Jerusalem settlements

I went on a tour with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. They basically try and protect Palestinian houses from demolition and also resistance to the occupation in general. They also run a tour around Jerusalem to show people the settlements there.

In Jerusalem the Palestinians make up 35% of the population and pay 33% of the taxes. However they are a lot poorer than the Israelis and so they pay disproportionate amount of taxes. On top of that they only receive 11% of the budget. They get far less services than Israelis - in some areas the only service you can get is house demolition. The infrastructure is awful, you can see it driving down the roads, often no more than dirt tracks and potholed. There are two traffic lights serving 230,000 people. Whilst 26 libraries serve the Jewish population the Palestinians have 3. There are over 1,000 public spaces in Jewish areas, 3for Palestinians. They are badly represented in the council, only one Palestinian has ever headed a municipal department - that of Arab Affairs. On a national scale there has only ever been one (junior) Palestinian minister, despite the fact that they make up 24%of the population.

Around Jerusalem there are a number of settlements which can be divided into two types. Ideological, populated with people from the national religious movement aiming for a 'messianic' push.
Economic, settlements populated with people for economic incentives (see my post on the Jordan valley).

The first settlement we visited 'The Ascent of the Olives' settlement is mainly ideological and is close to one of the house demolitions I attended the other day. At present there are 2 families which they plan to double. This land was taken from the Israelis by Jordan but has been returned to them under Israeli laws. Palestinians, of course, who have had their land confiscated have not been so lucky. The Israelis manage to build these settlements, despite the fact they often break planning law. The Israelis have built many settlements and plan to extend and build more in order to surround the the Old City in order to prejudice any future negotiations about boundaries (the old city is part of the planned international city of Jerusalem)

These attempts to prejudice any future negotiations can also be seen in the building of the wall, which we visited. Only 6% follows the Green Line which designates, according to International law, the boundary between Palestine and Israel. It is quite obviously pretty awful at stopping people coming through - anyone determined can climb over or tunnel over and many have done. Although the Israeli government talks about it stopping suicide bombers there are other resons that can be attributed to this. And of 8 suicide bombers caught recently 6 were already in Israel. For the amount the wall cost, its a pretty crap security measure, especially when you think what else the money could be spent on. Israeli minisiters are quite open about its dual purpose, saying that it would influence future border relations.

The wall however is quite devastating for those around it - despite it being fairly easy to cross if you want to, it can't exactly be done everyday and for the average journey it would simply not be worth the risk of getting shot. The towns around Jerusalem where many Palestinians used to commute from are devastated with some, such as As-Sayahira Al Gharbiya being depopulated by as much as 60%. These towns have lost their urban fabric. Elsewhere, such as Bilin where I go every week for demonstrations, farmers can no longer easily get to their land. Only if you have property documents proving the land is yours (even if everyone agrees it is yours) an you get permits.

This separation is not just maintained through the wall but with apartheid roads that anyone but Palestinians can use. Some roads that the Palestinians can use have checkpoints, or only limited access but many as simply prohibited.

However the Israelis are very good at making the wall blend in around settlements such as Ma'ale Adumin where one can often completely miss the wall or think it might simply be a sound barrier on the road. This settlement is very secular and western and the Israelis try to make it as 'normal' as possible with the buildings designed using coastal architeture. This settlement, in Palestinian land, is massive with 37,000 people living there (up 5,000 in 2 years) and they plan to have 75,000 people here. The economic incentives for living here include disounts and loans and thus attract many young couples and immigrants. And the cost of all these settlements? Around 400 billion shekels a year - a huge amount of money. These settlements are so ingrained now that many don't even think of them as settlements and the people here even tend to vote for leftist less pro-war (I use this term rather than pro-peace).

The Palestinians of course don't get such luxuries with a hugenumber of houses having been demolished. House demolitions fall into four categories

1. To kill someone inside the house - rare
2. Punitive - about 1500 so far. To punish families of those who have attacked Israel. Sometimes whole apartment blocks for one persons actions. These, however, have largely been stopped as they have finally realised this only creates violence rather than preventing it
3. Administrative - the house doesn't have the right planning permission
4. Military - the military wants to clear the space

These house demolitions have a huge impact on those that live there. Men often turn to violence, children fail in school and are violent. As the families move into other houses of their family the mother and wife loses her autonomy and her sovereignty over her family leading to depression and suicide in some cases. Some houses have demolition orders that are outstanding for 10 years before being carried out leading to massive uncertainly. The bulldozers could literally turn up at any of these houses in 10 minutes.

Getting planning permission is impossible - you need to have a huge amount of money to do so, more than most Palestinans have. And in order to build a house the area needs to have the public amenities to be able to cope - water, electricity and good roads for example. Of course, as these areas do not have these due to massive underfunding it is pretty much impossible to get planning permission. On top of this there are many zones where it is simply forbidden, regardless of your circumstances, to get it. Therefore over time demographic changes make it more and more 'reasonable' for Israel to hold onto land that in previous peace agreement should have gone to the Palestinians.

Every day that a peace settlement is not found makes it progressively harder to have a Palestinian state. Every day the settlements become larger and more integrated into the Israeli way of life. No one wants to be evicted from their settlement and the more people who live here the harder a political solution will be to remove them - no one is going to vote for a party that advocates them having to return to Israel. And despite there being laws against the extension of these settlements they continue to grow - though unlike the 'illegal' Palestinian houses they won't get demolished.