The expanding settlers’ state


December 22, 2016
Sarah Benton

The commentary by Shlomi Eldar is followed by an earlier news report from Times of Israel


‘All this is ours.’ An Israeli family in the Jewish settlement outpost of Amona, West Bank, Dec. 9, 2016. Photo by Amir Cohen/ Reuters

How Amona settlement set Israeli precedent

The Israeli government’s response in the Amona settlement dispute shows that the settlers have won, setting a clear path for future settlement battles.

By Shlomi Eldar, trans. Ruti Sinai, Al Monitor/ Israel Pulse
December 21, 2016

It was my first visit to Amona, although not my first one to a West Bank outpost. They all look pretty much the same. The road to these officially unsanctioned outposts usually goes through a large settlement. Therefore, in local speak, the outposts are simply “add-ons” to the “main settlement.” Every large settlement has an unauthorized add-on. The settlement of Itamar, for example, has Har Gideon and Givat Arnon. Elon Moreh has Havat Skali. Yitzhar has Mitzpe Yitzhar and Givat Tkuma. The list goes on and on. All in all, there are some 120 unsanctioned settlements to which successive Israeli governments have turned a blind eye or given an approving wink and nod. All this holds true for Amona.

The road to the outpost that has stirred up a major political and diplomatic storm goes through the older and larger settlement of Ofra. A small, handwritten sign points toward an adjacent hill. After leaving the settlement, one drives along a narrow road only recently paved or upgraded. The road is strewn with dozens of tyres dispersed by young, radical, right-wing Israelis known as “hilltop youth,” ready to be ignited if the government tries to carry out a forced eviction of the outpost.


The Amona outpost. Photo by Noam Moskowitz/Flash90

For now, a deal has been struck for the 40 families at the outpost to leave in return for significant financial compensation and a promise that a replacement settlement will be built for them elsewhere. Most of the hilltop youth are going home, but a few dozen remain seated on knapsacks and rolled up sleeping bags next to the Ofra bus station, promising to return at short notice if the threat of “destruction,” as they call the court-ordered outpost evacuation, is renewed.

On defending illegal outposts

It warms the heart and soul to see everyone, the best and brightest, mobilizing with such love for a sacred cause

Eli, a resident of the settlement of Kdumim who asked that his full name not be used, told Al-Monitor that the night before, on Dec. 19, all the “volunteers” held a farewell party to celebrate their success, which is how they described the compromise with the government. “There was dancing throughout the night till daybreak,” he said. “It warms the heart and soul to see everyone, the best and brightest, mobilizing with such love for a sacred cause, for the people of Israel.”

As far as these supporters of a Greater Land of Israel are concerned, they proved to the world that any evacuation from the Land of Israel, even from a small outpost of 40 families, would not go down well. They are right. The State of Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, gave in to their demands. Suffice it to see the sycophantic video in which Netanyahu implores them to respect the law and declares that his government is committed to the settlements.

Netanyahu worked day and night trying to appease the 40 families and avert their forced eviction. The Amona battle headquarters responded to Netanyahu’s imploring message by stating, “We’re not looking for sympathy or condolences. ‘When I want something I get it,’ you said, and you proved it too. It is in your power to prevent the desecration and save Amona. But if, God forbid, you fail, we will stand here with thousands of others and lead a non\violent, democratic grassroots protest.”

I asked Ariel, a youth from the settlement of Beit El sitting at the bus station, “When you say ‘democratic and nonviolent,’ what do you mean?” He explained that the intent was to forcibly resist the eviction but without attacking the soldiers who carry it out.

The Amona outpost is on a hilltop above Ofra in the centre of the Palestinian West Bank. It was built on privately owned Palestinian land by settler youth from Ofra in 1995.

 

The threat of a forced eviction was lifted after the Israeli government approved an allocation of NIS 130 million ($34 million) to compensate the Amona families and build an alternative settlement for them once suitable land is found. As I was talking to the hilltop youth in Ofra on Dec. 20, the state was petitioning the Supreme Court for an additional delay of the outpost’s eviction. The state’s attorneys said in their request that the evacuation plan had been derailed after a Palestinian man filed an objection to the establishment of the new settlement on the plot of land where Israel plans to build 24 housing units for the evacuees of Amona. The man claimed to have links to the land through relatives in Jordan.

The Amona trailer homes sit on a hilltop overlooking the entire district of Samaria, all the way to the Mediterranean coastal plain. The lights of the Israeli Big Apple, Tel Aviv, are visible at night. A handwritten sign at the overlook proclaims “Amona forever.”


Settler youth, who like nothing better than a warrior’s last stand, sit on top of Amona’s water tower December 15, 2016. Photo by Judah Ari Gross/ Times of Israel. Evacuation of the outpost is scheduled for December 25.

It is hard to understand how a handful of prefabs on a hilltop above Ofra have become a symbol of Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Amona’s evacuation, whether forced or peaceful, is no threat to the settlement enterprise. A drive along the eastern mountain ridge and western Samaria is ample proof of the enterprise’s firm grounding. Israeli leaders are unlikely to be able to uproot it, ever.

Wide roads have been paved along the mountain route from Jerusalem through the settlement town of Ma’ale Adumim to the settlements of Ma’ale Michmash, Beit El and Ariel. The settlers’ state is a wide expanse of territory into which successive Israeli governments have poured tremendous resources to establish a foothold and prevent any possibility of a territorial compromise leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu pledged his government’s continued commitment to the settlement movement in his clip to Amona residents. Clearly, Netanyahu meant it far more than he meant a recently reiterated commitment to the principle of two states for two people. Considering the efforts and resources the prime minister has invested in pacifying 40 families, it is hard to see him evicting hundreds of thousands of others to make way for a Palestinian state.

“Why is the battle for Amona so important?” I asked Eli from Kdumim.

“If you vacate one settlement in the Land of Israel, it’s a precedent,” he responded. “If even a single trailer home is destroyed, it’s a dangerous precedent. It’s sacrilege. It’s a calamity.”

“Nonetheless,” I said. “Agreement has been reached on vacating Amona.”

“Yes,” he concurred. “But in its stead there will be many other Amonas. Amona forever and ever more.”

In the evening, one of the outpost prefabs filled up with dozens of little children, dancing on mattresses and singing songs, under the watchful eye of a counsellor. These kids were born in the outpost, and it’s the only world they know. On the outside of the prefab, written in red, stood “The entire Land of Israel is ours” and in green letters the words “Absentees’ Property equals waiver,” meaning that Palestinians who fled, leaving their lands behind, have no right to reclaim their land.

The Amona settlers agreed to leave, but they did not give up. They carried the day, not just in terms of monetary compensation, which they seem to regard as virtually inconsequential. They won the fight over Israel’s character and future. They will call the shots. They will lead, and the government of Israel and its leader will say Amen.


 

Hundreds head to Amona outpost to oppose evacuation

Far-right activists plan to block roads, vandalize military vehicles; prisons brace for influx of detainees during removal of outpost

By Times of Israel staff
December 18, 2016

At least one thousand people gathered in Amona on Saturday night in a show of support for the illegal West Bank outpost as the court-ordered December 25 deadline for its evacuation neared.

Among the supporters were dozens connected to the far-right “hilltop youth” movement, who turned up with tires and rocks to block the access road to the outpost, as well as spikes to slow down military vehicles, Channel 2 reported. The tires on a van belonging to Channel 1 television were slashed Saturday night, despite a vow by the majority of the outpost residents to use only non-violent resistance to the evacuation, which they termed “a passive struggle.”

A more convivial atmosphere could be felt among the protesters themselves, as they distributed soup and hot drinks to one another on the cold winter night.

Earlier, as the sun went down and Shabbat ended, large numbers of Israel Defense Forces soldiers gathered at a nearby outpost, preparing to handle any resistance to the evacuation.

The Srugim website, affiliated with the nationalist-religious community to which Amona’s residents belong, reported that infantry soldiers from the Givati Brigade were bused to the nearby outpost of Giv’at Asaf. The website quoted Amona resident Rabbi Giora Brenner as saying that dozens of troops arrived in two buses and six or seven military vehicles. Brenner called it unprecedented in the 15 years he has lived in the outpost.

Security forces have been training in recent weeks for the removal of the outpost, which is built on privately owned Palestinian land. Channel 2 television said Saturday that police are preparing for widespread arrests during the evacuation. The Israel Prisons Service was emptying entire wings in four jails in preparation for accepting the detainees.

While a time has not been finalized for the evacuation, the state has said it will not take place during nighttime hours or without advance notice, due to the presence of women and children at the site, Channel 2 said.

The Amona settlers this week rejected a compromise proposed by the state to relocate them to adjacent land on the same hill.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday posted a video on his Facebook page in which he addressed the residents of Amona, calling on them not to fight the imminent evacuation. The settlers have threatened non-violent resistance, but some have warned that they will not able to control all who come to help them resist.

He called on Amona residents to act responsibly, and “not to harm IDF soldiers and security forces under any circumstances. They are our sons, the apples of our eye, they are dear to all of us and keep all of us safe. There is no place for violence.”

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog also called Saturday for the outpost residents and their supporters to refrain from attacking the security forces. But he also struck a less conciliatory note, saying that Zionism was not “a land grab.”

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, meanwhile, warned earlier this week that there would be zero tolerance for any attacks on members of the security forces.

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