Category: In the Media

The New Refugees

By Amira Hass for Haaretz

Until Enaya Samara, who has been living in forced exile for the past eight months returns to her village near Ramallah, and until Someida Abbas, who was banished from his home 10 months ago accompanies his children to kindergarten again, it will not be possible to believe the defense establishment’s promise to change its policy. So long as American, Brazilian and German citizens whose name is not Cohen but Abdullah, are refused entry at the borders, we will know that the policy is still in effect – the policy of causing tens of thousands of Palestinian families to break up, or to leave their homes and emigrate. This is not a new policy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Since 1967, Israel has been carrying out demographic manipulations which should actually be called expulsion. Military edicts have caused some 100,000 people to lose their status as permanent residents in the occupied territories and to remain exiles in the countries to which they went to study or work. These manipulations have turned 240,000 people who were born in the West bank and Gaza and left the territories because of the 1967 war, and another 60,000 who were abroad when it broke out, to become new refugees.

All of them left behind families in the territories, but Israel prevented the vast majority from reuniting again in their homeland. (During those years, Israel was actively promoting the right of Jews in the USSR to emigrate and reunite with their families in Israel). After 1994, Israel made it possible for several thousand Palestinian families to unite every year; in other words, it granted their children the status of permanent residency. But the quota it fixed was always less than the real needs, and since 2001, Israel has even frozen the family unification process and barred Palestinians who are citizens of Arab countries (particularly Jordan and Egypt) from coming to visit.

Until 2006, Palestinians with Western citizenship (Europeans and Americans) were able to avoid this comprehensive policy. In the 1990s, they were considered a welcome population (investors, businessmen, academics working in international organizations such as the World Bank). Even if most of them did not get permanent residency, Israel permitted them to live here and visit regularly. This was also the case with Western spouses of Palestinian residents. Until someone in the political echelons decided that this “positive discrimination” (as opposed to citizens of Jordan and Egypt) was intolerable. And from the start of 2006 their entry has been blocked.

It is not clear who the decision-maker is. The coordinator of government activities in the territories told Western diplomats it was the Interior Ministry that made the decision. Interior Ministry officials say it was a joint decision with the Defense Ministry.

Be that as it may, whoever made the decision did not take into account that this was a blow to the strongest circles among the Palestinians – those who speak English, have access to the U.S. State Department, to important journalists, and to the Israeli and international business worlds. They found a way to get together and protest, unlike the tens of thousands of women who have Jordanian citizenship and hide in fear in the West Bank because Israel does not recognize their right to live with their husbands and children.

The change of policy toward Palestinians with Western citizenship was brought to the attention of MK Ephraim Sneh even before he became deputy defense minister. Already then, Sneh was of the opinion that there was no point in changing the policy and that doing so would be harmful to Israel’s interests. In a conversation with Haaretz, he sounded sincere in promising that this policy toward the Americans and Europeans had been canceled and that his bureau was working on new regulations that would “make things simpler rather than making them more complicated, and would alleviate rather than aggravate” the situation. (However, it was possible to understand from this that the regulations would not legalize the stay of thousands, particularly adults and children who remained even though their visas were no longer valid).

But the joy is premature: During the past two weeks, officials continued to prevent the entry even of those who are married and have children here and those who came on a visit. Are these merely “left-overs of the previous situation,” as Sneh put it, or does it testify also to the fact that Sneh is not the sole decision-maker, as was evident with his position on removing the roadblocks?

On the Israeli scene, army commanders (some of them settlers) act together with politicians, jurists and academics who are terrified of the demographic balance. The Green Line does not exist for them. They thought up the Citizenship Law, which crassly expanded the discrimination against Israeli Arabs and intervenes in their right to have a family life. Why do they not act the same across the Green Line where the military edict is in force? And if Sneh ceases being deputy defense minister, who can guarantee that a deputy from the Kadima party will not cancel the cancelation?

More than ever before, the Israeli system today denies the fact that it is repression and discrimination, an integral part of every occupation, that create the security threat. The most it is prepared to do is make “improvements” and mete out “favors,” but it will not recognize rights.

Haaretz: “IDF probing accusations troops destroyed Palestinian property”

by Mijal Grinberg, December 24th

The Israel Defense Forces’ Investigations Military Police have opened a probe into claims that IDF troops committed a series of offensives against Palestinian residents of the Hebron area, including throwing stones, destruction of private property, damaging vehicles and unlawful detention.

The investigation was opened after a human rights group filed complaints on the Palestinians’ behalf.

The alleged incidents took place in the villages of Al-Carmel, Ma’ayan and Wa-Twana during the months of November and December.

A resident of Wa-Twana said that on December 12th soldiers broke the windows of his car and his neighbor’s house.

“They drove up quickly in a jeep, stopped near the house and started throwing stones,” he said.

In the nearby viillage of al-Carmel, local resident Ahmed Bahais said an IDF patrol drove up to his house after midnight and damaged his property.

“They started throwing stun grenades at house, despite the calm in the village,” Bahais said. “They approached my store, an electronics store, and shot at the light in the middle of the store and the televisions that were laying around. The soldiers then moved on to other houses, throwing stun grenades and breaking windows.”

Musa Hmamda, a resident of Ma’ayan, said IDF soldiers showed up at his house and locked his family inside without allowing them access to toilets or food for some 11 hours.

“When we were let out we saw the soldiers had trashed the house, breaking windows and sabotaging property,” Hmamda said.

In reponse, an IDF spokesperson said: “The military prosecution has ordered the military police to investigate the allegations. When the investigation is over the findings will be passed on to the military prosecution.”

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Some of the damage described here was documented by Operation Dove.

Transcript of BBC World Servce interview with Mary Baxter

This BBC interview relates to Mary’s arrest in Tel Rumeida on December 17th

Mary: On this occasion some children who were going up at the very top of Tel Rumeida were being stopped from going home from school. For some reason at the top of the hill on private Palestinian land there were a whole lot of settlers having a picnic, a lot of them children. They were being guarded by a number of soldiers. The Palestinian children who were forced to use that way because they are not allowed to go up the street past the Tel Rumeida settlement, and have been told by the army that is the way they’re to go, were not being allowed past to their homes. Now this is against the Israeli law. They rang me because I’ve been there so long and understand the situation and the law to some extent although I’m not a lawyer. The officers are not very keen to talk to me, they expect me to respond to barked orders as though I was some sort of a dog at times but they will not discuss anything with me.

Interviewer: So you protested, you tried time after time to get some official response to what you saw as a breach of Israeli law by stopping these children. What happened eventually?

Mary: The police came. Now the police over the telephone to someone else had already admitted that it was their job to protect the Palestinian children but the police had not come to do so, so I told the police that they were breaking Israeli law if they did not help these Palestinian children get home. They refused to do that. Instead they said I must get in their jeep and they would take me to the police station and when I protested they said they would take me to the police station and come back to look after the Palestinian children but they did not go back and help out in this situation at all, they stayed at the police station.

Interviewer: Mary, you are 75. Why would you, a widower of a former Anglican priest, want to put yourself through this, why would you want to be in that conflict zone.?

Mary: I think it’s a call from God, but in Australia we don’t talk about God much, but that’s what I think it is. The thing that really keeps me there is that Palestinians tell me time and time again that my being there makes a difference to their lives. I do take risks and I go further with the children than either the army or the settlers want me to go.

Interviewer: Have settlers ever attacked you?

Mary: O yes, lots of times. They attack me outside my house. I don’t have to go up near their settlement to be attacked.

Interviewer: And what kind of attack?

Mary: I’ve been knocked over when I’ve been trying to protect children. Just on the 18th November three different settler women punched me when I was trying to stand between them and Palestinian children.

Interviewer: Can you ever get any sense from those settlers who are so angry with you, why they think that there shouldn’t be Palestinians there?

Mary: No, no, what they do if they talk at all rather than scream, is to rant at you. The men rant, very often with a finger right in my face, that I’m not objective but they are free to attack Palestinian children and they are somehow objective. It just makes absolutely no sense.

IHT: “To live and let live, among the olive groves”

by Firas Aridah, December 22nd

ABOUD, West Bank: For the 39th consecutive year, Palestinian Christians in towns and villages like Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Aboud will celebrate Christmas under Israeli military occupation. In Aboud, our hardships increased in October 2005, when the Israeli military issued confiscation orders to seize land owned by village residents to build Israel’s security barrier, or wall. The orders were given without consultation with the land owners, contradicting what is expected from a democratic government.

Aboud is a small village northwest of Jerusalem, five kilometers from the Green Line, Israel’s pre-1967 border. The Christian history of Aboud is said to date from when Jesus and the Holy Family passed through Aboud en route from the Galilee to Jerusalem. There are remains of nine ancient Christian Churches here that are visited by pilgrims from around the world.

Local tradition holds that Aboud’s residents received the Christian faith from Jesus himself, who is said to have preached here.

Aboud has approximately 2,200 residents. About 900 are Christians and the rest Muslim. The village is a model of respect among religions. Christians and Muslims have lived here peacefully together for centuries. Aboud’s Catholic school educates Christians and Muslims. Since last December, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Christians and Muslims have held a prayer vigil every Friday for Aboud.

Two Israeli settlements already sit on land owned by Aboud’s residents. The first was founded in 1980 as a military base, then converted a year later by the Israeli government into a settlement for Israeli civilians. The second settlement was established as a military base in 1982. Both now occupy hundred of acres of Aboud’s land, confiscated without any compensation.

Israel’s wall will cut off Aboud from an additional 440 hectares, or 1,100 acres, of village land. I deeply understand Israel’s security needs, and its obligation to protect its citizens. I doubt, however, whether separating villages like Aboud from their land, olive trees and water will improve Israel’s security, and whether the wall’s route in Aboud was truly chosen for security purposes.

Aboud’s residents will suffer from the wall through the loss of water and olive trees. Since 1967, Israel has severely restricted Aboud’s use of the West Bank’s richest aquifer, preventing the drilling of wells to access fresh water beneath the village. Therefore, Aboud’s residents must purchase their water from Israel’s national water company.

The Israeli government alleges that the pipes bringing water to Aboud can be rerouted, preserving service. But water access for Aboud can only be guaranteed when residents are allowed to control their water resources and drill new wells. Otherwise, commercial farming, the main source of income, will be impossible. In 2005, Aboud’s residents received about 58 liters of water per person per day, though the World Health Organization’s worldwide recommendation is 100 liters per day. Aboud’s lack of water already causes serious health problems.

Second, the barrier is destroying acres of Aboud’s olive groves, uprooting more than 10,000 olive trees and cutting residents off from many more trees. Many of these trees are more than a thousand years old and have been in their respective families for centuries. For our families, the olive tree is a symbol of life. Generations have provided for their families from these olive groves. One olive tree produces profits of up to $200 each season. The Israeli government’s offer of compensation of $25 for each destroyed tree is an insult, not an equitable solution.

As a priest, I am inspired by St. Thomas Aquinas, who believed that missionary work is crucial to peace. Churches run schools, hospitals, senior citizens’ homes and orphanages. These institutions serve as a safety net for many families and provide a valuable link between communities.

I am deeply concerned as well with the rise of religious extremism — Christian, Jewish and Islamic. Along with other religious leaders in the Holy Land, I work daily to try to curb this growing trend.

My message this Christmas is that we can live together. But this can only be possible when each human being accepts the other without conditions. Imposing conditions on others is not the way of God. Each human must be treated fairly. The Israeli occupation must end. Violence and terrorism must stop. There must be no more settlements on Palestinian land. My prayer is that God will touch each heart to bring peace and justice and love to our Holy Land so that we may live together in peace.

Enclosing the village of ‘Azzun ‘Atmah and separating its residents from their farmland

by B’Tselem, December 19th

‘Azzun ‘Atmah, a village with 1,800 residents located southeast of Qalqiliya, lies three kilometers from the Green Line (Israel’s 1967 border). The settlement Sha’are Tikva was built just east of it, on lands belonging to residents of the village. The settlement breaks the territorial contiguity between the village and two neighboring villages, Beit Amin and Sanniriya. On its western border, the settlement Oranit was built.

The separation barrier in this area was completed in October 2003. The barrier separates the village from the rest of the West Bank and places it in the “seam zone,” the area between the barrier and the Green Line. Residents of the village reach other parts of the West Bank through a gate in barrier, which is open from six in the morning to ten at night. Only residents of the village and Palestinians with Civil Administration permits are allowed to use this gate.

In addition to the barrier, the government decided to surround the village on all sides with another barrier, completely isolating the village within an enclave. The entire route of this additional barrier was approved in principle, but so far the state has only issued orders requisitioning land to enable construction of the section of the barrier south of the village. This section lies north of Route 505. Half of the section, 1.75 kilometers, passes through the village’s land, a distance of about one kilometer from Route 505. The other half passes near the roadway. Construction on the section began on 10 November 2006.


Arial photo of the village of ‘Azzun ‘Athmah and it’s surroundings. Source: Bimkom

Turning ‘Azzun ‘Atmah into an enclave will seriously harm the wellbeing and livelihood of the residents. Until the second intifada, some of the villagers worked in Israel . Since then, about eighty percent of the villagers have been working in agriculture. The new barrier separates the village from 2,000 dunams of cultivated farmland, half of which is owned by village residents and half by residents of Beit Amin, Mas’ha a-Zawiya, and Sanniriya. These lands will be enclosed between the southern segment of the barrier and Route 505. Almost certainly, access to these lands will require a permit and will only be possible during the hours that the barrier gates are open. Past experience indicates that gates are not always open as scheduled. Restricting access to the farmland will inevitably lead to a decrease in farm production, impediments to marketing of the produce, and a decrease in income.

Even assuming that a barrier around the village is intended to meet security needs, these needs do not justify building a barrier through the southern section of the village and across the villagers’ farmland. Also, it is unclear why this barrier is to be built one kilometer from the Green Line, thus separating the village from much more of their land. The state could have avoided the harm caused by cutting off access to farmland and isolating the southern neighborhood of the village by building a tunnel for the settlers under Route 505, in the section running parallel to the village’s southern neighborhood.

In any event, the justifications for this section of the barrier based on the need to protect close to or on Route 505 are unconvincing. There have not been any incidents of violence by residents of ‘Azzun ‘Atmah against settlers in the area or against motorists on Route 505. In fact, as in many other cases, the route was selected to enable expansion of the settlements near the village – Oranit and Elqana – and establishment of a new industrial zone.

Given that the barrier’s route is illegal and given the grave infringement of human rights the present route causes, Israel must dismantle every section of the barrier located inside the West Bank . If Israel believes that a physical barrier is needed for security reasons, it may run it along the Green Line, or inside Israel . Until the authorities dismantle the relevant sections, B’Tselem calls on the government of Israel to:

* cease construction of the southern section of the additional barrier at ‘Azzun ‘Atma;
* dismantle the section already built, and enable the residents free access to their land;
* return land that it requisitioned to build the barrier;
* open the gate in the separation barrier north of ‘Azzun ‘Atma around the clock and enable the residents to reach other parts of the West Bank and to carry on a normal life.

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For a report on an Azzun Atma farmer’s attempt to resist annexation of his land click here.