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Colonists defy Obama
Mini-towns growing bigger by the month, swallowing up more and more land.
- By Seth Freedman, Guardian News & Media Ltd
- Published: 23:25 July 3, 2009
Despite Obama's anti-colony stance, the West Bank colonists' determination to go on with their land-grabs is palpable. At first glance, the dusty dunes of the South Hebron hills appear splendidly frozen in time. Small encampments of nomadic farmers are dotted across the landscape, sparse groves of olive and fruit trees surrounding the ramshackle tents huddled together in their midst.
Flocks of sheep and goats graze on the scrubby foliage under the watchful eye of teenaged shepherds; the silence of the plains is breathtaking, the only noise an occasional cautionary bark from the villagers' ever-vigilant guard dogs.
But the glorious isolation in which the rural communities seem to dwell is an illusory facade. A closer look at the way their camps are arranged reveals the true picture of modern life on the land they've tended for generations. Soldiers stand guard in pairs at strategic spots on the hillside, enforcing the no-entry zones surrounding the rash of colonies spread across the region, the mini-towns growing bigger by the month, swallowing up more and more of the Palestinians' land in the zero-sum game.
The colony of Susiya is a case in point. Not content with building within the colony's perimeter, the residents have been venturing deep into the farmers' land to lay new foundations and erect buildings that will eventually be annexed to the mothership. The immediate effect of the construction of the outposts is to force the farmers off their land, to be replaced by teams of armed guards: both colonists and soldiers taking responsibility for keeping unwanted persons at bay.
The relatively passive guarding of the outposts is by no means the worst of the situation, according to the matriarch of one farming family I spoke to; instead, the colonists routinely take a more hands-on approach to try to drive away the Palestinian undesirables.
Several times a month there are incidents she said, as we sat inside the cave where she and her family live, a small flock of goats penned in the back. A colonist tried to run over her eldest son with his car.
"Fortunately my son was able to jump out of the way, but he smashed into one of the goats instead, breaking its leg," she said, bringing out the injured animal as proof of the attack.
She laughed bitterly at the thought of the Israeli police coming to her aid, as Ehud Krinis, an Israeli volunteer from the Villages Group, explained that the odds were stacked against any Palestinian seeking help from the local constabulary.
The police stations are inside the colonies, he said, which means the Palestinians are often denied access to them.
"At the same time, complainants are often subject to persecution for having dared to file a report: they find themselves denied permits to work in Israel, and so on."
Even those undeterred by such obstacles find that the law is firmly on the side of the colonists: the conviction rate for crimes perpetrated by colonists is shockingly low, despite hard evidence continually being provided by the victims and their supporters from NGOs such as B'Tselem and Christian Peacemaker Teams.
The mother of the besieged family shrugged off the attacks with a weary resignation. Just as farmers in other areas know they will lose a certain number of their animals to foxes and wolves every year, so too do the Palestinian residents of the South Hebron hills have to incorporate relentless colonist abuse into the cost of their remaining in the region.
It is the fear that the farmers will one day be so crushed by the harsh treatment they receive at the hands of the colonists and the Israel Defence Forces that they flee the area that spurs Ehud and his colleagues on in their work.
"Our aim is to strengthen these people and stop them leaving," he explained, as we visited families in the area with whom he works. The Villages Group provides assistance such as wind turbines and solar panels to the farmers, none of whose homes are connected to either the Israeli or Palestinian national grids.
By providing such rudimentary assistance, the Villages Group makes a significant difference to the families they assist. Wind turbines allow the farmers to run fridges to keep their food fresh, as well as run cheese-curdling machines in place of having to spend inordinate amounts of time processing the milk by hand.
This way, they are in a position to mass-produce their wares to sell at market, giving a much-needed boost to their income, with which to buy clothes and educational material for their children, some of whom are now in a position to progress to university once their high school career is complete.
Yet, for all the help given by the Villages Group, as well as other NGOs, the overall picture is growing bleaker by the year, thanks to the continued colony expansion.
Recent pressure applied to Israel at diplomatic level has made little difference on the ground, according to Ehud. The colonists' determination to go on with their land-grabs is palpable both in terms of the actions they take via new construction, as well as the fierce rhetoric emanating from colonist leaders.
Seth Freedman is a writer living in Occupied Jerusalem.
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