians off from their families. As if they need to be reminded of the geographically short but emotionally huge gulf that exists between them.

Further south in Susiya, the settlements are having just as great an impact on the surrounding Palestinian community. Here especially, settlers build 'mobile' homes (on the outskirts of existing settlements) closer and closer to Palestinian homes and land. Once they've taken that area with their mobile homes, they then build permanent ones thus expanding the settlement. A good example of this is Efrata, part of Gush Etzion. Using this method, they have expanded at such a phenomenal rate that is now one of the largest settlement in the West Bank, stretching from the Jerusalem Envelope down to Beit Ommar, near Bethlehem.
Built extra-judicially, these mobile homes are actually illegal under israeli law, yet somehow, they managed to get connected to mains electricity. As provided by the state of israel.

Listening to the farmers speak of the constant attacks, terrorising and grazing of settler goats on their land, i have never felt so simultaneously disempowered and in awe. Their houses have been burnt to the ground, their land torched and their families harassed, humiliated and terrorized. But even in the face of such atrocities, they don't give up. Far from it. On top of their continued non-violent resilience to such attacks, they organise themselves. They network with Christian, Jewish and International groups to raise awareness and support of their situation and continue to fight their case in front of the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice.
When i think of all those people around the world who can't even muster enough energy to go on a demonstration or attend an event in solidarity with these people, i feel tears of anger rising inside of me and am overwhelmed by the sheer size of the task ahead.

But i know my tears won't change their situation. So instead i'll just deal with it and use the privilege i have as someone born on different soil to stand by their side, hoping i can play a part in moving them closer to a life where, heaven forbid, they can farm their land, feed their family and not have to fear for the safety of their loved ones.