No end to the growing settlements insult
By Amira Hass
The news reader on the Voice of Palestine called
the movement of IDF forces in the Gaza Strip a
"withdrawal," even though Omar Asour, commander of
the National Security Forces, had told him it was
merely the opening of the road to Palestinian
traffic at four points along the highway that had
been sealed off for two years.
Israelis were reminded of the
spring of 1994, when uniformed
Palestinians first took up
positions in the area as
Israeli forces moved out of the
cities and camps to the margins
of the Gaza Strip. Back then,
IDF forces remained in about 20
percent of Gaza Strip
territory, in fortified
positions. This is the same territory that is
designated for the expansion of the Jewish
settlements in the Gaza Strip - 20 percent of
the territory for 0.5 percent of the Strip's
residents.
This was the justice of the "withdrawal" of 1994
that was called "the peace process." Before
2000 there was talk that it "wasn't logical" to
leave the settlements, especially the isolated
ones, in the most densely populated area of the
world.
All the talk was hot air, and settlers continued
to dictate how the Palestinians would live -
where a water pipe would not be, where a
refugee camp would not expand, where cars would
not drive and where a sewage treatment plant
would not be built.
Now the talk is mainly about quiet and respite.
Israelis yearn for a long respite from suicide
terrorism inside the Green Line and the firing
of Qassam rockets, a lull in the anxiety about
sons and daughters serving in the territories.
Palestinians yearn for a lull in shooting at
anyone found walking among the destroyed houses
of Khan Yunis and Rafah or on the land that has
been cleared along the edges of the orchards.
They want a break from tank invasions of
residential neighborhoods, from missiles fired
at cars on bustling city streets. And of
course, they yearn for the resumption of some
sort of normality with the opening of the road
that runs the length of the Gaza Strip.
People will get to work and school on time, raw
materials will be delivered to construction
sites. Palestinian Authority officials are
hoping these immediate improvements will be an
important factor in ensuring its control of
various military groups.
Nevertheless, the Israeli defense establishment
is skeptical about the chances of success. They
know why. The army is well aware that for the
Palestinians in the West Bank to feel a change
as well the army will have to remove all
roadblocks and barricades between villages and
cities, and rescind all traffic restrictions.
These are intended to ensure the well-being of
Israeli citizens living in the West Bank
settlements, which have proliferated in the
past ten years. In the meantime, it all seems a
near-fantasy.
Will the Kalandiya roadblock be dismantled, will
the barbed-wire fences around the villages
south of Ramallah be removed? Will the fences
that shut in Kalkilya, Tul Karm and Nablus be
moved to nearby IDF bases? Will Palestinians be
permitted to drive on the highways, the
"bypasses?"
Let's assume that the limited freedom of
movement as it existed in 2000 is restored, and
the Palestinian Authority succeeds in
preventing the military groups from violating
the cease-fire. Then what? Does anyone in
Israel expect the Palestinians to be so
grateful for having been permitted to leave
their confined quarters that they won't see
what is happening before their very eyes?
What is happening before their very eyes is the
non-stop expansion of the settlements.
Settlements are the unlawful transfer of an
occupying population to occupied territory;
they are the cynical theft of land reserves
vital for the Palestinian cities and villages;
they are the denial of territorial contiguity
and the potential to develop; they are the
wresting of control of irreplaceable water
resources; they are control of roads. They are
all that, and more.
The settlements embody all of the perceptions of
Israeli lordliness that have developed over the
years on both sides of the Green Line. It is an
axiom now that "state lands" are only for Jews;
that Palestinians need less land and water per
head than Jews; that they do not deserve or
require the same infrastructure or conveniences
as Jews (see East Jerusalem and Galilee
villages); that Palestinians live here because
we allow them, not because it is their right.
The settlements provoke that deep sense of
insult felt by anyone whom the regime decides
is worthy of far, far less than his fellow man.
That is the discrimination practiced every day,
and every minute of every day. It is an
alienating, burning insult, the same one
familiar to the blacks of South Africa, the
blacks of the United States, and the Jews of
Eastern Europe.
The Israeli defense establishment knows well why
it is skeptical about the success of the
cease-fire agreement. Because when the
Palestinians, like every other human being, can
again drive a distance of 10 kilometers in
seven minutes rather than five days, they will
also once again see on their territory the
flourishing settlements and the Israeli army
protecting them.
They will discover an Israeli political
establishment that may at most discuss the
outposts, but does not see the insult, the
end-result of discrimination and thievery, and
for whom Ariel, Alei Sinai, Ma'ale Adumim,
Efrat and Nokdim are as natural and eternal as
Tel Aviv and Raanana.
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