Settlements and Lying to the Palestinian People

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Zionist settlement in the West Bank is a story with no end, and its news has continued without interruption since 1967. Israel confiscates land and builds settlements, and the Arabs run along behind it with statements of condemnation and denunciation, while Palestinian leaderships never tire of denouncing and rushing about on the international stage bearing complaints and grievances. Anyone among the Arabs who hears the news of Zionist settlement activity and the Arab positions toward it might imagine that Israel’s body is trembling, that it has become besieged, and that it has no option but to comply. Long years have passed, and settlement has remained at its fiercest, just as denunciation has remained the failed Arab and Palestinian media weapon.

Israel Has Been Settling Since 1967

Setting aside the settlement movement that Jews began in Palestine in 1878, and the establishment of the state of Israel that resulted from it, Israel began settling the West Bank directly after the war of 1967, and concentrated its settlement activities in sites sensitive from both a religious and a geographic standpoint. It began with Jerusalem and Hebron, considering them two holy cities for the Jews, and with the Jordan Valley and the Golan because they border Jordan and Syria, and the Latrun area as a strategically important military site, and the areas of Qalqilya and Etzion. Toward the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, it focused its efforts on the mountain peaks stretching from Jenin in the north down to south of Hebron, in order to control what is called the spine of the West Bank.

Israel confiscated vast areas of land, planted the West Bank with settlements, cut through it with bypass roads reserved for settlers, and established two different societies in the West Bank: one Jewish, characterized by meticulous organization and by a developed service, social, and economic infrastructure, tightly interconnected in terms of transport, communications, and water and electricity networks, and linked to Israel by a network of roads and transport that makes the settler feel he is not separate from Israel. The second society, meanwhile, remained under the weight of marginalization from every angle, and was cut into pieces so as to lose the smoothness of geographic, social, economic, and cultural continuity. It was squeezed from every side, so that the Palestinian would feel a stranger in his own homeland, and that life was so bleak that it would drive him to withdrawal or emigration.

Agreements and Settlement

Settlement has constituted the greatest danger to the existence of the Palestinian people in the West Bank, and to every idea and proposal aimed at resolving the Arab-Zionist conflict. This is why everyone concerned with seeking a solution to the Palestinian cause worked to address the settlement issue, on the basis that failing to address it means the collapse of any settlement project.

This is why Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was keen, in the Camp David Accords, to include the question of the settlements within the agreement concerning the Palestinian issue, and Israel agreed to freeze settlement during the negotiations over establishing Palestinian self-rule. Menachem Begin, the former Israeli prime minister, offered to freeze settlement in the initiative he put forward at the end of the 1970s in order to reach a peaceful solution with the Palestinians. And Ariel Sharon, who was defense minister in the early 1980s, agreed to freeze settlement as part of finding a solution through the village leagues (leagues that Israel itself established) to set up self-rule for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Palestine Liberation Organization passed over the settlement issue in the Oslo Accord and the agreements that followed it, and did not insist on halting, freezing, or removing the settlements before signing, contenting itself with postponing the settlement question to the final status negotiations.

Lying to the Palestinian People

Zionist settlement in the West Bank did not stop; it grew more intense, both in the building of housing units and in the number of settlers, after the signing of the Oslo Accord, and along with it grew the intensity of statements of condemnation and denunciation of Israel’s practices. The Palestinian has grown used to hearing the same tired phrases repeated against settlement, and to seeing more settlements and settlement activity — so which is he to believe: what he hears, or what he sees? Here I point to the positions of the following parties:

The United States, which has said for decades that settlement constitutes an obstacle on the path to peace, yet takes no action to remove this obstacle. American envoys come to the Arab region and go, continuing to repeat the same stale, repetitive phrases, which cannot stop the building of a single house on land stolen from a Palestinian. America lies, and it seems its Arab listeners wish to delude themselves into believing it is serious about finding a way to stop settlement, and they continue to appeal to America in the hope that it might rescue them in their own eyes.

America speaks against settlement while continuing to provide every kind of support to Israel, from diplomatic support in international forums to the provision of advanced warplanes such as the F-35. At the same time, America works hand in hand with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to strip the Palestinians of every means of strength, and pushes toward taking harsh measures against Palestinians who might resist the settlers.

Nor does America ever stop affirming its commitment to Israel’s security and its readiness to stand against anyone who threatens that security. So what obstacle does settlement pose for America? It is clear that America is lying, and that it engages in time-consuming activities to enable Israel to seize more West Bank land — a clarity that can be hidden from no one, though it remains possible for someone to delude himself that America is engaged in diplomatic efforts that might bear fruit.

Some Arab states maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, and among them are those that normalize relations at various political, economic, cultural, Masonic, and social levels — only without publicity or fanfare. As for those that do not maintain relations, they content themselves with the weakest form of faith. The Arab states could revive the program of boycotting Israel and the companies that deal with it in various fields; they could sever diplomatic relations and halt normalization completely; they could also provide financial and military support to the forces of resistance in the region. But we see none of this, and instead we see Israeli leaders and investors visiting some Arab countries in complete comfort and ease, the closest example to us being the recent visit of Israeli President Shimon Peres to Jordan. And the Arab countries still cling to the Beirut Arab Peace Initiative, even though Israel refuses to discuss it.

Official Palestinians and investors: if a Palestinian throws a stone at a settler, the Palestinian Authority and the occupation army will pursue him, but if a settler attacks Palestinians, no one will pursue him. The Palestinian now fears walking on the main roads between Palestinian cities, or on the bypass roads, for fear of the settlers, while the settler strolls about calmly and confidently in these same places. The picture used to be reversed in the face of the Palestinian national struggle, but the Palestinian Authority came along to turn the Palestinian into a laughingstock before his enemy.

The Palestinian agreements with Israel protect the settlers and make no mention whatsoever of halting or freezing settlement; they expose Palestinian security to danger and turn Palestinians into mere consuming beings. The Palestinian leadership has bartered away the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people for a loaf of bread, and nothing demonstrates this better than what the president of the Palestinian Authority said — that bread comes before democracy. What he meant was that the Palestinian people’s obtaining a loaf of bread is better than insisting on their freedom.

The Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian factions constantly denounce settlement, and this is precisely what reassures Israel that settlement faces no challenge or obstacle. Here I mention the settlement of Alfei Menashe near Qalqilya, whose residents a single Palestinian was able to force to evacuate because of the acts he carried out to make the settlers’ lives miserable. He resisted them with stones and nails scattered on the roads to puncture car tires, and other such things. Such a Palestinian is now pursued — by Palestinians.

There are Palestinians now investing in the settlements, and others normalizing relations with settler investors.

Kerry’s Visit

Official Palestinian circles and the Arab and Palestinian media were preoccupied with Kerry’s recent visit, on the assumption that Kerry is a wise and serious man who will work to persuade Israel. Of course Kerry is a wise man, and he is fully aware that Israeli settlement will not lead to Arab and Palestinian measures against Israel, so why would he be more royalist than the king and pressure Israel? Is it possible that Kerry would spend himself on behalf of helpless old men incapable of confronting an Israel that works night and day to build and gain strength? Kerry knows perfectly well that the mutual visits between Americans and Arabs are nothing but a pacifier, a way of keeping Arab leaders alive before their own peoples.

Destroying the Peace Process

Palestinian leaders and Arab rulers continue to say that Israeli settlement is destroying the peace process. This statement is entirely devoid of truth, because settlement continues, and Arab efforts to reach a peace settlement with Israel continue as well. Settlement has had absolutely no effect on Israel’s position, has led to no tension whatsoever with Arab states or with the Palestinians, and has never disturbed Israel’s security. Israel is well aware that the Arabs seek surrender with some saving of face, but it is also aware that they have made concessions over time without getting anything in return, and that they will continue along the same path — unless conditions change in the Arab countries.

Popular Resistance

Someone might say that Palestinians are now adopting popular resistance to confront Israel, citing as evidence the Friday demonstrations near the wall. God bless the demonstrators, who are making an effort worthy of praise, but official quarters use this situation to claim that they too are resisting. Popular resistance requires more than a Friday demonstration; it extends to include boycotting Israel, halting security coordination, forming popular committees, refusing to carry the Israeli identity card wrapped in a Palestinian label, and so on. Popular resistance requires great effort and many sacrifices, and does not stop at media gestures alone.

Halting Negotiations

The Palestinian Authority announced years ago that it would not return to the negotiating table except with a halt to settlement. Settlement continues, and negotiations have not entirely stopped, with meetings taking place between the Israeli and Palestinian sides from time to time. But the important point here is that Israel exhausted the purpose of negotiations back in 1996, when the Palestinians turned into security and administrative agents for Israel, and it no longer has any interest in continuing negotiations except to waste time. What matters to Israel now is security coordination — that is, the Palestinians’ continuing to provide security services to Israel and maintain calm in the West Bank — and if the Palestinian Authority wants to pressure Israel, the key is to cancel security coordination, not to halt negotiations that have not actually stopped.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “الاستيطان والكذب على شعب فلسطين” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.