America and Europe may cling to the old, faithful two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, but the Israeli prime minister sees nothing in it. “A Palestinian state would mean a terror state,” said Naftali Bennett last month after Angela Merkel pulled out that old magic formula once again. Instead, he was willing to take steps to improve the living conditions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
This is my prelude to the deterioration of living conditions in occupied territory. Take Bennett’s Secretary of Defense, Benny Gantz. On Thursday, he discussed with the army and police the increasing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. “This is a serious phenomenon in terms of morale and security, and it has diplomatic consequences,” he said afterwards.
To illustrate, I have for you a new report of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem (State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence). Here are some accompanying figures: “From early 2020 to late September 2021, B’Tselem documented 451 settler attacks on Palestinians and their properties. These figures do not include the Jordan Valley, where violence is the order of the day. In 27 cases of the 451 settlers fired live ammunition, 180 involved physical assault, 145 involved damage to private property, 77 attacks on houses, and 35 on passing cars.”
Note the role of military and police: “The presence of military and police was recorded in 183 of these incidents. In 66 cases, units were present and did nothing; in 104 they took part in the attack, usually with rubber bullets, tear gas and flash grenades. In 22 incidents, security forces arrested Palestinians who had been attacked by settlers.” You have probably seen video images of such incidents on Twitter.
Why am I writing about this today? Om Gantz, and B’Tselem’s new report. And the short documentary Mission: Hebron (from 2020) by Israeli filmmaker Rona Segal who The New York Times also last week posted on his documentary page Op-Docs. Segal seated six soldiers who had served in Hebron and told them about their only task, to protect the small (850 male-female), very radical colony in this large Palestinian city (215,000) in the West Bank. Road closures for Palestinians – “sterile routes”, “the closer to the settlement, the stricter the sterilization”. Through searches. “It’s not about finding a knife,” says one of the soldiers. “But to make it clear to them to keep a low profile.”
Through arrests, sometimes without any clue: “Every Palestinian there is a potential terrorist.” They must protect settlers as they parade through the Palestinian streets. They are expected to leave settler children alone who throw stones at Palestinians or pepper spray. “The relationship between the settlers and the military – sometimes I didn’t know who was giving the orders.” The documentary is larded with images that speak for themselves.
Last month settlers in Hebron started building an extension. Improving the living conditions of the Palestinians? Come on. Read B’Tselem’s report. Check Mission: Hebron.
Caroline Roelants is a Middle East expert and separates the facts from the hype here every week.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of November 22, 2021
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