The New Dark Age

17 December, 2008, Written by Ahmad Jaradat, Alternative Information Center

“All my life, I have lived in a cave on my land with my parents, and later in life, with ten members of my family, but they [Israel] didn’t want me to be on my land and they are going to demolish the cave.” With these words, a resident of the Palestinian village of Walajah, located to the west of Bethlehem, began telling his story to the Jerusalem Municipality and Interior Ministry.

The ordeals of tens of families in Walajah started when the Jerusalem Municipality illegally annexed part of the village to be inside its borders in the beginning 1980s. More than 25 homes have been demolished since, and yet others are under orders of demolition. Most of these cases are still pending in the Israeli court system.

The problem of this village is much like other villages in the district which were occupied by Israel in 1967 and annexed to Jerusalem, with residents retaining only West Bank identity cards; villages such as Ber Ona to the north of Bait Jallah, Alno’man and Alkhas villages to the south east of Bethlehem. In 1982, the Municipality of Jerusalem issued annexation orders and the story of the residents’ suffering started. This act of the Israeli government placed them in a geographical and political limbo; due to the annexation of the village land, in order to build homes they needed permits from the Jerusalem Municipality, yet because they hold West Bank I.D. cards, they weren’t considered residents of Jerusalem able to petition for a building permit.

The case of Abed al-Fattah is one of the most serious cases in the struggle. He owns about 20 dunam of land and had always worked it as a farmer. However, when Israel rejected his building permit for a home, he decided to live with his family in a cave on his land. He thought that it would be a good option, because he would still be on his land and since he technically didn’t build, they would not demolish the cave. Abed’s assumptions turned out to be mistaken. Five years ago, officers from the Israeli Interior Ministry came and handed him a demolition order for the cave.

As usual in such cases, he hired a lawyer, Palestinian Israeli Sami Irshaid, and petitioned the Israeli court system to reject the demolition order.

On 16 December of this year, however, two Jeeps from the Israeli Municipality came to the cave and officers handed Abed yet another demolition order, explaining that the court accepted the Interior Ministry’s claim and the cave is scheduled to be demolished. When he refused to take the papers, the Israeli officers threw them on the ground and left the cave.

In his talk with the Alternative Information Center, Abed Rabbo said, “I have no place to stay, only my land and the cave, my family is living on the income from the land planted with olive trees and vegetables, and on which I am looking after goats and sheep. Most of the family land was taken in 1948 on the other side of the village and now they want to displace us again. If they implement the court decision, it means I will become a refugee for the second time.”

Nu’aman: A Palestinian Enclave Inside Israel

Nu’aman is a small Palestinian village, located on the southeastern border of the Jerusalem Municipality, only a few hundred meters north of the West Bank city of Beit Sahour. While the village is located on the Israeli side of the Green Line (the 1949 Armistice lines), when Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, the residents of Nu’aman were recorded as residents of the West Bank and consequently hold West Bank ID cards. The reason the Jerusalem Municipality does not want to recognize the residents of Nu’aman as Israeli residents is part of Israel’s 1967 “Demographic Balance” policy, which attempts to create and retain a Jerusalem population ratio of 28 percent Palestinians and 72 percent Jewish Israelis.

Nu’aman is composed of approximately two hundred inhabitants and twenty-four homes.

The only road to the village is through the Nu’aman Israeli military checkpoint. There are no basic services from the Jerusalem Municipality such as water, a sewage system or garbage collection. The residents depend on services from the West Bank. There are no basic health care services in the village and the Israel Border Police have refused to allow mobile clinics to cross. There are no schools in the village. If the parents have Israeli ID cards, the children are allowed to study in Umm Tuba, while others have to attend schools in the West Bank Palestinian villages of Khas or al-Ubeidiyah. Moreover, residents and the infrastructure in the village suffer from difficulties in obtaining building permits.

In contrast to Nu’aman, the newly developed settlement of Har Homa, opposite Nu’aman, has two public grammar schools, three medical clinics and three shopping centers. In Nu’aman one resident decided to use his mother’s house for a daycare center for the youth of the village—which will soon be set up with the first and only internet connection of the village.

Even after only a short time in Nu’aman, it becomes clear that the village residents are confined by checkpoints and roadblocks that Israel has set up to enforce a closure and prevent Palestinians from entering Israel. Because of this, there is also no free movement between Palestinian towns and villages.

In 2003, the Israeli military blocked the only road leading to the Palestinian village of Umm Tuba in East Jerusalem. This was also the only road that led to Jerusalem. Also in 2003, due to the construction of the Separation Wall, the village became cut off from neighboring villages in the West Bank.

In consequence, from 2003 onward, the residents of Nu’aman have been isolated from both the West Bank and Jerusalem. The residents are in an impossible situation because they are actually classified as “persons staying illegally”—meaning any contact with Israeli soldiers or border police can result in Nu’aman residents being arrested and/or face expulsion. Because of their classification, the residents of Nu’aman are not allowed to stay in neighborhoods or villages annexed by Jerusalem. They need a permit from the Israeli Civil Administration to access any part of Jerusalem.

Like residents of other Palestinian villages that were annexed by Israel in 1967—even more so because they were part of Israel even before 1967—the residents of Nu’aman demand to be classified as residents of Jerusalem and receive Israeli ID cards.

In 2004, the residents of Nu’aman petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice to dismantle the section of the Separation Wall near the village, and/or, as an alternative, to recognize the residents as legal residents of Jerusalem. The residents and the state finally agreed that the section of the Separation Wall would remain, but the residents of Nu’aman would get the Israeli ID cards. In the end, the section of the Separation Wall remained, yet the residents were not given the promised residency status.

In 2007, the residents again demanded to be recognized as Israeli residents. The petition is still pending.

A Report on the 4 December Settler Attacks on Palestinians in Hebron

Palestinians passing by tires set on fire by settlers in Hebron, protesting their forced removal from a Palestinian home on 4 December.

On Thursday, 4 December, in the early evening, hundreds of Israeli settlers from settlements in the Hebron region attacked Palestinian residents of the city of Hebron. The settlers, mostly armed young men from Kiryat Arba, split into smaller groups and set fire to five homes and nine cars. They also damaged nine other vehicles, including the city’s ambulances and a fire truck that was dispatched to put out fires started by the settlers. The settlers wounded some two dozen Palestinians, nine of whom were shot by the settlers. The serious attacks occurred in an areas that are located near Kiryat Arba, such as Wadi Nassara, Wadi Husain, Ja’bari Square and al-Ras.

Abed al-Hay Abu Is’afan, 67, who was shot in the leg by settlers, stated “When the settlers attacked our house and wanted to burn it, we tried to stop them and defend our family. One of the settlers shot my son Hisni on the left side of his chest from two meters away. And then he shot me. This happened in front of many soldiers who were in the place, but didn’t stop him or arrest him. My son is now in the hospital in serious condition.”

Other Palestinian residents were injured when Israeli settlers threw stones at them. Some residents were in their homes when attacked, others were outside trying to defend their homes. Nassar Mohammed Ali Ja’bari, 49; Radwan Mohammed Ziyada, 17; Adel Mohammed Ja’bari, 19; Rozan al-Khateeb, 12; Amal Muhtaseb, 11; Raja’ Abed al-Raouf Alkhateeb, 50; Monjed, 15; and Abed al-Raouf Muhtaseb, were hospitalized. Others were treated at the scene.

The settler attacks continued throughout the night until the early hours of Friday morning. Three settler cars entered the west side of the city that is designated H2—under Palestinian Authority control according to the Hebron Agreement, singed in 1997, ( Hebron Protocol)—freely driving around in the streets in a threatening manner.

Hisham Sharabati, who works for the human rights organization, al-Haq (www.alhaq.org), reported that, “We felt we were in a battle ground, from every direction you heard shooting, from every direction you could see fire, from every direction there were children and women calling for help. The city streets were full of armed settlers. Everything became a target for them: houses, fields, trees, people, cars, ambulances, etc.”

In addition to the rampage in downtown Hebron, there were attacks close to other settlements. Dozens of settlers from the Beit Hagai settlement, south of Hebron, attacked nearby Palestinian homes and blocked the road leading to Palestinians neighborhoods in the south of the city. Settlers from Giva’t Harsina, north of the city, attacked homes in the village of al-Muhawwel.

Dozens of settlers closed the main road at Kfar Etzion junction. Others closed the main road to Jericho near the settlement of Yeroho. Approximately ten cars were vandalized and their windows were smashed.

In the Northern West Bank, …

In the Nablus District, hundreds of settlers from many settlements, including Yizhar and Itamar, closed the main roads and stoned Palestinians cars. Groups of settlers attacked the village of Huwwara In the district of Ramallah, settlers from Hermesh closed the main road that connects the town of Aboud with Ramallah and stoned many cars. In Qalqilya District, settlers from Qedumim closed the main road between Qalqilya and Nablus.

Unfortunately, the Story not yet Finished
The forty thousands Palestinian residents of downtown Hebron must live in fear of continued settler attacks. Residents reported that the settlers said to them in Hebrew and Arabic “we will come again.” Given that the Israeli government and military did not take serious action to stop the settlers attacks, further attacks are a real possibility. Hebronites still remember the 1984 massacre in the university, when five students killed by settlers; the 1994 massacre in the mosque when 29 worshipers were killed by a settler from the U.S.; and many killings in the streets by settlers in the past.

Israeli Settlers Create More Chaos in Hebron

Settlers rioting on 2 December, against plans to evict nine settler families from the al-Rajabi family home in Hebron.

Settlers have continued to protest against the November 2008 decision of the Israeli Supreme Court, ordering the eviction of nine settler families from the al-Rajabi family home in Hebron.

And tensions brewing in Hebron over the last two weeks have now spread to other parts of the West Bank.

Ahmad Jaradat of the Alternative Information Center reported that on 1 December, settlers attacked the Wadi al-Hussein neighborhood of Hebron. They came in the evening with dogs and stoned the houses, leading the dogs in front of the house windows in order to frighten the inhabitants.

According to Jaradat, Palestinian residents of the area are under daily attacks from extreme right-wing settlers, who generally begin their attacks in the evening hours.

The house in question, known as “Beit HaShalom (peace house) by the Israeli settlers, it is owned by the al-Rajabi family and has, since 2007, been occupied by settlers. The court-mandated date for the eviction order expired two weeks ago, yet the settlers continue to occupy the home as the Israeli military and police were afraid of violent clashes. This is also the reason why the military refuses to provide notice of when an evacuation operation may begin. Although the military is thus attempting to deny the settlers time to prepare, it is estimated that an evacuation operation would require a relatively large force that could be seen from a distance.

On 1 December, the right-wing activists occupying the al-Rajabi family home called on supporters to prepare for a 48 hour siege, while revealing the synagogue they have created in the building. In addition, the settlers claimed they are planning to open a religious seminary that will host thousands of pupils and their teachers.

During the night of 1 December, rumors spread that the Israeli military were ready to carry out the state order and evacuate the settlers from the al-Rajabi home. Using text-messaging, the settlers spread the message that “the eviction force has reached Beit HaShalom.” According to the settlers, police and border police forces were streaming towards the center of Hebron and so the settlers assumed that the evacuation would take place Monday night.

1,500 right-wing activists arrived in Hebron throughout Monday night and Tuesday morning, leading to a spike in settler violence in the city. Palestinian houses and cars were damaged and like two weeks ago, an Islamic cemetery was vandalized. Right-wing youth started to bloc various transportations routes, in order to prevent the Israeli military and police from reaching Hebron. The extreme right-wing activists and local Palestinians started to throw stones and clashes emerged. Since yesterday evening and this morning, dozen Palestinians were injured, including at least three minors.

In other places in the West Bank, Israeli settlers also blocked roads and threw stones at Palestinian cars. Clashes occurred between right-wing activists and Israeli military forces near the West Bank village of Hawara, south of Nablus. Eleven right-wing activists were detained for allegedly attacking Border Guard officers. Two of the detained were minors.

The spokesperson for the Jewish community in Hebron said to the Israeli news portal Ynet, that what has been seen up to now, with the last week of riots and clashes, is just a soft version of what will happen if the eviction order is carried out (Ynet, 2 December).

Still, Defense Minister Ehud Barak is trying to avoid violence and clashes between the settlers and Israeli security forces. In recent days Barak has been meeting with the settlers in order to create a dialogue and convince them to evacuate voluntarily. Barak stresses, however, that if this does not happen, they will be forcefully evicted.

All in all, at least twenty Palestinian and eighteen Israeli security personnel and settlers have been injured during the last two days of violent incidents. And in response to the settlers’ actions, the Israeli Military has declared the area surrounding the disputed house as a close military zone. Israeli border police have taken control over the area and Israeli civilians are not allowed to enter Palestinian neighborhoods in the area. Despite these actions, extreme right-wing activists have continued to set Palestinian houses on fire.

Jerusalem Regional Master Plan Solidifies Israeli Occupation of the City, Discriminates against Palestinian Residents

Though this mural on a building near the “Mahane Yehuda” market in West Jerusalem idealistically portrays the planned Jerusalem light rail, it is meant to only serve the Jewish Israeli population, to the detriment of the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem.

On Thursday, 27 November, a press conference was held by Adalah: Legal Center for Arab Minority in Israel and the Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians Rights in Jerusalem (CCDPRJ) to delineate the probable effects of the Jerusalem Regional Master Plan and discuss objections to this plan. In particular, the focus was placed on attempting to determine Israel’s “hidden plans” for East Jerusalem.

Opening the press conference were the Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, and the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem, Mr. Adnan al-Husseini. Further attending as speakers were Adalah’s General Director, Attorney Hassan Jabareen, Adalah Attorney Suhad Bisham and representative of the CCDPRJ, Mr. Khalid al-Tufukji, director of the Bureau of Maps and Geographical Information Systems for the Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Regional Master Plan, introduced in September 2004, was initiated by the Jerusalem Municipality and includes both West Jerusalem and all of occupied East Jerusalem. Just twenty days after Israel occupied and annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, the Israeli government altered the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Seventy square kilometers of Palestinian territory were annexed to by the Jerusalem Municipality. Today, 200,000 Jewish settlers are living in the area.

The current Israeli plan proposes, among other elements, a transport and road system. This will lead to a splitting of the Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Moreover, the construction of the road and railway systems would lead to massive expropriation of land from the Palestinian population. These factors would do significant harm to the Palestinian population’s possibilities for future development and reduce the potential areas available for housing and growth.

The proposed transport system is intended to connect the Gush Etzion settlement bloc with the Ma’ale Adumin bloc and E1, and also with the Givat Ze’ev settlement bloc—it would connect all these settlement with West Jerusalem and to the wider Jerusalem district. Importantly, this connection between the Jewish settlements will strengthen the Jewish settlements position in the area.

The plan for the proposed railway indicates that, in practice, it is meant to only serve the Jewish Israeli population, to the detriment of the Palestinian population. This can be determined by the rail routes and placement of rail-stops. Thus, the Palestinian population is excluded because of their national background.

On 24 November, Adalah, in Partnership with CCDPRJ, submitted an objection to the National Council of Planning and Building in Israel, against the Regional Master Plan for Jerusalem. This objection was written by Adalah’s Urban Planner, Hanna Hamdan and Adalah Attorney, Suhad Bishara, and was made on the behalf of 73 objectors—56 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and 17 locally active NGOs.

All of the objectors argue that with this policy plan, Israel continues to engage in intensive planning on the occupied territory, which is not for the benefit of the Palestinian people but designed to maintain a Jewish majority in a “greater and united Jerusalem.”

Besides this, the objectors stress that the extensive highway, road and rail network, which the master plan describes, will restrict the development of Palestinian communities, separate neighborhoods and limit access to Palestinian-owned land. This will also strengthen the existence of the settlement in and around Jerusalem and connect them to each other, as will as to cities in Israel.

The objectors demand that Israel’s National Council for Planning and Building cancel the plan.

The Situation in Hebron Following the Evacuation Order from the Israeli High Court

Settlers who have taken over the al-Rajabi family Home in Hebron.

Tensions in Hebron have grown significantly since elapse of the 16 November Israeli High Court deadline for evacuation of Jewish settlers from the al-Rajabi family home in the city.

Last week, clashes between settlers and Israeli police and soldiers occurred after the date for the evacuation expired. According to Israeli military, however, a decision was made to delay the evacuation due to fear of an increase in violent clashes with the settlers.

On 18 November, the day following the clashes, Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israeli police and military to submit a plan for evacuation in the coming days. Earlier Barak stress, that if the settlers would not vacate voluntary, then the state would have to use force.

In response to this, over this weekend, more than a thousand Jews arrived to Hebron to celebrate a Jewish festival commemorating the death of the biblical matriarch, Sarah. After this celebration, a few hundred right-wing extremists remained in Hebron to prepare for what they foresee as a coming “nasty struggle with Israeli security forces.” Their purpose is to prevent the Israeli military from evacuating the families now living illegally in the al-Rajabi family house.

In solidarity with the Hebron settlers, forty-nine Israeli parliamentarians demanded on Monday, 24 November, that the Israeli military refrain from evacuation, until after the upcoming national elections in Israel, scheduled for February of next year.

On Tuesday, 25 November, right-wing activists planned a march from Jerusalem to Hebron in order to demonstrate solidarity and help those fighting the evacuation. The plan was to arrive in Hebron Wednesday and on the way to attract more supports to join the march. In Hebron they will remain until the security forces arrive to evacuate them.

On the evening of 25 November, approximately forty teenage settlers rampaged through Palestinian neighborhoods of Hebron, slashing car tires, smashing windows and painting the star of David on walls. None of the settlers were arrested.

Moreover, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on 25 November that his government will not evacuate the settlers with force. Instead they will try to prevent that the settlers from attacking their Palestinian neighbors.

While Israeli politicians are trying to find a solution for this situation and the Israeli police and military are attempting to avoid violent clashes with extremist settlers, the situation in Hebron is getting increasingly out of control. The price of Palestinians property being damaged and vandalized is ever increasing, and the settlers’ presence in the house is becoming larger and stronger. And all the while, the Israeli High Court’s decision to evacuate the Israeli settlers from the al-Rajabi family home is becoming more and more irrelvant.

Palestinian Villagers Destroy Wall at Jayyous; Five Internationals Detained

On Friday, 21 November, upwards of 500 people—Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals—marched toward the gate of the Wall in the West Bank Palestinian village of Jayyous, and within a few minutes the gate was open.

On Friday, 21 November, upwards of 500 people—Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals—marched toward the gate of the Wall in the West Bank Palestinian village of Jayyous, and within a few minutes the gate was open and in pieces.

The villagers were ecstatic at what had been accomplished, waving pieces of the gate in the air with smiles ear-to-ear.

Yet, when Israeli soldiers arrived on the scene, they responded by shooting live and rubber bullets at villagers and firing teargas canisters into the air. Five villagers were injured.

After the violence subsided, the soldiers took control of the village, imposed a curfew, and declared it a closed military zone.

Approximately one hour later, the soldiers detained five internationals as they attempted to leave the village in a car along with a number of Palestinians.

“This was a clear message to internationals that they will pay for being present at these demonstrations” said one of the internationals. “The Israeli authorities do not want us here so that they can do what they want with the Palestinians.”

Jayyous was the first village to engage in regular nonviolent protests against the Wall six years ago this month. The situation was so bad for Jayyous that the municipality actually managed to get their case heard at the Israeli High Court.

After years of debate and legal charades, the Court finally ruled on 4 November that the Wall should be moved back by two kilometers.

While sounding like a positive development, the decision will actually make things worse for this small farming community.

Prior to the decision, Jayyous villagers were able to cross the Wall through a gate twice per day to access their olive and citrus groves on the other side of the Wall. Now, the gate will permanently be shut, leaving plenty of space for the expansion of Zufit settlement and the development of an Israeli industrial zone.

The High Court decision is notably in direct contradiction with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 2004, which states that the Wall is illegal in international law, that farmers should be compensated, and that all settlers should be repatriated to the other side of the Green Line.

In all, 5,585 dunam of land will be confiscated from Jayyous once construction of the new Wall is complete, leaving the majority of Jayyous’ farmers stripped of their livelihoods and unemployed.

Given these circumstances, it is certain that the villagers of Jayyous will continue to protest against the Wall, despite the recent High Court decision.

And, as in other villages adversely affected by the Wall, internationals will continue to maintain their presence, despite the arrests and intimidations.