Occupation: As Easy as A, B and C

Abu Ayl stands with us on the roof of his house in the picturesque West Bank Village of Far’ata. The landscape around us is spectacular: behind us to the west in far the distance -inaccessible to West Bank Palestinians- is a shimmering golden band of Mediterranean sea and the fertile plains of Israel; to the south, rows of olive covered hills slalom towards the large Israeli settlement of Ariel, which runs the length of the finger shaped mountain marking the horizon about 10 kilometres away. A mile away to the north east, the pretty, developed and prosperous looking Israeli settlement of Qedumim nestles in the hills amongst pine trees. Around us are the Palestinian villages of Immatin and Far’ata.  Abu points towards  the Israeli settlement outpost of Havat Gil’ad around ½ a mile to the east.

Abu Ayl

“These caravans are new,” He says, pointing to some structures at the edge of the loose cluster of shacks and buildings; “They were not there a few weeks ago.”

Abu Ayl owns land over the brow of the hill just in front to the Havat Gil’ad outpost but is not allowed to access it except for two days in a year and only then under Israeli army supervision. The day before meeting us he had went to his land where Israeli soldiers were posted to prevent Jewish settlers attacking him. He found 150 of his olive trees had been taken down by chainsaw. The soldiers looked on as he returned to his house and came back with a camera to record the damage. As he took pictures a solider came over to him and asked him:

“How does this make you feel?”

“Angry. I want to do something about this...it hurts that I can’t do anything.”

“I don’t blame you.” the soldier said; “I’d feel the same”

An example of the damage done to Abu Ayl's 50-100 year old Olive Trees

We look across at the Havat Gil’ad outpost. Except for the electricity cables running out of it along the hill tops towards Qedumim its collection of tents and caravans look like the setting for a Western movie. It is occupied by extremist settlers who believe they have a God given right to occupy any land in the area they refer to the “Jewish Heartlands” of Judea and Samaria, and which the rest of the world knows as the West Bank. The outpost (like all settlements here, even the plush Qedumim to the north-west and the 20,000 strong urban block of Ariel to the south) is illegal under Article 49 of the 4th Geneva convention, but outposts such as this (of which there are over 100 in the West Bank) are illegal even under Israeli law and as such should not be provided with civic services. Havat Gil’ad has been there since 2001; despite its illegality the villagers in Far’ata say the Israeli authorities supplied it with electricity, water and sanitation within days of its construction.

The West Bank is partitioned into 3 areas as a result of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Under the Oslo Accords a newly formed Palestinian Authority was given control of area A and a degree of joint authority over Area B. Area C would remain under full Israeli Military control for a transitional period before being “gradually transferred” to the Palestinian Authority. Abu Ayl’s land is in Area C, which, according to The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, takes up 62% of the land area of the West Bank. Area C holds about 1/6^th of the West Bank’s population, the rest of which is concentrated in urban blocks in Area A and villages in Area B. Patches of Areas A and B are separated from one another by Area C’s strips of Israeli settlements and the roads which connect them. Life in area C is hard if you are not a settler; Save the Children recently published a report saying that the development of children in parts of area C is worse than anywhere in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza.

The Oslo Accords, which fragmented the West Bank into these areas was supposed to be an historic first step towards achieving Palestinian statehood and a lasting peace with Israel. It turned into a disaster for Palestinians. The transitional period and gradual transfer never materialised; instead the Accords marked the beginning of a period which  prompted the Second Intifada (which according to Israeli Human Rights organisation B’Tselem cost upwards of 6000 lives up to the end of 2008, almost 5000 of those Palestinian); the subsequent construction of an separation barrier, (85% of which is built illegally on Palestinian land and which has B’Tselem says has exasperated the impoverishment of many Palestinians in the West Bank) and  the transfer of almost 200,000 Israelis into area C , adding to the 100,000 already there and a further 200,000 who now  live in East Jerusalem. This created what Ariel Sharon called “facts on the ground”: Human and concrete obstacles to a unified, economically viable Palestinian state. Many Palestinians and Israelis see Oslo as having failed, but the fragmentation of the West Bank into area’s A, B and C (a part of the deal that was supposed to be temporary) has become a feature of life since.

Famers like Abu Ayl, who own land close to settlements and their outposts, are often barred from freely accessing their land. There is danger of being attacked by violent settlers. Rather than punishing the criminality of settlers, the Israeli authority chooses to punish the victims by restricting their movement.

Part of Abu Ayl’s modest income comes from the olive harvest. As a result of the vandalism, this year and in the years to come there will be no income from that.

Though working against the law, settlers who populate the outposts such as Havat Gil’ad advance the cause of the settlement project envisioned by Sharon and other Jewish Nationalists. They are the “facts on the ground” and are often violent, uncompromising, and allowed to attack, intimidate, frighten and hurt Palestinians by a military authority that is unwilling to hold them to same rigorous account as it does Palestinians.

Standing on the roof-top in the sunshine, I ask Abu Ayl if we can go to his land to see close up. He smiles ruefully and shakes his head:

“The settlers came into the village last night with soldiers; they walked around and went home...they want to show us they can go anywhere. We cannot go to my land; it is too dangerous for you.”

I protest: It’s his land; surely we can go and keep our distance?

 “Listen,” he said; “A few years ago they attacked my son, they broke his hand, fractured his skull, when they saw him again a year later, they asked him; what are you doing here? Last time we broke your hand and head; what do you think we will do to you next time?”

The Outpost: Illegal under international law, Illegal under Israeli law but with amenities provided by the Israeli authorities. Go figure.

As we stand in silence and look out again at the Havat Gil’ad Outpost, I wonder again at the similarities of this place to the Wild West; at the existence of such ugliness amidst such beauty and how those who claim to be chosen and guided by God can act in this way.

I work for Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) as an ecumenical accompanier serving on the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained in this article are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer (QPSW) or the World Council of Churches. If you would like to publish the information contained here (including on a website) or distribute it further, please contact the QPSW Programme Manager at  teresap@quaker.org.uk