Really living here

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Raja Shehadeh writing from Ramallah, occupied West Bank, Live from Palestine, 24 July 2008

For the past four decades I have been a passionate walker. For much of this time the hills northeast of Ramallah, my favorite wandering ground, were largely empty of settlements and I could walk freely, without constraint. However, this situation changed dramatically after Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995. Since then, settlement activity has reached unprecedented levels, spreading in many cases over lands that are privately owned by Palestinians. Overall, the population of West Bank settlements increased by at least 40 percent between the signing of the Oslo Accords and the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada in September 2000.

As the Israel-Palestine peace process flounders, aggressive behavior by Jewish settlers and their supporters in the Israeli army is making the countryside of the West Bank an increasingly dangerous place for Palestinians. Behind this development is the belief that there is no room in "Greater Israel" for the Palestinians. That it is either us or them.

Tragic examples of this trend are plentiful: On 23 December 2007, 32-year-old Firas Kaskas, visiting Ramallah from his village near Bethlehem in order to see his brother-in-law's new house, just down the road from my own, was shot dead as he took an afternoon stroll in the Ramallah hills. Five months later, 20-year-old Rashad Khader was also killed, this time while hunting birds with a group of Palestinian friends. Drivers on the Ramallah-Tulkaram Road have reported several incidents of the stoning of their cars by settlers and in some instances shooting of live fire as well.

Aware of the dangers now facing hikers like me, I have, of late, been careful to restrict my walks to tracks which avoid any contact with the settlements. Two recent incidents that I have experienced personally and which, I believe, illustrate what routine life is now like for us Palestinians in the occupied territories:

The first occurred last month during a walk in the countryside near my home. I was walking with a BBC journalist who had come to interview me about my new book. We had reached the village of A'yn Qenya where we intended to end our expedition when we were stopped by two settlers from nearby Dolev in a car parked by the side of the road. The driver wore a knitted skullcap; next to him sat a younger man with the side locks worn by ultra-religious Jews. The driver rolled down his window and asked:

"Who are you?"

I thought he might have mistaken us for Israelis who had lost their way and needed assistance.

To re-assure them I said: "I live near here."

"What are you doing here?"

"Taking a walk."

"Where did you come from?"

"Ramallah," I said and added, "just up the hill."

My journalist companion held out his microphone towards the man.

"You are recording me?" He asked defiantly.

"I'm a journalist," the BBC man replied.

"Show me your identity card," the settler demanded, pointing at me.

There was a pause as we tried to figure our how to respond to the audacity of this civilian acting as an investigator.

I leaned towards him and asked:

"Who are you?"

"I'm no one."

"Do you have an identity card?"

The settler changed tactics saying: "I don't need your card, I'm calling the army." And he proceeded to take out his mobile phone and begin to dial.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

He looked me in the eye: "I'm different from you," he said "I'm living here, really living here, not like you."

The second incident took place just a week later. I was awakened in the early hours of the morning by my neighbor, Vera Tamari, an artist who lives by herself. She informed me that Israeli soldiers had just forced their way into her house in the middle of the night. Ignoring her protests, they had insisted on searching each and every room, questioning her about all sots of private matters, including photos of her nieces, and, most disturbingly drawing a detailed plan of her house. They then proceeded to do the same in every other house of the neighborhood that looked out on the Jewish settlements occupying the facing hills. There was no apology for this intrusion, nor any explanation. The soldiers stayed for some three hours and then left as quickly as they had arrived

read on...
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9710.shtml

[LeftishBrit]

1. Interesting article

I agree that there is far too much nasty and lawless behaviour from settlers. And I hope that in the near future they won't be living there, 'really' or otherwise.

[pelsar]

2. they so fuking depressing....

whenever i read these stories or hear about them...i always find myself "rooting for the Palestinians".. hoping somebody kicks the settlers ass....