The 7 october 2023 surprise attack of Hamas on the South of Israel
with thousands of rockets codenamed ”Al-Aqsa Flood”, suprised me,
like doubtless many others, but I was not completely taken aback.
It was a bloody attack in which a great number of Israeli civilians
were killed [according to Israeli autorities at least 1200] or abducted and
at least 260 people were killed by the Hamas attack on a
Festival near kibbutz Re”im.
Of course this deserves strong condemnation, since targetting
civilians is not only inhumane, but prohibited by International
Humanitarian Law, declaring clear distinction between combatants
[soldiers and fighters, who are legitimate targets] and non-combatants [civilians,
who must be protected]
So I understand the common [especially Western] sympathy with the Israeli
victims, because I share the feeling.
But there my understanding stops.
Because the almost hysterical ”we stand with Israel” reactions, especially from
the Western World [USA,EU], completely with Israeli flags hanging from their
official buildings [luckily not in Scotland!] is not only hypocrite.
It is disgusting!
Disgusting, because it implies support to Israel as a State and that is, to say
it mildly, controversial.
Because the bloody 7 october Hamas attack and subsequent abduction-operation divert the attention of the important fact, that since 1967 Israel
is the occupying power in the West Bank, Eastern Jerusalem and Gaza [still
occupied according to International Law since Israel controls the Gaza borders, airspace and territorial waters]
Not only Israel refuses to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories
despite UN Security Resolution 242 [1967], there is a decennialong brutal
oppression, Israel is guilty of torture of prisoners, administrative detention,
bloody military attacks in Gaza and the West Bank, with as macabre result thousands and thousands civilian victims, the building [since end of the sixties]
of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territory [land theft!], extrajudicial
execution, apartheid, etc, etc
En despite this brutal occupation the EU never took any sanction against
the State of Israel, which made them complicit in the Israeli occupation
and oppression.
According to International Law every people has the right to rise up against
an occupation, which includes armed resistance.
So Hamas, as any other Palestinian organisation, is in his right
in this regard, but of course according International Humanitarian Law
Hamas must refrain from attacks on civilians.
By the way, I wonder whether the EU will also condemn Israel, which right
now launches a bloody attack in Gaza by bombing
Gaza for already three weeks, with more than 7000 deaths, as denying the Gazan population water, medicines,
fuel and food supplies, in the same strong terms as it condemned Hamas.
Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Mail/Letter to the Editor to the Daily Sabah [Turkish newspaper]/Hamas attack on Israel/The Right to rise up against the Israeli occupation
Een week geleden alweer, op 20 oktober 2023, hielden tussen de 150 en de 200 in Tilburg mensen een demonstratief protest tegen de genocide die de staat Israël voltrekt tegen Palestijnen op Gaza. Ik nam deel en had het op poten helpen zetten. Een uitgebreid verslag geef ik hier niet, wel wat opmerkingen. Op Omroep Brabant vind je trouwens een niet onaardige reportage, met beeldmateriaal en al.(1) Misschien belangrijker: bij het op poten zetten van deze actie kwam ik in een tweetal tactisch/strategische discussies terecht. Beiden zijn relevant voor het opbouwen van het hoognodige verzet tegen de Israëlische staat, haar apartheid, etnische zuivering en racistische genocidale terreur.
1. Verslagje
Eerst maar even de actie en de aanloop. Dinsdagavond 17 oktober – nu ja, de nacht die er op volgde – hield ik het niet meer en begon te peilen in mijn Tilburgse anarcho-netwerk of mensen er voor voelden om snel ook in Tilburg op straat te protesteren. De dag er op had dit de vorm gekregen van een oproep tot demonstreren bij het centraal station, twee dagen later. Een kameraad met Palestijnse roots en connecties legde contact met Palestijnse activisten, ik verspreidde de oproep waar ik kon. Aanmelden bij de gemeente deden we welbewust niet. We hebben het recht om te protesteren, en contact met gemeente leidt doorgaans tot inperking of erger. Gemeente en politie zouden er wel, lucht wel krijgen, en dan zagen we het wel. Bordjes maken, een enkel spandoek, geen grote toeters en bellen verder. Slechts twee, drie mensen hebben dit op poten gezet. Hint voor actievoerders in andere steden: je hebt geen grote groep nodig om iets te beginnen. Met motivatie, woede en wat energie van een of enkele mensen kom je een heel eind.
Op de zag zelf bleek dat onze inzet iets had losgekregen. Eerst tientallen, maar al snel tegen de tweehonderd mensen verzamelden zich bij het station, Twee derde was overduidelijk niet van wit-Nederlandse afkomst maar niet wit, en veelal Palestijns, Marokkaans of anderszins Arabisch – van achtergrond. Ik deed als organisator een aftrap van de actie, met een gammele soundbox, kort praatje, we namen een paar minuten stilte voor de slachtoffers, en ik zette wat leuzen in. Al snel namen Palestijnse actievoerders het over, zoals het hoort op een antikoloniaal protest, en lieten ons allemaal zien hoe je zoiets doet: fel, luid en volhardend. Enkele korte praatjes onderbraken het scanderen. Er verscheen ook een heuse megafoon om bij dit alles te helpen.
De leuzen waren grotendeels in het Engels, ook wel in het Nederlands en naarmate de actie vorderde steeds meer in het Arabisch. ‘Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry – Palestine will never die!’, ‘From the river to the sea – Palestine will be free!!’, ‘Resistance is justified – when Palestine is occupied!’, ‘Rutte, schande – bloed aan je handen!’ Politie en gemeenteambtenaar kwamen in het begin even poolshoogte nemen en bezorgd vragen of we op die plek bleven. Een paar agenten stonden vervolgens op ruime afstand toe te kijken. Na twee uur was het voorbij: een goede actie, en voor Tilburgse begrippen beslist ook een grote actie. Extra waardevol zijn ook de contacten die gelegd zijn. En dat we in Tilburg met een qua kleur en gender zo gemengde groep actie staan te voren mag ook benoemd worden als groot pluspunt. Een paar anarcho’s uit het overwegend witte actiewereldje gaven de aftrap, het waren vervolgens Palestijnen die op de actie, en ook al in de mobilisatie, de toon zetten. Een hele goede zaak.
2. Over vlaggen
Tot zover de actie zelf. Nu de discussies waar ik van repte. Eentje betrof het meenemen van vlaggen en symbolen. Concreet: de actieoproep was ook naar Exctinction Rebellion (XR) Tilburg gegaan, Zowel uit die kringen, als vanuit Palestijnse organisatoren kwam daarbij wel de oproep: geen XR-vlaggen op het protest. Maar de argumenten waren heel verschillend. In XR was het vooral: laten we de twee issues klimaat en Palestina niet vermengen, en ook niet XR te nadrukkelijk betrekken in iets waar binnen XR mensen zich niet hebben uitgesproken en dergelijke. Vanuit Palestijnse kring was het vooral: niets dat afleidt van de Palestijnse zaak nu! Palestijnse vlaggen, verder geen vlaggen, en graag ook geen XR-vlaggen dus. Ik ben daar in meegegaan: Palestijnse stemmen in dit alles wogen voor mij het zwaarst, en om de zaak nu eerst uitgebreid te gaan bespreken terwijl de actie een paar uur later zou beginnen, leek me onzinnig. Maar ik heb wel strategische bedenkingen hierbij, en het is oneerlijk als ik die verzwijg.
Volgens mij wordt een pro-Palestijns protest waarop zichtbaar is dat allerlei groepen en organisaties er steun aan verlenen, daar sterker van. Een XR-vlag op een Palestina-protest kan over komen als: ow bah, XR wil haar thema pushen, ten koste van Palestina als thema. Natuurlijk zien Palestijnen dat niet zitten. Het is niet goed als de Palestijnse stem zelfs op een Palestina-protest minder dan het volle pond krijgt. Een XR-vlag op een Palestina-protest kan echter ook iets uitstralen als: hey, ook XR is tegen de Israëlische genocide in Gaza! En dat wel gunstig. Want als meer groeperingen zichtbaar maken dat ze tegen de genocide op Gaza zijn, dan groeit de druk op de Nederlandse politiek om de steun voor die genocide in te trekken, en dan raakt het isolement van de Palestijnse strijd in de Nederlandse maatschappelijke verhoudingen openlijk doorbroken.
Een XR-logo verwelkomen op een Palestijns protest is daarom misschien juist wel heel nuttig, juist ook als antwoord op de reserves die daarover binnen XR-kring bestaan. Vanuit pro-Palestijnse hoek lijkt het me het overwegen waard om mensen in XR te helpen die reserves juist te overwinnen en te verleiden om mee te komen doen met Palestina-acties zonder dat ze haar eigen vlag en logo thuis hoeven laten. Wat geldt voor XR, kan morgen ook gelden voor FNV of weet ik wat voor organisatie. Zo’n zichtbare deelname aan de strijd maakt die strijd breder gedragen en daarmee sterker.
Tegelijk: ik zie het punt van de Palestijnse kameraden! En ik denk dat, op een protest zoals dat in Tilburg op 20 oktober, het goed en nodig was om in dat punt met deze kameraden mee te gaan. Het was boven alles hun actie, en ik heb een voorzet kunnen helpen geven. Hoe dat protest er vervolgens uit ging zien en ging klinken, dat was gelukkig niet primair aan mij.
3. Over oproeptekst, Hamas en antikoloniaal geweld
Een heel ander discussiepunt betrof de oproeptekst, en daarmee de insteek van protesten als deze. Een kameraad kwam via mail met de vraag waarom er geen expliciete afwijzing van de Hamas-aanval op Israëlische burgers op 7 oktober in stond. Moest je niet ook laten zien dat je daar tegen was, met name om linkse Israëli’s te laten zien dat je ook hun leed benoemt en erkent? Ik had het in de oproeptekst echter gelaten bij de vaststelling dat Israël de aanval van Hamas misbruikte om haar genocide mee te lanceren. Was dat wel goed?
De kameraad dacht van niet. Ik denk zeer nadrukkelijk van wel. Niet omdat ik het doden van Israëlische burgers – en van Thaise en Filipijnse arbeidsmigranten – goedkeur of toejuich, want dat doe ik niet. Niet omdat ik zou weigeren me tegen dat type van geweld uit te spreken, want ik weiger dat op zichzelf niet. Wel omdat ik denk dat een afwijzing van dat type geweld op geen enkele manier een voorwaarde hoort te zijn – of zelfs maar te lijken – voor deelname aan een protest tegen wat Israël aan het uitvoeren is tegen Palestijnen op Gaza: doelgerichte massamoord, genocide. Wat Hamas heeft gedaan op 7 oktober functioneert voor Israël als rechtvaardiging, als excuus, als smoes voor Israël om die genocide te ontketenen.
Ik wil op protesten daartegen iedereen zien die oprecht wil dat die genocide ogenblikkelijk stopt. Daaronder zijn mensen die het geweld van Hamas afkeuren en afwijzen. Daaronder zijn mensen die dat geweld wel afkeuren maar die afkeuring nu niet kenbaar willen maken omdat het de aandacht van die genocide weg haalt – een genocide waarvoor de aanval van Hamas als excuus functioneert. Daaronder zijn ook mensen die het geweld van Hamas accepteren als weliswaar brute maar tegelijk logische reactie op decennia lange Israëlische terreur. Ik vind van al die drie opties iets. En ik wil best zeggen wat ik vind. Maar wat ik vind was, in een oproep waar we allemaal samen die genocide willen helpen stoppen, helemaal de kwestie niet. De kwestie in die oproep was: kom je mee protesteren tegen de genocide?
Afwijzing van door Hamas-strijders bedreven willekeurig geweld tegen burgers – en jazeker, ook een diepere kritiek op de rechtse politiek van Hamas – is nodig. Maar zo’n afwijzing en zo’n kritiek mogen niet als een soort toegangseis voor demonstraties tegen de Israëlische genocidale politiek worden gehanteerd. Ik vertik het om als witte anarchist me te gedragen als koloniale grenswacht. De gevestigde politiek zet Palestijnen en hun supporters eindeloos onder druk om van Hamas en haar acties afstand te nemen. Ik vind het een goede houding om daar niet aan mee te doen. Ik heb respect voor mensen die nu zeggen: ik vertik het om Hamas te veroordelen, ik weiger het spel van de pro-Israëlische media en politici mee te spelen, ik spring niet op commando door die hoepel.
Ik vind zelf kritiek op Hamas en haar handelswijze op zichzelf wel relevant, juist ook omdat ik wil dat de Palestijnse vrijheid wint, en niet elke strategie en actievorm draagt daar automatisch aan bij. Maar ik verwacht niet dat mensen het met die kritiek eens zijn voordat ik zij aan zij met ze ga staan. Kritiek op daden van Hamas: ja, maar niet op een manier en een plek waarop zelfs maar de schijn wordt gewekt dat die Hamas-daden een valide reden kunnen zijn voor het Israëlische optreden. Ik wil geen spoor van both sides-ism nu in zo’n actie-oproep.
Kritiek op Hamas en op wat Hamas-strijders daar onschuldige burgers hebben aan gedaan heeft haar plek: in discussiestukken, in achtergrondverhalen, in persoonlijke uitspraken en gesprekken, in teksten waarin we als anarchisten uiteenzetten hoe we het conflict zien. En dan ziet mijn standpunt er ongeveer als volgt uit.
1 De aanval van 7 oktober 2023 was een enorme prison break, een spectaculaire uitbraak uit een gigantisch concentratiekamp. Zo’n uitbraak is precies net zo legitiem als dat het opsluiten van 2,2 miljoen Palestijnen in dat concentratiekamp illegitiem is. Met bulldozers de muur om Gaza doorbreken, met paragliders eroverheen floepen: goed! Dat die gewapende grensfortificaties om het concentratiekamp Gaza bezweken onder de slagen die Palestijnse strijders toebrachten: goed! Dat de Israëlische staat te kijk staat als kwetsbaar: goed! Ik snap de euforie die dit in Palestijnse kring opriep.
2 Dat strijders van Hamas daarbij enkele honderden soldaten en politieagenten ombrachten, hoort bij zo’n uitbraak. Gevangenisopstanden zijn wel vaker niet geweldloos, vooral omdat gevangenissen zelf dat ook niet zijn.. Hoe strenger het gevangenisregime en hoe grover het bewakingspersoneel, hoe harder het geweld dat uitrekende gevangenen op dat personeel zullen uitoefenen. Geen tranen om die Israëlische gewapende functionarissen die bij de uitbraak van 7 oktober omgelegd zijn!
Maar ook 3: het ombrengen van enkele honderden bezoekers van een festival, van vele bewoners van Israëlische kibboetsen – kortom: van burgers, ook al zijn het burgers van een koloniale maatschappij die feestvierden en werkzaam waren op gestolen land vlakbij de muren van het concentratiekamp waarbinnen mensen de feestgeluiden konden horen – dat is gewoon verkeerd, onrechtvaardig. Het ombrengen dan wel ontvoeren van Thaise en Filipijnse arbeidsmigranten – op hun manier ook slachtoffers van de Israëlische koloniale maatschappij! – natuurlijk ook. Dat type geweld draagt aan welk soort van vrijheid dan ook geenszins bij en verdient geen enkele goedkeuring.
Er moet overigens nog wel het een en ander worden opgehelderd over de toedracht van die dag. Er is van alles beweerd zonder bewijs. Over dode en zelfs onthoofde baby’s: geen enkele claim in die zin is van bewijs voorzien, het Witte Huis moest onder druk al toegeven dat de bewering van VS-president Biden dat hij foto’s ervan te zien had gekregen, niet klopte.(2) Er duiken inmiddels steeds meer berichten op dat veel van de dode burgers niet zijn omgebracht in een moordpartij, maar zijn omgekomen in het kruisvuur dat ontstond toen Israëlische veiligheidstroepen tegenover de Hamas-strijders op het toneel waren verschenen. Israëlisch vuur heeft veel Hamas-strijders, maar hoogstwaarschijnlijk ook omstanders en zelfs gegijzelden, het leven gekost.(3) Beweringen als ‘Hamas heeft 1400 Israelische burgers vermoord’ zijn dus onwaar, omdat soldaten geen burgers zijn en Filipino’s geen Israëli’s, en omdat een aantal van die doden door Israëlisch optreden zelf zijn omgekomen. Evengoed is het wel redelijk evident dat strijders van Hamas of ter plekke met Hamas samenwerkende groepen wel degelijk doelgericht een groot aantal onschuldige mensen om het leven heeft lopen brengen. Maar wat er precies is gebeurd, weten we nog lang niet.
Het zou bepaald ook niet voor het eerst zijn dat gruwelverhalen waarmee oorlogsdaden worden gerechtvaardigd, naderhand voor een aanzienlijk deel verdraaid of doodgewoon verzonnen zijn. Zoek maar eens op ‘babies incubators Kuwait’(4) Misschien is het wel niet zo verstandig om op al te hoge toon moordpartijen te lopen veroordelen waarvan achteraf mogelijk deels een heel andere toedracht blijkt. Voor de afwijzing van wat Israël op Gaza doet hoort het al helemaal niet uit te maken. Die is nodig, ongeacht wat Hamas precies wel en niet kan worden aangerekend wat 7 oktober betreft.
En vervolgens is er vooral ook 4! Al dit geweld – ook dat akelige geweld tegen burgers en arbeidsmigranten – is een reactie, geen zelfstandige oorzaak. De aanval van 7 oktober is geen begin van geweld door Palestijnen, maar een desperaat antwoord op juist de laatste maanden aanzwellend geweld van Israëlische zijde, van de kant van de staat maar ook van groepen Israëlische kolonisten. Ik vind het antwoord dat Hamas op het escalerende Israëlische koloniale geweld geeft deels verkeerd. Maar ik vind het nog veel meer verkeerd om te doen alsof dit antwoord de kern van het probleem is. En aan de solidariteit – onverkort en zonder voorwaarden – met Palestijnen in hun strijd tegen kolonialisme, apartheid, etnische zuivering en nu dus rechtstreeks genocide, verandert de aard van dit antwoord niets.
Brute koloniale verhoudingen roepen in de geschiedenis wel vaker brute antwoorden op. Denk aan Algerije, waar het antikoloniale verzet echt niet alleen Franse militairen tot doelwit koos. DE befaamse Film ‘Algiers’ is daar vrij duidelijk over. Het maakte de Franse nederlaag niet minder terecht. Denk aan de Indonesische vrijheidsstrijd, waar pro-koloniaal gewelddadig optreden tot de dag van vandaag met terugwerkende kracht wordt rechtgepraat met verwijzing naar extreem geweld door Indonesische strijders, gericht tegen Nederlandse en pro-Nederlandse burgers, en mensen die daarvoor aangezien werden. Het betreft het verschijnsel dat in de koloniale verslaggeving en memoires ‘Bersiap’ wordt genoemd. Dat geweld bestond, en fraai was dat bepaald ook niet.(5) Maar het was en is geen reden om de rechtmatigheid van de Indonesische vrijheidsstrijd op zich in twijfel te trekken, niet destijds en niet achteraf. Zonder poging van Nederland om haar koloniale gezag te herstellen was dat geweld er trouwens hoogstwaarschijnlijk niet eens zijn geweest, zeker niet in die mate en vorm. Zoiets geldt ook rond Palestina.
Het geweld van Hamas, ook die aspecten ervan die ik verwerp, zijn nog altijd een reactie op het kernprobleem. Wat Hamas deed is: een antwoord geven op koloniale verhoudingen en koloniaal geweld. En zelfs een verkeerd antwoord dienen we niet met het probleem op een lijn te zetten. Het probleem is het structurele geweld tegen de Palestijnse bevolking, in de vorm van een zionistisch dekolonisatieproces dat uitgemond is in Israël, een staat die gebouwd is rond joodse suprematie en deze suprematie keer op keer hardhandig bevestigt. Wie niet wil dat Hamas Israëlische burgers ombrengt, kan maar beter een eind helpen maken aan dat koloniale project dat nu bezig is met het ombrengen door Israël van Palestijnen in aantallen die de achtduizend naderen. Alleen al het aantal door Israël op Gaza de dood in gejaagde kinderen is al veel hoger dan het totale aantal slachtoffers aan Israëlische zijde, burgers zowel als militairen, bij de aanval van 7 oktober.
Daarmee zijn we terug bij waar het op de demonstratie om ging: het stopzetten van die genocide. Ik had het oprecht verkeerd gevonden als we via een oproeptekst mensen die weigeren om op afroep van gevestigde politiek en gevestigde media Hamas en haar handelswijze te veroordelen, te vertellen dat ze feitelijk niet welkom zijn op die demonstratie. Ik wil naast die mensen staan, tegenover de genocide, en tegenover een aan die genocide medeplichtige politiek en media. Die genocide dient te stoppen. From the river to the sea – Palestine will be free.
(4) Of check het verhaal meteen op Wikipedia: ‘Nayirah testimony’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony (gecheckt op 27 oktober 2023). Het gaat om de bewering dat Iraakse troepen in 1990 baby’s uit couveuzes zouden hebben gehaald en op de grond gegooid om daar dood te gaan. Dit was een van de verhalen waarmee geschermd werd om de publieke opinie klaar te maken voor Operation Desert Storm, de oorlog die de VS en haar bondgenoten in 1991 tegen Irak voerde. Het verhaal was volkomen frauduleus, werd opgedist door de dochter van van de ambassadeur van Koeweit in de VS, en werd mede mogelijk gemaakt doorn een PR-kantoor.
(5) En hele korte bespreking vind je in het mooie boek ‘De Indische Doofpot’, van Maurice Swirc (Amsterdam, 2022), pag. 72-77. Die bespreekt het geweld in de juiste context: die van een antikoloniale vrijheidsstrijd tegen een gewelddadig koloniaal bewind. Best een heel actueel en relevant onderwerp.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE!/Astrid Essed’s Letter to the Editor about the Israel-Hamas war all over the world!
Zoals u weet bekritiseer ik met enige regelmaat uw berichtgeving
in het Midden-Oostenconflict [1] en een enkele keer was het Tijd voor een compliment [2]
Nu, naar aanleiding van uw berichtgeving dd 25 october 2023
””Kolonisten richten bloedbaden aan” [zie de tekst onder de noten]
is het tijd ”om over allerlei te praten” [3], zoals in het onvergetelijke
Werk van Lewis Caroll, ”Alice in Wonderland” [4]
Het is is namelijk tijd voor een voorzichtig compliment,
maar ook kritiek!
Daar gaan we dan!
Ik waardeer het, dat u niet alleen eindelijk ook eens
aandacht geschonken hebt aan de door Israelische kolonisten
reeds sinds jaar en dag gepleegde misdaden tegenover de bezette
Palestijnse bevolking [5], maar ook, waartoe ik u al jaren
oproep, aandacht schenkt aan wat mensenrechtenorganisaties,
in casu [6] twee uitstekende Israelische mensenrechtenorganisaties,
al jarenlang en met veel toewijding rapporteren aan Israelische
mensenrechtenschendingen! [7]
Dat is goed en een grote Stap Voorwaarts in uw berichtgeving.
Houden zo!
NEDERZETTINGEN/KOLONISTEN
Uw berichtgeving over deze bloedbaden hebt u waarschijnlijk
uit de bronnen, die ik onder noot 8 zal noemen.
Nogmaals complimenten!
Maar ik heb ook kritiek, want zoals bij u helaas wel
vaker het geval is, is uw berichtgeving incompleet, wat
bij de lezer tot onduidelijkheid en/of verwarring kan leiden.
Want weliswaar bericht u over de gruweldaden van kolonisten,
maar u legt niet uit, wat kolonisten precies zijn en hoe
zij zich verhouden tot het Internationaal Recht.
IN STRIJD MET HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT
Kolonisten zijn bewoners van op bezet Palestijns gebied gebouwde
Israelische nederzettingen en deze nederzettingen zijn in strijd
met het Internationaal Recht, gebaseerd op artikel 49, 4e Conventie
van Geneve en het Haags Verdrag uit 1907
Zie noot 9
In artikel 49, 4e Conventie van Geneve wordt gezegd [ik citeer
Amnesty International] ”Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” [10]
Duidelijk dus en voor u nog even ter toelichting:
Het is aan de Bezettende Macht [u weet uiteraard, dat Israel de Palestijnse
gebieden bezet] om zijn bevolking over te brengen naar bezet gebied.
En dat gebeurt met die nederzettingenpolitiek, omdat Joodse Israeli’s
zich in die nederzettingen vestigen met toestemming van de
Israelische Overheid, die het op allerlei wijzen stimuleert, bijvoorbeeld
door uitbreidingen van die nederzettingen [11]
Ook heeft de EU de Israelische nederzettingen altijd veroordeeld
als zijnde in strijd met het Internationaal Recht, nog in maart 2023! [12]
Daarbij is het duidelijk, dat het ook nog eens landdiefstal is,
omdat het bezet gebied is en Israel, noch die kolonisten,
daar iets te zoeken hebben, wat hun terreur en gewelddaden nog
bizarder maakt.
Van het grootste belang is het dus, dat u, naast uw berichtgeving
over de gewelddaden van de kolonisten, ook vermeldt wie die
kolonisten nu eigenlijk zijn, met de o zo noodzakelijke informatie
dat hun behuizingen, die nederzettingen, in strijd zijn met
het Internationaal Recht!
Ik reken er dus op, dat u dat bij een volgende berichtgeving
WEL vermeldt.
Ik blijf u volgen.
Vriendelijke groeten
Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
NOTEN
Voor uw gemak zijn de noten in links ondergebracht
“Kolonisten richten bloedbaden aan” Sinds de aanval van Hamas op Israël zijn op de Westelijke Jordaanoever ten minste 90 Palestijnen gedood.Volgens de Israëlische mensenrechtenorganisaties Yesh Din en B’Tselem grijpen kolonisten met steun van het leger hun kans nu de wereld vooral kijkt naar de Gazastrook. Uit gegevens van de organisaties blijkt dat tientallen gemeenschappen van herders en bedoeïenen door kolonisten zijn verjaagd.In het dorp Qusra schoten kolonisten drie mensen dood en een dag later,toen ze begraven werden,nog twee. Sinds het begin van de oorlog heeft de Israëlische regering duizenden geweren uitgedeeld aan kolonisten.
EINDE BERICHT
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Mail aan NOS Teletekstredactie/Kritiek en lof over berichtgeving: ”Kolonisten richten bloedbaden aan”
Zoals u weet bekritiseer ik met enige regelmaat uw berichtgeving
in het Midden-Oostenconflict [1] en een enkele keer was het Tijd voor een compliment [2]
Nu, naar aanleiding van uw berichtgeving dd 25 october 2023
””Kolonisten richten bloedbaden aan” [zie de tekst onder de noten]
is het tijd ”om over allerlei te praten” [3], zoals in het onvergetelijke
Werk van Lewis Caroll, ”Alice in Wonderland” [4]
Het is is namelijk tijd voor een voorzichtig compliment,
maar ook kritiek!
Daar gaan we dan!
Ik waardeer het, dat u niet alleen eindelijk ook eens
aandacht geschonken hebt aan de door Israelische kolonisten
reeds sinds jaar en dag gepleegde misdaden tegenover de bezette
Palestijnse bevolking [5], maar ook, waartoe ik u al jaren
oproep, aandacht schenkt aan wat mensenrechtenorganisaties,
in casu [6] twee uitstekende Israelische mensenrechtenorganisaties,
al jarenlang en met veel toewijding rapporteren aan Israelische
mensenrechtenschendingen! [7]
Dat is goed en een grote Stap Voorwaarts in uw berichtgeving.
Houden zo!
NEDERZETTINGEN/KOLONISTEN
Uw berichtgeving over deze bloedbaden hebt u waarschijnlijk
uit de bronnen, die ik onder noot 8 zal noemen.
Nogmaals complimenten!
Maar ik heb ook kritiek, want zoals bij u helaas wel
vaker het geval is, is uw berichtgeving incompleet, wat
bij de lezer tot onduidelijkheid en/of verwarring kan leiden.
Want weliswaar bericht u over de gruweldaden van kolonisten,
maar u legt niet uit, wat kolonisten precies zijn en hoe
zij zich verhouden tot het Internationaal Recht.
IN STRIJD MET HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT
Kolonisten zijn bewoners van op bezet Palestijns gebied gebouwde
Israelische nederzettingen en deze nederzettingen zijn in strijd
met het Internationaal Recht, gebaseerd op artikel 49, 4e Conventie
van Geneve en het Haags Verdrag uit 1907
Zie noot 9
In artikel 49, 4e Conventie van Geneve wordt gezegd [ik citeer
Amnesty International] ”Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” [10]
Duidelijk dus en voor u nog even ter toelichting:
Het is aan de Bezettende Macht [u weet uiteraard, dat Israel de Palestijnse
gebieden bezet] om zijn bevolking over te brengen naar bezet gebied.
En dat gebeurt met die nederzettingenpolitiek, omdat Joodse Israeli’s
zich in die nederzettingen vestigen met toestemming van de
Israelische Overheid, die het op allerlei wijzen stimuleert, bijvoorbeeld
door uitbreidingen van die nederzettingen [11]
Ook heeft de EU de Israelische nederzettingen altijd veroordeeld
als zijnde in strijd met het Internationaal Recht, nog in maart 2023! [12]
Daarbij is het duidelijk, dat het ook nog eens landdiefstal is,
omdat het bezet gebied is en Israel, noch die kolonisten,
daar iets te zoeken hebben, wat hun terreur en gewelddaden nog
bizarder maakt.
Van het grootste belang is het dus, dat u, naast uw berichtgeving
over de gewelddaden van de kolonisten, ook vermeldt wie die
kolonisten nu eigenlijk zijn, met de o zo noodzakelijke informatie
dat hun behuizingen, die nederzettingen, in strijd zijn met
het Internationaal Recht!
Ik reken er dus op, dat u dat bij een volgende berichtgeving
WEL vermeldt.
Ik blijf u volgen.
Vriendelijke groeten
Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
NOTEN
Voor uw gemak zijn de noten in links ondergebracht
“Kolonisten richten bloedbaden aan” Sinds de aanval van Hamas op Israël zijn op de Westelijke Jordaanoever ten minste 90 Palestijnen gedood.Volgens de Israëlische mensenrechtenorganisaties Yesh Din en B’Tselem grijpen kolonisten met steun van het leger hun kans nu de wereld vooral kijkt naar de Gazastrook. Uit gegevens van de organisaties blijkt dat tientallen gemeenschappen van herders en bedoeïenen door kolonisten zijn verjaagd.In het dorp Qusra schoten kolonisten drie mensen dood en een dag later,toen ze begraven werden,nog twee. Sinds het begin van de oorlog heeft de Israëlische regering duizenden geweren uitgedeeld aan kolonisten.
EINDE BERICHT
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Het Geweld van Israelische kolonisten!/NOS, knoop het in je oren/De nederzettingen zijn in strijd met het Internationaal Recht!
Since the war in Gaza began, violence against Palestinians has shot up in the West Bank. In just ten days, soldiers and settlers have killed 62 Palestinians and injured dozens. Israel has put up roadblocks throughout the West Bank, closed off main roads to Palestinians and significantly restricted their movement.
Israel has also ramped up efforts to drive Palestinian communities and single-family farms out of their homes and land, cynically exploiting the war to promote its political agenda of taking over more land in the West Bank.
To further this goal, state-backed settler violence against Palestinians has risen in both frequency and intensity, with soldiers and police officers fully backing the assailants and often participating in the attacks. Events on the ground indicate that under cover of war, settlers are carrying out such assaults virtually unchecked, with no one trying to stop them before, during, or after the fact.
The transfer efforts are concentrated in eastern slopes of the mountain range east of Ramallah, in the Jordan Valley and in the South Hebron Hills. B’Tselem has received reports of settlers entering Palestinian communities, sometimes armed and often escorted by soldiers, and attacking residents, in some cases threatening them at gunpoint or firing at them. Residents report the assailants also damaged property, including destroying structures, stealing livestock and crops, felling trees, vandalizing water tanks, slashing pipes and smashing solar panels. Settlers also blocked agricultural roads that serve the residents, preventing them from accessing their land. In several cases, settlers and soldiers together ordered residents to leave their homes and lands by a specified time, threatening to harm them otherwise.
Meanwhile, settler networks on social media are awash with incitement and vitriol against Palestinians, including explicit threats to inflict lethal harm on their persons and property. The targeted communities are aware of this rhetoric and know, from experience, that the danger is not merely theoretical but real.
The communities have no choice left. Fearing for their lives, and with no way to generate income or obtain food and water, over the past week 8 entire communities – home to 87 families numbering 472 people, of them 136 minors – have left their homes. In 6 additional communities, where only part of the population departed, 11 families left their homes, numbering 80 people, 37of them minors. In all, 98 families, numbering 552 people including 173 minors, left their homes since Oct 7th. Six other Palestinian communities, numbering more than 450 people, have left their homes in the last two years.
It may appear as though settlers show up at Palestinian communities and start attacking them on their own initiative. In fact, these actions are part of Israel’s well-known, longstanding policy to make life so miserable for dozens of Palestinian communities in the West Bank that the residents eventually leave, seemingly of their own accord. Israel then proceeds to take over the land and use it for its own purposes – mainly building and expanding settlements. This policy has radically intensified under the current government, whose members fully support and even encourage the violent attacks.
This unlawful policy constitutes forcible transfer of residents in an occupied territory. Such transfer is prohibited under any circumstance by international law, which Israel is obligated – and has undertaken – to respect. The fact that soldiers are not physically forcing residents out of their homes is irrelevant: creating a coercive environment that leaves residents no choice but to forsake their homes is enough.
These communities have been left to their fate with no one to protect them. Any attempt they make at self-defense is met with violence by soldiers and settlers. Given the circumstances, the international community is obligated to use its leverage to stop the forcible transfer of these residents and put a stop to the violence against them.
For decades, Israel has employed a slew of measures designed to make life in dozens of Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank miserable. This is part of an attempt to force residents of these communities to uproot themselves, seemingly of their own accord. Once that is achieved, the state can realize its goal of taking over the land. To advance this objective, Israel forbids members of these communities from building homes, agricultural structures or public buildings. It does not allow them to connect to the water and power grids or build roads, and when they do, as they have no other choice, Israel threatens demolition, often delivering on these threats.
Settler violence is another tool Israel employs to further torment Palestinians living in these communities. Such attacks have grown significantly worse under the current government, turning life in some places into an unending nightmare and denying residents any possibility of living with even minimal dignity. The violence has robbed Palestinian residents of their ability to continue earning a living. It has terrorized them to the point of fearing for their lives and made them internalize the understanding that there is no one to protect them.
This reality has left these communities with no other choice, and several of them have uprooted themselves, leaving hearth and home for safer places. Dozens of communities scattered throughout the West Bank live in similar conditions. If Israel continues this policy, their residents may also be displaced, freeing Israel to achieve its goal and take over their land.
Background
Dozens of Palestinian shepherding communities are scattered across the West Bank. Because Israel considers these communities to be “unrecognized,” it does not allow them to connect to the water and power grids or the road system. Israel also considers all structures built in these communities – homes, public buildings and agricultural structures – “illegal” and issues demolition orders against them, which, in some cases, it executes. Some structures have been demolished and rebuilt several times.
In recent years, settlers have built dozens of outposts and small farms near these communities with the aid of the state, and since then, violence against Palestinians living in the area has increased, reaching new heights under the current government. These violent attacks, which have become a terrifying daily routine, include settlers driving Palestinian shepherds and farmers out of pasturelands and farm fields, physically assaulting residents of the communities, entering their homes in the middle of the night, setting fire to Palestinian property, scaring livestock, destroying crops, theft and road closures. Palestinian residents have also reported water tank valves being opened and settler flocks being led to drink in Palestinian water reservoirs.
In these circumstances, residents of these communities could no longer continue going out to their pasturelands and farm fields. With the Palestinians gone, settlers, in some places, began cultivating their fields under the protection of soldiers. In other places, settlers began grazing their owned flocks in pasturelands that had until recently been used by Palestinian shepherds. Without access to pasturelands, Palestinians have had to switch to purchasing fodder and water for their flocks at a high cost, which has caused significant financial losses, effectively destroying their livelihoods.
The current government plays a significant role in this state of affairs. While it did not introduce restrictions on Palestinian construction, house demolitions and the use of settler violence to take control of Palestinian land, it does lend full legitimacy to settler violence against Palestinians by publicly encouraging and supporting its perpetrators. Members of this government have themselves led such violence in the past. They are now the people in charge of designing policy. They allocate the funding that finances the violence, and they are responsible for enforcing the law on settlers who attack Palestinians.
This government does not even bother with the empty condemnations once heard after these acts of violence, praising violent settlers instead. Where previous governments insisted on keeping up the charade of a functioning law enforcement system that investigates and prosecutes Israelis who harm Palestinians, members of this government work to erase all trace of it, with one minister calling to “erase Huwarah,” members of coalition parties paying a hospital visit to an Israeli suspected of killing a Palestinian and ministers refusing to condemn the violence, all while condoning one pogrom in a Palestinian community after another.
The first to suffer the consequences of this change are the most isolated, most vulnerable Palestinian communities. These communities live in the most basic conditions, surrounded by settlement outposts whose residents are given carte blanche to harm them with impunity. If Palestinians in more established communities like Turmusaya and Um Safa received no protection while soldiers and police officers worked together with the pogromists, what hope do residents of these isolated shepherding communities have? Fearing for their very survival, realizing that they and their children have been abandoned to their fate, all while losing their sources of income, has, understandably, left them with no way to continue living in their communities and has forced them to leave.
The displaced communities
In the past two years, at least six West Bank communities have been displaced.
Four of the communities lived to the north and northeast of Ramallah. Some of their members lived on land owned by other Palestinians who had agreed to let them live there after they were displaced from other places within Israel and around the West Bank. Several Israeli residential and farming outposts have been established around these communities in recent years, with the state’s help, the first of which, Micha’s Farm, was established in 2018. Like elsewhere in the West Bank, these settlement outposts were almost immediately connected to the water and power grids, as well as the road system. They have enjoyed immunity from demolition, and their residents work in full concert with the military, which provides them with protection. Some of these outposts were established in areas where, officially, no communities may be built, as Israel has declared them “firing zones,” but nevertheless received the support of the state.
The four displaced communities in this area are:
Ras a-Tin: On 7 July 2022, the roughly 120 members of this community, about half of them minors, uprooted themselves. The community was established in the late 1960s by Palestinians whom Israel had displaced from the South Hebron Hills on privately owned and registered Palestinian land belonging to residents of Kafr Malik and al-Mughayir. Over the years, the civil administration issued demolition orders against some of the residents’ structures and until today Israel had demolished three non-residential structures in the community. The Civil Administration had also issued a demolition order for the school built by community residents. In 2018, Micha’s Farm, a settlement outpost, was built near the community, and following its establishment, community residents reported a significant increase in violent incidents, including harassment, theft, vandalism and verbal violence, which became a daily routine.
‘Ein Samia: On 22 May 2023, the last remaining residents of the community of ‘Ein Samia, home to 28 families with a total of about 200 members, abandoned their homes. The community settled at the site, on lands leased from residents of nearby Kafr Malik, in 1980, after being displaced by Israel several times from other places. Over the years, the civil administration issued demolition orders against some of the residents’ structures and until today Israel had demolished 21 houses in the community, which had been home to 83 people, including 52 minors, as well as another 28 non-residential buildings. The Civil Administration also issued a demolition order for the community’s school, which was supposed to serve its roughly 40 children. In October 2022, the Jerusalem District Court dismissed a petition filed by local residents to suspend the demolition. The residents left before the demolition order was executed. Residents of ‘Ein Samia also reported a significant increase in settler violence beginning in 2018. A week before the community left, the police confiscated dozens of sheep and goats from its residents on the false claim that they had been stolen from settlers. Settlers entered the community during the night, attacked local residents and the school, flew a drone above them and torched pasturelands. They also let their flock loose in the community’s farm fields, and the animals consumed their entire crop.
al-Baq’ah: On July 10, 2023, 33 people , including 21 minors, were displaced. On September 1, 2023 the last remaining family, numbering 5 people including one minor, was displaced too. Their departure was preceded by daily attacks by settlers who had established a farm about 50 meters away from the community’s homes, installed solar panels, connected to the water infrastructure serving the nearby outpost of Neve Erez and took control of the community’s access road to the main road. The settlers had also been grazing their flock, numbering between 60 and 70 head of sheep, in the community’s pasturelands and harassing shepherds from the community who were out grazing their own flocks. On 7 July 2023, at around 6:30 A.M., a tent in the community, which was more isolated than others, was set on fire. The family was out at the time, as they had been spending their nights elsewhere ever since the establishment of the outpost, for fear of settler attacks. The family saw the fire from a distance and called the police, but no one came to the scene.
al-Qabun: The community, which was home to 12 families numbering 86 residents, including 26 minors, was displaced in early August 2023. The community had lived at the site since 1996, after Israel forced its members out of the Negev desert in the early 1950s. Over the years, the civil administration issued demolition orders against some of the residents’ structures and until today Israel had demolished six houses, which had been home to 41 people, including 18 minors, and 12 non-residential buildings. In February of this year, settlers established an outpost near the community, inside an area Israel had declared a “firing zone.” The settlers harassed residents, who reported they walked around their houses, even entering them, arrived on horseback and in ATVs late at night, intimidated them, took over their farm fields and prevented them from grazing their flock.
At least two more communities were forcibly displaced in the South Hebron Hills. The first was Khirbet Simri, a hamlet of two families belonging to two brothers with a total of 20 members, including eight minors. In 1998, the outpost of Mitzpe Yair was established on top of the hill where the community had lived, and increased violence followed. Settlers harassed community members, threatened them, entered their homes, prevented them from grazing their flocks and entered their homes. In 2020, settlers brought in a herd of cattle, which they grazed on land that residents of the community had used to graze. In July 2022, the residents decided to leave.
The second community to leave was Widady a-Tahta, also numbering 20 residents, including 12 minors. The community had lived at the site for about 50 years. Roughly two years ago, settlers established an outpost about 500 meters away from the community’s homes. Since then, settlers had repeatedly blocked community members’ access to pasturelands around their homes, including by using a drone to scare and scatter the flock. Armed settlers also repeatedly entered residents’ homes, in some cases with a dog, at all hours, attacking community members, beating them and threatening them at gunpoint. Additionally, about a year ago, the Civil Administration issued demolition orders for all structures in the small hamlet – three residential structures and a livestock enclosure. On 27 June 2023, two armed settlers entered the community and threatened one of the residents, who was grazing his sheep near his house. He fled to call family members for help, and the settlers tried to steal the sheep, but when they saw the residents approaching, they abandoned them and returned to the outpost. The family contacted the police, but they refused to help them. After this incident, the family came to the decision that the danger was too great, and they had to leave.
Part of a long-standing policy
These communities did not make the decision to uproot themselves in a void. It is the direct result of Israel’s policy, which is designed to achieve this exact outcome: displacing Palestinians and reducing their living space in order to transfer their land to Jewish hands. The policy rests on a slew of restrictions and abusive measures and practices by the state and its agents, with varying degrees of severity and pursued both officially and unofficially.
The official track: Extreme restrictions on construction and development
Israel effectively forbids Palestinian construction and development in Area C, which comprises 60% of the West Bank. The area is home to 200,000-300,000 Palestinians, thousands of whom live in dozens of shepherding and farming communities. Though most Palestinian residents of the West Bank live in areas defined as A and B under the Oslo Accords, which were signed as a five-year interim agreement about 30 years ago, all Palestinians are impacted by the ban on building. The reason is that when the Oslo Accords were signed, Areas A and B were already largely populated, while areas with potential for urban, agricultural and economic development remained mostly in Area C, and the Palestinian population has nearly doubled since.
To prevent Palestinian construction in Area C, Israel has defined approximately 60% of it as banned for Palestinian construction by attaching various legal definitions to large (and sometimes overlapping) areas: “state land” comprises about 35% of Area C, military training grounds (firing zones) comprise about 30% of Area C, nature reserves and national parks cover another 14% and settlement jurisdictions comprise another 16% of Area C. Israel is waging an unrelenting war against Palestinians living in these areas, repeatedly driving them away from their land on false pretenses, such as “military training,” demolishing their homes and confiscating their property.
In the remaining 40% of Area C, Israel, which has full and exclusive control over building and planning in the West Bank, enforces extreme restrictions on construction and development. The Civil Administration refuses to prepare master plans for the vast majority of Palestinian communities in this area. The few master plans that have been approved by the Civil Administration, accounting for less than 1% of Area C and in areas that are mostly already built up, do not meet planning criteria accepted in the world today.
The odds of a Palestinian receiving a building permit, even on privately-owned land, are minuscule. According to figures the Civil Administration provided to Peace Now, in the decade between 2009 and 2018, only 98 permits for residential, industrial, agricultural and infrastructure construction were approved out of 4,422 permit applications submitted (2%). According to figures provided to the Israeli NGO Bimkom, of 2,550 applications submitted between 2016 and 2020, 24 were approved (less than 1%). The number of permit applications submitted does not necessarily reflect Palestinians’ construction needs, since most Palestinians no longer go to the trouble of submitting building permit applications, knowing that they will be rejected anyway.
The lack of master plans prevents not just residential construction but also construction for public purposes, such as schools and medical facilities, as well as infrastructure, including connections to the road system and water and power grids. Due to climate change, restrictions on infrastructure make life harder for Palestinian residents by the year. Not only does Israel deny residents connections to infrastructure, but it also prevents them from taking care of their needs independently, prohibiting the digging of water cisterns and the installation of solar systems and regularly confiscating water tanks. Without connections to running water, water consumption in these communities is 26 liters per day per person, which is similar to water consumption in disaster zones and is about a quarter of the 100 liters per day per person recommended by the World Health Organization.
Given these conditions, Palestinians are forced to advance development in their communities and build their houses without permits. They do this not because they are criminals but because they have no possibility of building legally. The Civil Administration issues demolition orders against these structures, sometimes executing them. According to B’Tselem figures, between 2006 and 31 July 2023, Israel demolished 2,123 homes across the West Bank. 8,580 people lost their homes in these demolitions, including 4,324 minors. During this time, Israel also demolished 3,387 non-residential structures.
Thus, by using a sterile legal and urban planning vocabulary and latching onto military orders and “planning and building laws,” Israel manages to drive Palestinians out of vast areas it sets its sights on and corral them into smaller areas, where it puts their lives on hold and applies policies designed to deny them any development. Palestinians are forced to live in constant uncertainty regarding their future and in never-ending fear that Civil Administration personnel will come to deliver demolition orders or demolish what they have already built. They live in a state of constant deprivation, in conditions that cannot begin to be compared to those in the settlements built near their communities and often on their lands.
The unofficial track: Settler violence
Israeli land grab is also pursued via daily acts of violence carried out by bands of settlers operating without fear of repercussions, who are armed, supported, encouraged and funded by the state, whether directly or indirectly. These acts of violence are part of a broad strategy designed to displace Palestinians from Area C.
In recent years, about 70 “agricultural farms” have been established throughout the West Bank. Starting a farm requires far fewer resources than building a settlement, and through grazing sheep and cattle, these farms enable easy takeover of vast areas spanning thousands of dunams, which usually contain pastureland, water resources and land cultivated by Palestinians. Settlers residing in these farms terrorize Palestinians living near them.
The key tactics used by the settlers include taking over pastureland by grazing sheep and cattle on it, racing ATVs into Palestinian flocks and flying drones over them to scare and scatter the animals, using physical violence against Palestinian residents of the communities – in pasturelands and farm fields and inside their homes – and damaging water sources.
Using these tactics, settlers have managed to drive Palestinian shepherds and farmers from the fields, pasturelands and water sources they had relied on for generations and take control of them. Research conducted by B’Tselem about two years ago indicated that five small settler farms, with just a few dozen residents – usually a family or two and some youths – have taken over an area spanning a total of more than 28,000 dunams (1 dunam = 1,000 sq. meters) of farmland and pastureland used by Palestinian communities for generations.
The military, which is well aware of these acts, avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, and instead, soldiers sometimes participate in these acts themselves or protect the settlers from a distance. Israel’s inaction continues after settler attacks on Palestinians have taken place, with enforcement authorities doing their utmost to avoid responding to these incidents. Complaints are difficult to file, and in the very few cases in which investigations are, in fact, opened, the system quickly whitewashes them. Indictments are hardly ever filed against settlers who harm Palestinians, and those that are filed usually cite minor offenses, with token penalties to match, in the rare instance of a conviction.
This is nothing new. Violence committed by settlers against Palestinians has been documented since the very early days of the occupation in countless government documents and dossiers; thousands of testimonies from Palestinians and soldiers; books; reports by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations and thousands of media stories. This broad, consistent documentation has had almost no effect on settler violence against Palestinians, which has long since become part and parcel of life under the occupation in the West Bank.
This policy has left Palestinians without any protection, denied even the right to defend themselves against people invading their homes. When Palestinians try to fend off attacking settlers, including by throwing stones, soldiers who, until then, stood by or participated in the attack, fire tear gas canisters, stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and even live rounds at them. In some cases, Palestinians are also arrested, and some are prosecuted.
The state not only legitimizes violence against Palestinians but also legitimizes the results of these acts, allowing settlers to remain on land they forcibly took from Palestinians. The military forbids Palestinians from entering these areas, and the state fully supports the settlements established on them. Dozens of outposts and farming outposts built without official permission are left standing, while Israel provides support through government ministries, the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization and regional councils in the West Bank. The state also subsidizes financial endeavors in the outposts, including agricultural facilities, provides support to new farmers and for shepherding, allocates water and legally defends outposts in petitions for their removal.
This is how forcible transfer began, and this is how it continues
Israel works to make the lives of residents in communities located in areas it covets miserable to the point that they can no longer take it and uproot themselves, leaving their homes and land for the state to take. This policy is implemented using two parallel tracks. In one track – given a stamp of approval by military orders, legal advisers and the Supreme Court – the state evicts Palestinians from their land. In the other parallel track, settlers use violence against Palestinians, aided and abetted by state forces, and sometimes, with their participation. This policy has led to the forcible transfer of at least six communities, but many other communities throughout the West Bank experience the same brutality and are under an immediate threat of expulsion.
This is an illegal policy that implicates Israel in the war crime of forcible transfer. International law, which Israel is obligated to respect and has undertaken to abide by, forbids the forcible transfer of residents of an occupied territory – no matter the circumstances. The fact that this particular case does not involve soldiers arriving at residents’ homes and physically forcing them out is irrelevant. Creating a coercive environment that leaves residents no other choice is sufficient to find Israel liable for this crime.
These communities are not displaced because of some natural disaster or other unavoidable circumstances. It is a choice the apartheid regime is making in order to realize its goal of maintaining Jewish supremacy in the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. This regime views land as a resource designed to serve the Jewish public only, and so land is, therefore, used almost exclusively for the development and expansion of existing Jewish settlements and the establishment of new ones.
As such, resisting the ongoing transfer is a duty, and there is, obviously, no obligation to continue cooperating with the implementation of the policies that drive it. Growing segments of the Israeli public have recently declared their refusal to serve in the army in an undemocratic country. There is nothing more worthy of refusing than participating in the commission of a war crime and the implementation of a transfer policy.
Abed Wadi was getting dressed for the funeral when the message arrived.
It was an image, forwarded to him by a friend, of a group of masked men posing with axes, a petrol canister, and a chainsaw, with text printed on the image in Hebrew and Arabic.
“To all the rats in the sewers of Qusra village, we are waiting for you and we will not mourn you,” the text said.
“The day of revenge is coming.”
Qusra was Wadi’s village, in the northern part of the West Bank near Nablus. The funeral that day was for four Palestinians from the village. Three had been killed the previous day – Wednesday 11 October – after Israeli settlers entered Qusra and attacked a Palestinian family home.
The fourth was shot dead in clashes with Israeli soldiers that followed.
The following day, the Qusra villagers were preparing to set out for a hospital half an hour away and return with the bodies of the dead. To do so, they would need to travel across land that is dotted with Israeli settlements, where the risk of violence, high even in ordinary times, has risen dramatically in the two weeks since the Hamas attack that launched a war with Israel.
Wadi put his phone down and continued getting dressed. There were four men in refrigerators in the hospital who needed to be brought home. He was not going to be deterred by a threat, he said. He had heard too many.
There was no way for Wadi to know that, in a few hours’ time, hardline Israeli settlers would confront the funeral procession and his own brother and young nephew would be shot dead.
“If we had delayed one or even two days, what good would it have done?” Wadi said, sitting in the shaded courtyard of his family home in Qusra.
“Do you think that the settlers would have left this place on the second day?”
According to the UN’s humanitarian office, the week that followed Hamas’s murderous attack was the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since it began reporting fatalities in 2005, with at least 75 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military or settlers, and incidents of settler violence up from an average of three a day to eight.
In one raid on a Palestinian refugee camp, and a rare air strike in the region, on Thursday 12th, Israeli forces killed at least 12 people, Palestinian officials said, and Israeli police said one officer was killed.
There was “a real risk” of the occupied territory “spiralling out of control”, the UN said this week.
Palestinian residents of the West Bank say that while the world’s attention is drawn to the unfolding disaster in Gaza, Israeli settlers are taking advantage by entering villages and expelling, and even killing, Palestinian civilians.
In at least three cases, according to video footage or eyewitness testimony from villagers, the settlers have been wearing military uniforms or accompanied by the Israeli military in their attacks.
The first three men who died in Qusra had gone to defend a family in a house on the outskirts of the village, after settlers approached the house and began throwing rocks at it, several residents told the BBC.
They say the settlers then opened fire at the Palestinian neighbours who came to assist, killing two teenagers and a young man – Hasan Abu Sorour, 16, Obayda Abu Sorour, 17, and Musab Abu Reda, 25 – and gravely wounding several others. Moath Odeh, aged 21, was killed later in clashes with soldiers.
Among the wounded were a father and his six-year-old daughter, who lived at the house, who were shot in the face and in the abdomen respectively, according to two people who received the dead and wounded at a nearby medical clinic.
One of those assisting at the clinic was Amer Odeh, a cousin of two of the victims. It fell to Amer to call Said Odeh, the father of 17-year-old Obayda.
“I told him, your son is lightly injured,” Amer said, in an interview alongside Said in Qusra on Tuesday. “I could not give him this shock over the phone.”
Said rushed to the medical centre. “They told me that my son was injured but there was no way for me to see him at that moment,” he recalled, his eyes shiny with tears.
“I told them I wanted to see my son now, and I entered that room and I saw that by the grace of God he had been martyred.”
The following day was set to be the funeral for the four victims. Abed Wadi put the image of the masked men with axes and chainsaws out of his mind and joined the funeral convoy bringing the bodies back from the hospital to Qusra.
As the cars and ambulances made their way along the Nablus-Ramallah road, the convoy was ambushed by hardline Israeli settlers. In the clash that followed, according to video footage and eyewitness testimony, settlers pelted the convoy with stones, some members of the funeral convoy threw stones back, and the Israeli settlers and soldiers responded with live fire.
In the “chaos and heavy, random gunfire,” Abed Wadi lost track of his brother, Ibrahim, a 63-year-old local politician with the Fatah Movement, and Ibrahim’s son Ahmed, a 24-year-old law student. Video footage of part of the confrontation appears to show Ahmed and others running away from the gunfire, before Ahmed is cut down by bullets on the road.
“They told me my nephew was shot twice in his stomach and once in his neck, and my brother was shot in his waist, towards his heart,” Wadi said.
“There were no weapons in our funeral convoy,” he said. “Usually we would fly the Palestinian flag from the cars but we did not even fly our flag, because of the fear.”
Residents in Qusra told the BBC this week that fear had permeated the village. Last weekend was the beginning of olive season in the area, but residents who depend on the harvest for their income said they would not go to the groves on the outskirts of the village for fear of settlers shooting.
There had already been a significant increase in violence by Israeli settlers this year, even before the Hamas attack, according to UN data, with more than 100 incidents reported each month and about 400 people driven from their land between January and August.
Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem told the BBC that since the attack, it had documented “a concerted and organised effort by settlers to use the fact that the entire international and local attention is focused on Gaza and the north of Israel to try to seize land in the West Bank”.
Partial data compiled by B’Tselem, covering the first six days after the Hamas attack, recorded at least 46 separate incidents in which it said settlers threatened, physically attacked or damaged the property of Palestinians in the West Bank.
“A lot of shepherding families and communities have fled because they were threatened in the past week by settlers,” said Roy Yellin, a spokesman for B’Tselem. “Settlers have been giving residents a deadline to leave and telling them if they don’t they will be harmed. And some villages have been totally emptied out.”
One of those villages was Wadi al-Siq, near Ramallah, previously home to a Palestinian Bedouin community of about 200. “For months we have been facing harassment and attacks from settlers day and night, but since the start of the war the attacks increased,” said Abdul Rahman Kaabna, 48, a farmer from Wadi al-Siq.
On 9 October, a group of approximately 60 settlers, many dressed in military uniforms, attacked the community, according to three now-exiled residents. “They attacked us with weapons and terrified everyone,” Kaabna said. “Then they gave us one hour to go out with our sheep and threatened us to death if we didn’t leave.”
The residents walked more than 10km (6.2 miles) to escape, said another resident, Ali Arara, 35. “The settlers stole everything from our homes,” he said. “My daughter was terrified. They beat us and left us with nothing.”
According to B’Tselem and Yesh Din, another Israeli human rights group which monitors West Bank violence, the intimidation and forced displacement reported in Wadi al-Siq has been repeated in communities across the territory since 7 October.
In one of the most shocking incidents caught on film in the past week, an Israeli settler entered a Palestinian village called Al-Tuwani near Hebron and shot an unarmed Palestinian resident in the stomach at point blank range, while an Israeli soldier appeared to look on.
The incident began when two armed settlers, accompanied by a soldier, attacked a home on the outskirts of the village, according to three residents including the homeowner.
“Three Israelis came to my house, they were armed, and one was wearing the uniform of the army,” said Musab Rabai, 36.
“One of the settlers came into the house, pushed me and beat me on the head with the gun and told me he was going to shoot me.”
Neighbours responded to Rabai’s shouts for help, he said. Among them was Zakriha Adra, a father of four. Video footage filmed by Adra’s cousin, Basel, shows the settler who allegedly beat Rabai and the Israeli soldier standing a short distance away from the group of Palestinian neighbours. The armed settler then suddenly approaches Adra, strikes him with his rifle and shoots him in the stomach from just a few feet away.
Throughout the encounter, Adra appears to be holding his arms by his sides in a non-threatening manner.
According to the family, Adra is now in hospital in critical condition. “He survived but the bullet has done a lot of damage inside his stomach,” said Basel, his cousin.
Musab Rabai, whose house was attacked, said the shooting had been a culmination of days of threatening behaviour and property destruction by the settlers.
“Since Saturday they have been standing around the village armed with guns and using a bulldozer to destroy trees,” he said. “The men here in the village have been sleeping in shifts, only a few hours each, so there is always someone awake in case the settlers attack.”
The BBC asked the Yesha Council, the umbrella organisation for the settlers in the West Bank and elsewhere, to comment for this story but they declined. Moti Yogev, the acting head of the Binyamin Council, which also represents settlers in the region, said that violent settlers “belonged to the fringes” of the settler community. “If they do exist, they should be dealt with like any other criminal,” he said.
The Israeli military and Israeli police force did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“The most tragic thing is that the violence by these extreme settlers does not produce any response from the Israeli military,” said Dov Khenin, a former Israeli politician turned peace activist. “And the violence has its own purpose, to get rid of these small Palestinian communities, to eject them from their homes.”
The fear for many Palestinians now is that the situation in the West Bank will only get worse. Israel’s National Security Minister, Itar Ben Gvir, announced last week that the government would purchase 10,000 rifles to arm Israeli civilians, including those in West Bank settlements – a move that threatens to further blur the lines between armed settlers and members of the military in the occupied territory.
In Qusra, Abed Wadi said he had heard the news about the 10,000 rifles. He shook his head. “It won’t change anything for the people of Qusra,” he said.
Wadi was sitting in his courtyard, surrounded by posters bearing the image of his brother, his nephew, and the four other men from the village who were killed last week.
“We have always seen the rifle in the hands of the settlers, they have been shooting at us for a long time,” he said.
But something had changed, he said. It seemed as though the settlers had become more aggressive, more radical. “Farm houses are being burned, olive trees cut down, cars broken into, land is being stolen,” Wadi said.
“And this is just our village. If you were to look to the next village and the next village, you would find anger and pain in every one,” he said. “And you would see no end to it.”
END
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Noot 8/NOS/Lof en kritiek
De Illegaliteit van de nederzettingen is gebaseerd op artikelen
uit de 4e Conventie van Geneve en het Haags Verdrag van 1907
DE VIERDE CONVENTIE VAN GENEVE
ARTIKEL 49, 4E CONVENTIE VAN GENEVE
”Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”
De Staat, die een gebied bezet heeft, mag zich slechts beschouwen als beheerder en vruchtgebruiker der openbare gebouwen, onroerende eigendommen, bosschen en landbouwondernemingen, welke aan den vijandelijken Staat behooren en zich in de bezette landstreek bevinden. Hij moet het grondkapitaal dier eigendommen in zijn geheel laten en die overeenkomstig de regelen van het vruchtgebruik beheeren.”
IN HET ENGELS Art. 55. The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct.
CONVENTION RESPECTING THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WARON LAND AND ITS ANNEX: REGULATIONS CONCERNINGTHE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND
When a territory is placed under the authority of a hostile army, the rules of international humanitarian law dealing with occupation apply. Occupation confers certain rights and obligations on the occupying power.
Prohibited actions include forcibly transferring protected persons from the occupied territories to the territory of the occupying power. It is unlawful under the Fourth Geneva Convention for an occupying power to transfer parts of its own population into the territory it occupies. This means that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of settlements, as these are a form of population transfer into occupied territory. Any measure designed to expand or consolidate settlements is also illegal. Confiscation of land to build or expand settlements is similarly prohibited.
”The establishment of the settlements contravenes international humanitarian law (IHL), which states that an occupying power may not relocate its own citizens to the occupied territory or make permanent changes to that territory, unless these are needed for imperative military needs, in the narrow sense of the term, or undertaken for the benefit of the local population.”
Israel’s policy of settling its civilians in occupied Palestinian territory and displacing the local population contravenes fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
The situation in the OPT is primarily governed by two international legal regimes: international humanitarian law (including the rules of the law of occupation) and international human rights law. International criminal law is also relevant as some serious violations may constitute war crimes.
STATUS OF SETTLEMENTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
Israel’s policy of settling its civilians in occupied Palestinian territory and displacing the local population contravenes fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
The extensive appropriation of land and the appropriation and destruction of property required to build and expand settlements also breach other rules of international humanitarian law. Under the Hague Regulations of 1907, the public property of the occupied population (such as lands, forests and agricultural estates) is subject to the laws of usufruct. This means that an occupying state is only allowed a very limited use of this property. This limitation is derived from the notion that occupation is temporary, the core idea of the law of occupation. In the words of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the occupying power “has a duty to ensure the protection, security, and welfare of the people living under occupation and to guarantee that they can live as normal a life as possible, in accordance with their own laws, culture, and traditions.”
The Hague Regulations prohibit the confiscation of private property. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the destruction of private or state property, “except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations”.
As the occupier, Israel is therefore forbidden from using state land and natural resources for purposes other than military or security needs or for the benefit of the local population. The unlawful appropriation of property by an occupying power amounts to “pillage”, which is prohibited by both the Hague Regulations and Fourth Geneva Convention and is a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and many national laws.
Israel’s building of settlements in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, does not respect any of these rules and exceptions. Transferring the occupying power’s civilians into the occupied territory is prohibited without exception. Furthermore, as explained earlier, the settlements and associated infrastructure are not temporary, do not benefit Palestinians and do not serve the legitimate security needs of the occupying power. Settlements entirely depend on the large-scale appropriation and/or destruction of Palestinian private and state property which are not militarily necessary. They are created with the sole purpose of permanently establishing Jewish Israelis on occupied land.
In addition to being violations of international humanitarian law, key acts required for the establishment of settlements amount to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Under this body of law, the “extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” and the “transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory” constitute war crimes. As stated above, “pillage” is also a war crime under the Rome Statute.
Israel’s settlement policy also violates a special category of obligations entitled peremptory norms of international law (jus cogens) from which no derogation is permitted. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) affirmed that the rules of the Geneva Conventions constitute “intransgressible principles of international customary law”. Only a limited number of international norms acquire this status, which is a reflection of the seriousness and importance with which the international community views them. Breaches of these norms give rise to certain obligations on all other states, or “third states”, which are explained below.
SETTLEMENTS, DISCRIMINATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
States have a duty to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of people under their jurisdiction, including people living in territory that is outside national borders but under the effective control of the state. The ICJ confirmed that Israel is obliged to extend the application of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other treaties to which it is a state party to people in the OPT. Israel is a state party to numerous international human rights treaties and, as the occupying power, it has well defined obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of Palestinians.
However, as has been well documented for many years by the UN, Amnesty International and other NGOs, Israel’s settlement policy is one of the main driving forces behind the mass human rights violations resulting from the occupation. These include:
Violations of the right to life: Israeli soldiers, police and security guards have unlawfully killed and injured many Palestinian civilians in the OPT, including during protests against the confiscation of land and the construction of settlements. UN agencies and fact-finding missions have also expressed concern about violence perpetrated by a minority of Israeli settlers aimed at intimidating Palestinian populations.
Violations of the rights to liberty, security of the person and equal treatment before the law: Amnesty International has documented how Palestinians in the OPT are routinely subjected to arbitrary detention, including through administrative detention. Whereas settlers are subject to Israeli civil and criminal law, Palestinians are subject to a military court system which falls short of international standards for the fair conduct of trials and administration of justice.
Violations of the right to access an effective remedy for acts violating fundamental rights: Israel’s failure to adequately investigate and enforce the law for acts of violence against Palestinians, together with the multiple legal, financial and procedural barriers faced by Palestinians in accessing the court system, severely limit Palestinians’ ability to seek legal redress. The Israeli High Court of Justice has failed to rule on the legality of settlements, as it considered the settlements to be a political issue that that it is not competent to hear.
Violations of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly: Amnesty International has documented Israel’s use of military orders to prohibit peaceful protest and criminalize freedom of expression in the West Bank. Israeli forces have used tear gas, rubber bullets and occasionally live rounds to suppress peaceful protests.
Violations of the rights to equality and non-discrimination: Systematic discrimination against Palestinians is inherent in virtually all aspects of Israel’s administration of the OPT. Palestinians are also specifically targeted for a range of actions that constitute human rights violations. The Israeli government allows settlers to exploit land and natural resources that belong to Palestinians. Israel provides preferential treatment to Israeli businesses operating in the OPT while putting up barriers to, or simply blocking, Palestinian ones. Israeli citizens receive entitlements and Palestinians face restrictions on the grounds of nationality, ethnicity and religion, in contravention of international standards.
The Israeli authorities have created a discriminatory urban planning and zoning system. Within Area C, where most settlement construction is based, Israel has allocated 70% of the land to settlements and only 1% to Palestinians. In East Jerusalem, Israel has expropriated 35% of the city for the construction of settlements, while restricting Palestinians to construct on only 13% of the land. These figures clearly illustrate Israel’s use of regulatory measures to discriminate against Palestinian residents in Area C.
The UN has also pointed to discrimination against Palestinians in the way in which the criminal law is enforced. While prosecution rates for settler attacks against Palestinians are low, suggesting a lack of enforcement, most cases of violence against Israeli settlers are investigated and proceed to court.
Violations of the right to adequate housing: Since 1967, Israel has constructed tens of thousands of homes on Palestinian land to accommodate settlers while, at the same time, demolishing an estimated 50,000 Palestinian homes and other structures, such as farm buildings and water tanks. Israel also carries out demolitions as a form of collective punishment against the families of individuals accused of attacks on Israelis. In East Jerusalem, about 800 houses have been demolished since 2004 for lack of permits. Israel also confiscates houses inhabited by Palestinians in the city to allocate them to settlers. By forcibly evicting and/or demolishing their homes without providing adequate alternative accommodation, Israel has failed in its duty to respect the right to adequate housing of thousands of Palestinians.
Violations of the right to freedom of movement: Many restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinian residents are directly linked to the settlements, including restrictions aimed at protecting the settlements and maintaining “buffer zones”. Restrictions include checkpoints, settler-only roads and physical impediments created by walls and gates.
Violations of the rights of the child: Every year, 500-700 Palestinian children from the occupied West Bank are prosecuted in Israeli juvenile military courts under Israeli military orders. They are often arrested in night raids and systematically ill-treated. Some of these children serve their sentences within Israel, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The UN has also documented that many children have been killed or injured in settler attacks.
Violations of the right to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health: Restrictions on movement limit Palestinians’ access to health care. Specialists working with Palestinian populations have also documented a range of serious mental health conditions that stem from exposure to violence and abuse in the OPT.
Violations of the right to water: Most Palestinian communities in Area C are not connected to the water network and are prevented from repairing or constructing wells or water cisterns that hold rainwater. Water consumption in some Area C communities is reported by the UN to be 20% of the minimum recommended standard. Israel’s failure to ensure Palestinian residents have a sufficient supply of clean, safe water for drinking and other domestic uses constitutes a violation of its obligations to respect and fulfil the right to water.
Violations of the right to education: Palestinian students face numerous obstacles in accessing education, including forced displacement, demolitions, restrictions on movement and a shortage of school places. An independent fact-finding mission in 2012 noted an “upward trend” of cases of settler attacks on Palestinian schools and harassment of Palestinian children on their way to and from school. Such problems can result in children not attending school and in a deterioration in the quality of learning.
Violations of the right to earn a decent living through work: The expansion of settlements has reduced the amount of land available to Palestinians for herding and agriculture, increasing the dependency of rural communities on humanitarian assistance. Settler violence and the destruction of Palestinian-owned crops and olive trees have damaged the livelihoods of farmers. The UN has reported that in Hebron city centre, the Israeli military has forced 512 Palestinian businesses to close, while more than 1,000 others have shut down due to restricted access for customers and suppliers.
SUSTAINED INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION
Most states and international bodies have long recognized that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The European Union (EU) has clearly stated that: “settlement building anywhere in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law, constitutes an obstacle to peace and threatens to make a two-state solution impossible.”
The settlements have been condemned as illegal in many UN Security Council and other UN resolutions. As early as 1980, UN Security Council Resolution 465 called on Israel “to dismantle the existing settlements and, in particular, to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.” The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention have reaffirmed that settlements violate international humanitarian law. The illegality of the settlements was recently reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 2334, passed inDecember 2016, which reiterates the Security Council’s call on Israel to cease all settlement activities in the OPT. The serious human rights violations that stem from Israeli settlements have also been repeatedly raised and condemned by international bodies and experts.
