An Israeli village, a Palestinian city and a dangerous plan

Israel Annexation plans do not go far enough for colonists

The fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu may now take the step to annexation seems to be primarily intended to bind the right-wing settler leaders. Surprisingly, not all settlers are happy with the plans.

At first glance, the Israeli settlement of Karmei Tzur (‘orchards of rock stone’) hardly differs from a Dutch vinex district. Neatly raked streets, fruit trees, swings and a basketball court. The oldest houses date from the 1980s. There is a supermarket and a youth hostel. One important difference: Karmei Tzur is located on a hilltop in occupied Palestinian territory. And under international law, these settlements are illegal.

Esti Uliel Shamai (57) and her husband were the eleventh family to live in Karmei Tzur 34 years ago. There are now twenty times as many. She is happy that she no longer knows everyone on the street: “That means it is growing.”

Uliel Shamai lives in occupied territory with conviction. “We are here to stay,” she says several times. However, she is not in favor of government plans to officially include part of this area in Israel’s territory in a few days. “If you don’t find a solution for all places, Jewish and Arabic, then it is not a real solution. We don’t even know if Karmei Tzur will soon be within the annexed area. If you want to do it, do it the right way – and slower. ”

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has announced from July 1 to formally annex Israeli settlements in the 1967-occupied West Bank. That would be a very serious violation of international law, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned this week.

However, according to Israel, the settlements are ‘just’ part of Israel. Some 460,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, plus another 300,000 in East Jerusalem. Karmei Tzur is located in the large settlement block of Gush Etzion, between Jerusalem and Hebron. Although much is still unclear about the plan in the last days of June, it is already clear that the major settlement blocks are at the top of Netanyahu’s wish list.

Known as risk averse, Netanyahu has often threatened with annexation but has never implemented it. With annexation, he endangers Israel’s international position and regional stability. European countries are playing with the idea of ​​sanctions, Arab Gulf states that have begun to flirt with Israel more and more openly have indicated that they will not tolerate annexation, and neighboring Jordan has threatened a “massive conflict”.

The fact that the Prime Minister may now take the step seems to be primarily intended to bind the settler leaders and other right-wing voters. Moreover, he wants to leave a legacy in what might be his last reign. It is now or never, because now there is an American president who supports him – after the elections in the United States this fall, things could be different.

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The announced annexation plans are a result of the peace plan of President Trump. According to the Trump Plan, Israelis would be allowed to unilaterally annex up to 30 percent of the West Bank if Palestinians do not engage in peace negotiations. The first group to benefit from annexation are the Israeli settlers, who will then come under the same legislation as Israelis in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem and see their position strengthened.

Historical opportunity

Surprisingly, not all settlers are happy with the plans. Although settler leaders who had traveled to Washington were applauded when Trump presented his vision next to Netanyahu in January, the plan has now split the settler movement. Some leaders call it a “historic opportunity,” others firmly reject it.

Shlomo Ne’eman, the ‘mayor’ of the Gush-Etzion block, has emerged as one of the fiercest opponents of the plan. Even if all Israeli settlements were annexed, his hometown of Karmei Tzur would remain isolated between Palestinian villages and cities. In addition, there should be a four-year freeze to give Palestinians time to change their minds. “You can’t say: it’s your area, but you can’t build it?”

The biggest stumbling block, however, is the possibility of a Palestinian state. Karmei Tzur is small, religious and very nationalistic. Most residents, like their mayor, are against the Trump Plan. The teenage girls at the youth club are also collective and outspoken. Although the plan contains all kinds of conditions that the Palestinians cannot accept, which makes their own state seem far away, as far as Ne’eman and his fellow villagers are concerned, the suggestion is even out of the question.

Uliel Shamai sees some practical advantages of annexation: the procedure to build houses would become easier. In addition, if the area officially becomes Israeli, a two-thirds majority in the Israeli parliament will be required to clear settlements. Israeli settlements are one of the delicate issues that should be resolved in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Previous peace treaties have always referred to an eviction or agreed land exchange.

Nobody knows exactly what Netanyahu plans on July 1. Detailed maps that Israelis and Americans are said to be working on are not yet complete – reportedly due to corona. Netanyahu’s coalition partner Benny Gantz prefers not to get the wrath of neighboring Jordan and the rest of the world. The American interests are no longer so clear. Trump is busy with corona and the economic crisis and it is not certain that unilateral Israeli annexation will serve his intended reelection in November.

In this Israeli settlement, the most outspoken supporter of annexation is a Palestinian. There is a busy construction next to Ne’eman’s house. Palestinian workers operate the excavators and concrete machines. The skinny man in sunglasses operating the concrete sprayer gestures two fingers in parallel to indicate life “side by side”. “We are neighbors,” he says. “If they are going to annex, please annex me.”

Palestine The Palestinians believe that there will be war with annexation

Residents in Beit Ummar are also against Israeli annexation plans. They fear more Palestinian deaths.

Beit Ummar is so close to Karmei Tzur that the Islamic call to prayer can be heard in the Jewish settlement. The Palestinian town of 18,000 inhabitants is surrounded by Israeli settlements. The contrast is immediately visible. Here and there in the Palestinian fields, a patch of green protrudes from the brown earth, on the other side of the road is lush greenery as far as the eye can see: land that Israeli settlements have appropriated.

In Beit Ummar, too, residents are against Israeli annexation plans, albeit for other reasons. According to local activist Youssef Abu Mariah (45), the dream of a Palestinian state has ended with the proposed annexation. “Watch my words,” says Abu Mariah. “If it really comes to annexation, it will be war. Between Israel and the Palestinians, or between Palestinians themselves. ” Israeli security experts warn that the peace agreement with Jordan is under pressure and that Israel has an impossibly long border to guard with all enclaves that would arise. Moreover, annexation can strengthen militant movements like Hamas at the expense of the already weak Palestinian Authority.

The residents of Beit Ummar expect the annexation to make their situation even worse than it already is. The town is increasingly constricted. There are black roofs along the highway. There, Palestinian workers led by an Israeli archaeologist investigate whether there are any pieces of archaeological material left in the ground, a mandatory action before road works can continue. The Israeli authorities are less concerned about the Palestinian plot of agricultural land next to it. The farmers who stand in the blazing sun between the courgettes and cucumbers are afraid that this land will soon be swallowed by the planned road widening. Of the 32,000 dunam (3,200 hectares) that Beit Ummar once owned, according to Abu Mariah, some 4,000 dunam have already been expropriated for the construction of settlements and roads. The land he owned himself now lies in the settlement of Karmei Tzur.

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Kamila Khalil Sabarna (68) remembers that the country used to give enough to live on. In her youth, the area was owned by Jordan. “The Jordanians took good care of us,” she says. Now she lives largely on charity. Sabarna lives with three of her sons and two daughters in a soberly decorated room in the old part of the city. Her husband recently passed away. The 1,400 shekel (360 euros) she receives from the Palestinian government every month because her son Mahmoud was killed years ago when he tried to attack Israelis has not come in for two months because of the financial problems of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. She is indebted to a thousand shekels at the local supermarket.

Her son Khaled (34) points to a cupboard: there was once glass for it, broken at the umpteenth raid by the army. The city has a history of protests. Not only did many residents revolt during the First and Second Intifada, protest marches were also held weekly until 2016, with the Israeli army killing and injuring Palestinian protesters. Sabarna, like many other townspeople, has a criminal record and is not allowed to work in Israel or the settlements. According to local organizations, the majority of the workforce is unemployed. “I can’t get married, can’t build, can’t see a future,” says Khaled Sabarna. Every now and then he works for 50 shekels a day with local Palestinian farmers.

Black briefcase

Next to the one-room house is an old stone house with holes in the walls, where his sister Iman (42) has her own room. Iman Sabarna climbs a flight of stairs and pulls out a yellowed document from a black case: the proof of ownership of a piece of land. Due to the lack of water and the limited sales market, it is hardly economically interesting to grow vegetables there. “It costs more than it delivers,” says Sabarna. “So people are forsaking their land, and that is exactly what Israel wants.”

Building is not allowed either – when they were building a house for another newly married brother last summer, the Israeli army came to demolish it.

After Netanyahu announced the unilateral annexation of Palestinian territory when his new cabinet took office in May, Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas reported that he no longer felt bound by the Oslo Accords. It is not yet clear exactly what that means – the Palestinian Authority is not known for being ready for action – but Palestinian citizens are already feeling the first consequences of the diminished cooperation with Israel.

Patients are no longer reimbursed for treatment in Israel, and a brawl in Beit Ummar got out of hand last week, according to Khaled Sabarna for suspending security cooperation. “The Palestinian police did not come because there was no coordination, the Israeli not because they are fine with Palestinians killing each other,” said Sabarna. Two people died. Those, he fears, are not the last ones.

A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad on June 27, 2020

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A version of this article also appeared in nrc.next dated June 27, 2020

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