Soldiers, Anguish
Remain Around Evacuated West Bank Settlements
By Jon Elmer
30 August, 2005
Countercurrents.org
Jenin, West Bank, Aug 26 - Standing in her barnyard amid the chickens
and cows, corn stalks and wheat, Sarah Hassans optimism is guarded,
her memories searing as she looks out at the Jewish settlement of Kadim.
Her farm, in the
village of Arab As-Suweitat, is the closest Palestinian land to the
settlement of Kadim, one of four Jewish enclaves recently evacuated
under Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharons "disengagement"
plan. Established in 1983, along with the nearby settlement of Ganim,
Kadim until recently hosted a civilian population of about 150.
According to all
accounts, by the time The NewStandard visited Suweitat, the settlers
had already abandoned Kadim in compliance with the quieter West Bank
portion of Ariel Sharons Gaza "disengagement" plan.
But memories of the impact that their 22-year residence in Palestinian
territory had on the local population will linger, as will the heavily
armed presence of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops, maintaining effective
rule over the areas Palestinian population.
"We have to be honest we are steadfast, but we have suffered
greatly," Hassan said between long and thoughtful pauses. Hassan
said she has been living and farming this land since 1948, when her
family, like many presently in the Jenin area, fled their homes and
villages around the coastal city of Haifa in what is now Israel.
"The settlers
have cut our access to our fields, they have burned our crops and olive
trees," she said, pointing to charred and truncated stumps. "They
think if they destroy our crops they can make us leave."
"But the problem
is much bigger than just the settlers," Hassan continued, pointing
to the military barracks and the Israeli armored personnel carrier parked
under a tent, close enough to count the mounted machine guns on its
dark green frame.
From Suweitat, the
view of Kadim was already a picture of virtual desolation on the eve
of Tuesdays official evacuation of the settlement, the residents
there having already vacated long prior to Sharons deadline. Still,
IDF armored vehicles and soldiers wandered the tree-lined settlement
and the sniper tower was clearly still manned.
Hassan said that
whenever there is shooting in the direction of the settlement, soldiers
punish Suweitats residents.
"Sometimes
they just come here to investigate; sometimes they occupy our homes,"
Hassan said, describing the IDF practice of commandeering Palestinian
houses and buildings for use as forward outposts and sniper positions.
"Other times
they shoot wildly into the village, as you can see," she said,
pointing to the broadside of her home, facing Kadim, riddled with bullet
holes. "And they come in with their tanks and bulldozers and destroy
the houses," she added, with a nod towards a pile of concrete and
twisted rebar that was once a neighbors home.
According to a map
made by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, there are currently five major trenches, three fixed checkpoints,
two earthen mounds, and three roadblocks in the area all barring
Palestinian freedom of movement between villages as well as the city
of Jenin, all purportedly to protect of the tiny settlements of Ganim
and Kadim.
Abdullah Youssef
Suleiman has family in the village of Khirbet Sabein, the rooftops
of which are visible from his home in Suweitat, but he cannot visit
them because obstacles have blocked access, and he fears settler and
soldier attacks.
"The settlements
and the soldiers make normal social interaction impossible," Suleiman
said
The village of Suweitat
has become an island of isolation since the most recent Palestinian
uprising, known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, began five years ago. "We
are alone to face this situation," Hassan said. "You are the
first journalist to visit here in more than seven years; no foreigners,
no NGOs, no one has given us any help," she said as chickens scurried
around her feet.
Ganim and Kadim,
with a combined settler population of barely 300, significantly impacted
the city of Jenin and its satellite villages. Located southeast of Jenin,
an urban center more than 35,000 Palestinians call home, the tiny settlements
effectively blocked the expansion of the city and severed it from the
rural villages in the area.
"We could not
extend our mandate to provide for building, agriculture, water and basic
services," said Salahaldin Moussa, administrative manager for the
Jenin Municipality, "because we needed permission from the Israeli
army something which was never forthcoming."
"As a result,
the area near the settlements is empty of development no houses,
no electricity, no water, nothing in our master plan as a municipality,"
Moussa said.
The road to the
eastern part of Jenin was cut off by the Israeli military, making it
difficult for people who live in the nearby villages to travel to the
city in order to access basic services, health care, school and work.
The road closures in the area are stifling, often forcing Palestinians
to travel off-road, on small paths through farmers fields and
groves.
"These settlements
were established and then used as an excuse to do other infrastructural
changes, under the auspices of security for settlers," said Dr.
Mustafa Barghouthi, general secretary of the political reform organization
Palestinian National Initiative.
"After the
settlements, they made the checkpoints, and then the closure and the
segregation of the roads," Barghouthi said. In many parts of the
West Bank, the Israeli military has designated existing Palestinian
roads off-limits to the native population so that settlers and soldiers
alone can use them.
"Villages that
were connected with each other by a main road, and connected socially
too, with one common health center, one common kindergarten, one common
major school what Israel did is to cut all these connections,"
said Barghouthi, who also a founding member and past president of the
Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, an emergency health
care and relief organization, as well as a candidate who earlier this
year won a fifth of the Palestinian votes to fill the seat of the late
President Yassir Arafat.
Professor Moshe
Brawer, a professor of Geography at Tel Aviv University, reiterated
the impact of Ganim and Kadim on the network of transportation.
"These settlements,
overlooking Jenin, block the main road from the central Samarian highlands
to the northern areas from Nablus to Jenin," Brawer said.
Nablus is the largest
city in the West Bank and serves as the territorys major northern
economic hub. The separation of Nablus from Jenin, as well as the closures
imposed by Israel which include preventing Palestinian workers
from entering Israel has created an unemployment rate in Jenin
of 60 percent, according to statistics issued by the Palestinian National
Authority.
Unlike larger settlement
blocs elsewhere in the West Bank, the small communities evacuated by
Israel did not until recently play a significant role in the broader
effort to annex large portions of Palestinian territory to the state
of Israel.
The settlements
of Ganim and Kadim, said Brawer, who served as advisor to Israeli governments
on the demarcation of Israel's borders during peace negotiations with
Jordan and Egypt, were simply examples of Israels ability to "plant
small Israeli-Jewish populations" amid native populations in the
West Bank.
But Sharon has turned
their evacuation into immense political capital, which Palestinians
fear will buy the Israeli government the prerogative to build up other,
more important settlements in the territory to remain under full occupation.
It is not clear
how if at all the IDF presence in the evacuated settlements
will change.
"It is important
to note," said Moussa, that the West Bank portion of Sharons
"disengagement" plan is "only an evacuation, not yet
a withdrawal." He added, "This is an important distinction,
both in terms of the legal and practical implications."
Moussa said the
changes, however limited, offer real chances for bettering Palestinian
conditions. "We are hoping that the evacuation process has an impact
on the freedom of movement for Palestinians in the area," he said,
"because Israel can no longer say that their restrictions are in
place to protect the settlements. We are optimistic that this will lead
to better services, better building and expansion opportunities, better
access
We have plans in place for this, but it all depends on
the Israelis."
Asked if the impact
of the settlements removal will mean an increase in Palestinians
freedom of movement, one IDF officer told The NewStandard, "Of
course, this is the main goal. The settlements will be gone and people
will have freedom of movement between cities and villages on roads that
will be used only by Palestinians." The officer asked to remain
anonymous since only representatives of the prime ministers office
or the Defense Ministry are empowered to speak to the press about the
Gaza disengagement plan.
"We did not
redeploy or withdraw forces," IDF spokesperson Captain Yael Hartmann
confirmed to TNS. "The only thing we did was act in accord with
the government decision to evacuate the settlers," she said.
The message, Palestinians
say, is clear.
"We are entering
a new stage of the conflict, with new facts on the ground,"
explained Moussa. "The message is this: in Gaza you can do whatever
you want; in the West Bank, you will run your affairs, but under the
command of our security agencies."
Although the evacuation
of the settlers from Ganim and Kadim is complete, in the nearby Palestinian
villages the celebrations are reserved for the future, villagers said.
Hassans nephew,
Attwan Khalaf Turkmen, who lives next door, acknowledged that if the
settlers and soldiers leave they will be "very happy." But
only if they are "free to work the land, and live our lives as
before."
"If that happens,"
Turkmen said, "we will
invite the whole community for a party,"
he said smiling.
But for now, it
seems, the memories of the past and the continued military presence
dominate.
© 2005 The NewStandard.