Before We Run Out of Time: A Meeting with the PA Security Chief, Jenin

Their names were Mohammad, Nadeem, Eyal, Naftali and Gilad. Just five of the latest, senseless casualties in a six-decade long conflict.

They were all teenagers.

“Casualties”.

Nothing casual about this ten letter word. A word used to reduce destroyed human lives to numbers on a page. Mohammad, Nadeem, Eyal, Naftali and Gilad had beating hearts and teenage hopes and dreams. They gave their mothers warm hugs.

Mohammad and Nadeem were shot by the IDF in Ramallah on May 20. We were not too far from the area when the shootings happened. The teens were at a Nakba day demonstration. They were killed in broad daylight, picked off like clay pigeons on a shooting range. CCTV footage showed they posed no threat, they were shot in cold blood.

There was some media coverage but little international attention or condemnation of Nadeem and Mohammad’s murders.

Eyal, Naftali and Gilad were kidnapped on June 12. They were yeshiva students at the Israeli settlements in Hebron and Kfar Etzion, hitch hiking-home in the evening. Gilad tried to call out from his cell and get help as they were being kidnapped. It is chilling to hear. Back in the US I first heard the news on NPR. In the following days Israeli forces killed 6 more Palestinians, arrested over 400, demolished the family homes of suspects and placed the entire district of Hebron (over 650,000 people) under virtual lockdown.The bodies of the three missing Israeli teenagers turned up in a Hebron field on June 30th.

Within hours, Israel was bombing targets in the Gaza Strip although it was not proven that the two suspects in the case were Hamas members.

Human rights organizations issued a joint letter urging Israeli authorities to refrain from collectively punishing the civilian Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

President Obama issued a statement that the United States condemned “in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of terror against innocent youth.”

Israeli youth.

Your tax dollars at work: Since 1967 Israel has built 150 new Jewish-only settlements inside Palestine with upwards of 650,000 residents. It wants land, not peace. Settlers are the new “facts on the ground”, that can’t be moved it’s claimed. The 700,000 Palestinians who lived for generations on this land only to be swept away like twigs with a broom in 1948, weren’t “facts on the ground”. Neither are the $2.7MM present day Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank. They can be pushed out too, slowly but surely.Since the year 2000, the Israeli military has killed one Palestinian child every 4 days.

The words of Amin Al-Suwaity, the Director of Palestinian Security in Jenin echoed in my ears. Flashback to May 19th when we met him:

The headquarters of the Palestinian Security Forces in Jenin are in a large, imposing stone building encircled by a tall block wall. It looks to be fairly new, and entrance to the compound is controlled by a massive iron gate. The gate swings open and we walk inside. There is a guardhouse on the corner with a few uniformed officers standing around, chit chatting in the midday heat, machine guns slung over their shoulders and cigarettes dangling languidly from their fingers. One of them has a rosary. We are instructed not to take pictures inside.

The contrast with the IDF building where we met its spokesperson and head of media strategy, Col Peter Lerner just days ago, couldn’t be more striking. The ramshackle building in Tel Aviv and the smiling teenage women officers who welcomed us right outside, seemed to belie the formidable, highly trained and ruthless force that the IDF is. Putting the official spokesperson of the military in such a non descript, low-key setting seemed like an effort to present “a kinder, gentler face of the IDF”, to us friendly, foreign dignitaries.

The Palestinian Security forces building on the other hand, is clearly trying to impress by looking like a “government building”, big and very official. It’s trying to convince the visitor of the authority and might of the (far weaker) PA security force, if only by its sheer size. Like many official buildings we have seen in the Palestinian Territories, it’s trying to create on the ground, the trappings of a sovereign state where one has been struggling for exist, for six decades. In other words, it’s trying to “Fake it till You Make it”.

Even the name is a bit of a ridiculous oxymoron. It’s called the Department of “Preventive Security”. The security forces of most nations are charged with protecting and defending the nation. The PA doesn’t really have a military, but it has developed over the last two decades since the second intifada, a security force. The primary job of this “preventive security” force is to provide security not to the Palestinian people, but to Israel, from the threat of Palestinian resistance, aka terrorism. A whopping 40% of the Palestinian national budget is spent on maintaining this security force, that in effect protects Israelis from Palestinians, and also Palestinians from themselves.

There’s no elevator in sight within the building and when my wheelchair companion sees the long flight of stairs up to our meeting room, she wants to stay behind. A couple of strong bystanders appear out of nowhere and kindly volunteer to carry her up the stairs, wheelchair and all.

“She’s a trooper”, I tell one of them as we go up the stairs, “She just visited Al-Quds and prayed at Al-Aqsa last Friday.”

“How lucky!” He replies. “I’ve only been able to go once in my life, in 1998, and I’m 43 now.”

“Why?” I ask, “You live so close by”. (Jerusalem is literally a couple hours drive away).

“It’s really hard to get permits from the Israeli authorities, especially for Palestinian men”, he says.

Our helpers heave their load up the flights of steps to the Director’s office, I thank them profusely, and we get situated on sofas in a large office, in front of a massive glass-topped wooden desk, set against the backdrop of flags. Framed portraits of Palestinian leaders and martyrs line the walls.

A slim, middle aged and mustachioed man enters the room and gets seated behind the desk. This is Amin Al-Suwaity, the Director of Palestinian Preventive Security in Jenin. He has worked in the security forces for 21 years, and in Jenin for two. Amin begins his briefing in Arabic, and an interpreter translates for us as he speaks.

“I am the Head of Preventive Security for the people of Palestine and we work hard to address the concerns of our people. We embody the heritage left by our late president Yasser Arafat. We are following him in delivering his message in all of its ways, until we attain freedom.

There are sixty four residential clusters in Jenin and this office in Jenin city is in charge of all the ares. The construction of the Israeli separation wall started from this Jenin area and confiscated a large amount of land from this governerate, and also prevented a large number of people from working their land and visiting their relatives.

We the Palestinian people have “Sumud”, steadfastness, in the face of this occupation. And we will continue to have steadfastness.

The Preventive Security Force has these main tasks:

1. The first and most important is to eliminate terrorism. We have succeeded in the last 29 years in stopping a large number of suicide bombings against Israelis. Right now we have people in jail who have been stopped from attacking Israelis.

2. Stop all the arms trade and also drugs trade. There are lots of arms in the area. They are provided by Israel. We have confiscated tons of well equipped and advanced arms from the Jenin area. The Israeli security knows about this. Their goal is to create a security mess on the ground here in the territories (to legitimize the continuing occupation). All the drugs come here from Israel too, and ruin our kids future.

3. Eliminate crime. Crime exists in all cities of the world and we work to address it like in any other place.

4. Prevent money laundering by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

5. Arrest anyone calling for armed resistance.

We follow the instructions from our president. We respect all the international commitments we have made to the international community and the Quartet.

The IDF enters Jenin at will, all the time, day or night. Israel’s goal is to weaken the PA. In the past seven months nine people have been killed inside Jenin by Israel. Some of them could have been arrested. Israeli justifications are the usual ones; someone was about to do an act, we made a mistake, someone was in our way etc. Every time a Palestinian is killed, there are demonstrations against the PA, and we are weakened.

Demonstrations are incited by Hamas and Islamic Jihad every time a youth is killed in Jenin and they accuse us that we are collaborating with the Israelis and Americans. We have worked hard to eliminate the popularity of Hamas but a single act by the Israelis can bing Hamas back in a moment.”

Someone asks about Amin’s thoughts on the possibility of a Fatah and Hamas unity government, something recently announced after the failure of current negotiations.

“There were 700 members of PA security killed and 2000 kneecapped, by Hamas in 2006. Reconciliation won’t happen. As far as the government of Hamas in Gaza, there are many equations that can change the situation in Gaza. The Muslim Brotherhood (which supported Hamas) is not in power in Egypt any longer. Hamas is ruling Gaza with military power. We believe that if there are fair elections in Gaza today, they won’t get more than 30% of the vote. The elections we have coming up, they can change many things. The first experience of political Islam happened in Palestine, when Hamas succeeded in municipal elections. But then it showed its true colors. The same thing happened in Egypt. Morsi was elected but people immediately recognized their mistake. We look at Egypt and it is looking very positive now.

We send our best regards to the government and the people of USA. We are happy that three days ago President Obama acknowledged and announced that Israel is the main reason for the failure of the negotiations.

There is a right wing government in Israel that does whatever it wants outside international law. Israel is outside of international law and has been outside of international law. If it wants, the USA can change regimes of foreign countries in a matter of hours. Then why can’t it put pressure on Israel?

This is our message to the American people:

We ask the American people who are pioneers of freedom and democracy, to put pressure on Israel to return to the negotiating table. We don’t deny that the US government has helped us financially and otherwise. But we need them to put direct pressure on Israel. The most important force in this process is the USA. Even a junior American official giving a hopeful position can be more powerful than heads of 21 Arab states.

After the failure of the current negotiations, security-wise, this area is going to an “Unknown Place”. And it’s not a political place.

In the world today, we only have the Palestinian people under occupation. And the free world should support the Palestinian people to win their freedom.

Before we run out of time.”

As Amin says these ominous words a grim realization begins to take shape in my mind.

That the last hopes of the Palestinian people ride on help from America and Americans. They are pinning their hopes on us, when we have been led by governments who have demonstrated time and time again that push come to shove, when it comes to a question of “American Values” vs. “Strategic Interests”, strategic interests always trump values.

As Americans, we are lucky to be living in a country that is not for people of one faith, or one race, or one tribe. It’s a country for the many, with equal rights for all.

The realization that our government does not support in Israel-Palestine, what we assume to be our God-given rights here in America, saddens me profoundly.

Happy 4th of July.

Jenin: No Child is Born a Terrorist

The road that leads to Jenin looks very different from the last time I was here. It’s new, a wide double road built with USAID funding. I hear a new industrial zone is also in the works. As our bus glides across the smooth gray asphalt and pulls up to the checkpoint, I don’t see any of the usual Uzi-toting IDF soldiers. But before the peacenik in me starts feeling too warm and fuzzy, Daniel says,

“Don’t be fooled. Israel has private security firms running many of the checkpoints now. They are actually much more stringent. IDF soldiers who work the checkpoints are often young people just doing their year of army duty. The private security people on the other hand, do this for a living. And the firms who get the contracts from the Israeli government to run the checkpoints; they want to make sure they “earn their keep”and not lose their contracts.”

By now we are all on edge, clutching our passports, certain that one or more of us (especially the folks with the ‘suspicious’ Muslim country stamps) are going to be pulled off the bus for interrogation. But Isaac, our local captain, fields their questions well and by a stroke of luck, we are let through without much trouble.

Jenin, and especially the Jenin Refugee Camp, was a hotbed of the Second Intifada(2nd Palestinian uprising 2000-2005), and was practically destroyed during the IDF Operation Defensive Shield. But in the last nine years, Jenin has done a full 180, and the city of Jenin is now Area A, or under full Palestinian Authority control, security and civilian. A lot of economic development has occurred and the city has moved slowly from violence to non-violent protest through artistic expression, at venues like the Freedom Theater and Cinema Jenin (where we later find out the 2014 Academy Award wining new movie “Omar” is screening tonight).

The bus stops in the heart of downtown and we get off. Tour buses with camera wielding tourists are a novelty in this part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, so we get quite a few curious stares.

A short walk away, our first stop is the Freedom Theatre, a children’s theatre founded upon the legacy of Arna Mer-Khamis, a prominent Jewish Israeli human rights activist who dedicated her life to campaigning for freedom and human rights, in Occupied Palestine, and particularly Jenin. Through her unique project during the First Intifada, called “Care and Learning”, she used theatre and art to address the chronic fear, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by children in the Jenin Refugee Camp. Arna’s work was continued by her son Juliano Mer-Khamis who was half Jewish and half Palestinian.

On April 4, 2011, on the anniversary of the invasion of the Jenin Refugee Camp, Juliano was gunned down in front of the Freedom Theater that he founded. He was shot five times in the chest by masked gunmen, as he held his baby in his arms. His killers have never been brought to justice and his brutal murder remains unsolved. Juliano had enemies on both sides who had reason to kill him, and had been receiving death threats in the months prior to his killing.

After tea and an introduction on the charming balcony of the old theater, we make our way to the theater itself, where a children’s production is underway. It’s a full house, with cheering family, friends and lots and lots of children. Jenin is heavily Muslim and religiously conservative, and as I scan the audience I see smiling faces, clapping hands and headscarves everywhere.

But when I look to the stage I see some women without scarves as well, who look like they’re part of the production crew. One woman in particular, catches my eye. She’s wearing a long black traditional Palestinian robe heavily embroidered in red, hair loose and flowing, and a cigarette dangles from her outstretched hand as she appears to be directing the production.

The littlest children begin the performance. In the 3-5 year age group, they all wear matching red and white uniforms and are absolutely adorable. As they huddle together in an innocent little circle on stage, and begin to sing, I wonder if they realize they are part of an Occupied people and may never see freedom or equal rights in their lifetimes. The thought makes me want to cry.

The next performance has kids who are a bit older, perhaps 6-8. They wear Palestinian kaffiyehs and their song is forceful and passionate. Although in Arabic, I can hear the message of the resistance, loud and clear.

The children of Jenin have gone from peace to violent protest to peace again, in the span of two decades. Seven out of the eight child actors in Arna’s original theater became “freedom-fighters” (or “terrorists”, depending on who you ask) and died in the Jenin operation. Only one survived.

As I look at this new generation of little children of Jenin, I wonder where their lives are headed. Twenty years of “Peace Talks” but no Palestinian state, no peace and no freedom.

No child is born a terrorist.

But for how much longer can these caged birds sing, I do not know.

There’s no problem with the Arabs here: Visiting Ariel Settlement

Before I first visited Israel in 2010 I had a very different image of what a “settlement” was supposed to look like. The word “settlement” conjured up images in my mind of ramshackle communities, sparsely populated, mostly made up of squatters living in tents, tin roof huts and the like. Boy, was I in for a surprise!

Many Israeli settlements today, look like you stepped right into a reality show based in a Southern California suburb. Master-planned, with neat rows of red tile-roof homes, wide boulevards, schools, community centers, shopping and even in some instances universities and industrial parks. In contrast, it’s sometimes the Palestinian villages close by (and there’s always one visible on the next hill, uncomfortably close) that look like my mistaken definition of “settlement”.

Officially, Israeli settlements are civilian Jewish communities built on lands occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and in the Golan Heights. Settlements also existed in the Sinai and Gaza Strip until Israel evacuated the Sinai settlements following the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace agreement and from the Gaza Strip in 2005 under Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan. However, Israel continues to both expand its settlements and settle new areas in the West Bank, despite being condemned by 158 out of 166 nations in one vote, and 160 nations out of 171 nations in a different vote, in the United Nations. As of July 2012, according to the Israeli interior ministry, 350,150 Jewish settlers lived in the 121 settlements in the West Bank, 300,000 Israelis live in settlements in East Jerusalem and over 20,000 live in settlements in the Golan Heights.

Orit Arfa is the spokesperson for Ariel settlement. She is young and pretty with curly dark hair, and fashionably dressed. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Orit moved to Israel in 1999. She is a media reporter and a writer and her first novel “The Settler” is the story of a young settler expelled from Gaza. Orit boards our bus and takes us around for a tour of Ariel.

Home to 20,000 residents, and to another 15,000 students, commuting from all over the country to the newly minted and fast growing Ariel University, Ariel has the unique distinction of being located smack in the middle of the occupied West Bank. Founded in 1978 with 40 families led by the mayor Ron Nachman, Ariel has importance because it affords Israel “strategic depth” by increasing the size of its narrow waistline. It also sits atop an important mountain aquifer. Orit hands out brochures outlining all Ariel has to offer, and reiterating it’s “incontrovertible” consensus status as an integral part of Israel’s future in any land for peace deal.

I ask Orit how that’s possible, considering that Ariel is virtually in the middle of the occupied West Bank.

“Well, the border will just “loop around” it”, she replies.

Really? That would literally mean taking a big bite out of the belly of the West Bank. Does anyone here care? Apparently not.

Orit tells us that according to a recent poll, Ariel ranks number one in safety with just “isolated” incidents of violence. A 3 bedroom 2 bath house that was 600,000 shekels 5 yrs ago now goes for upwards of 1.1MM shekels. Ariel university even has Arab-Israeli students who live in the dorms. They want to build a medical center that will be accessible to the Palestinians as well, and also a free market zone that will be open to all businesses Palestinian and Israeli.

(This sounds pretty idyllic to me. Orit neglects to mention that the sewage and industrial and chemical waste from the existing Ariel business park flows into the nearby Palestinian village of Salfit, contaminating fields and crops. Building a new treatment plant has been discussed for decades but to no avail.)

Ariel is comprised of mostly secular Russian speaking Jews, and about 15% could be called religious. There are 35 or so English speaking families who are very close knit. Ariel is 30-35 minutes to Tel Aviv without traffic, with traffic an hour. (In reality many people who live on settlements are ‘economic’ rather than ‘ideological settlers’. Housing is unaffordable in big cities like Tel Aviv and the sweet deal in terms of lower rents and government subsidies offered by settlements is just too good to pass up)

“The Ariel Performing Arts Center holds 184 performances a year, with 500 on the waiting list. However some artists don’t want to perform here and boycott Ariel, but they are few.”

Orit continues, “By the end of the year a mall will be built here. Mcdonalds decided not be here and boycotted our mall. We will have Burger Ranch instead. Not as cool as McDonalds but it’s ok, as far as we’re concerned any publicity is good publicity.”

We arrive at the industrial park where about half the labor that works is Palestinian. We visit the Lipski plastic factory, that is a leading maker of toilet seats and other plastic products for the Israeli market. Lipski employs 86 workers, 46 Palestinian and 35 Israeli. Lipski was established in 1966 and the factory relocated to the Ariel industrial park about eight years ago. They rent the space in the industrial park. The factory operates according to Israeli law with a minimum wage, pension benefits etc. Palestinians make up not only the lower paid workers but also some technicians and the warehouse manager are Palestinian.

Ofair the factory manger takes us for a tour. He encourage us to ask his workers any questions.

“The factory has been here for just 7-8 years and used to be in Herzliya. We pay our workers an average of 4000 shekels a month, in Salfit village next door they make just 1200 shekels. So it’s an economic benefit as they go spend the money they earn here, in their villages, so it’s a win win for everyone. The workers are well treated and twice a year Lipski obtains permits for them to take day long excursions within Israel as on company “picnic”.”

The factory is clean and well organized and we see plastic goods in various stages of production.

“What would you do if Ariel became part of a Palestinian state in case of a two state solution”, I ask Ofair.

He is quite direct in his reply, “If they can give me security and the same good working conditions like we have now, I would have no problem working in the Palestinian Authority.”

Back on the bus, I ask Orit the same question, and here’s what she says;

“I don’t consider Israel an occupying power. It’s sad that we have to administer the territories militarily. I’m very much for individual rights and freedoms. I’m for ethical governance regardless of who governs.”

That’s an oddly inconsistent statement coming from a spokesperson for a settlement, which after all, most all countries in the world recognize as an illegal encroachment on the rights and property of another people.

“So you would be ok with an ethical Palestinian government in Ariel, if the Jews living here were guaranteed equal rights?”

“Yes I would be ok with that.”She says, but then quickly adds,”The two-state solution is not practical I think, that would lessen the freedoms”.

(Lessen the freedoms of who? I think.)

“I’m for one state with equal rights for all”, she completes her thought.

(That’s very odd. This is the second settlement we have heard the “one state with equal rights for all mantra”. But with just as many Arabs as Jews in the “so-called one state with equal rights”, Israel would cease to be a “Jewish” state. Makes me doubt her words. After all, the early Jewish immigrants in Palestine during WWI joined with the local Arabs to throw off the yoke of Ottoman Turk rule, with the idea that both Arab and Jew would live as “equals” in a post Ottoman world. As history shows, that changed very quickly into a “Jewish state” ideal.
One state with equal rights for all. Is that really what you’re saying?)

“Private property should be respected. When we moved people out of Gaza it was very traumatic.” She continues.

I ask about the property rights of Palestinians who have been evicted from their homes as in East Jerusalem, or had their homes bulldozed, as in Gaza.

She replies, “They should not be. Private property rights need to be respected. Nobody’s home should be evacuated.”

(I think Orit’s American sense of fairness and human rights is colliding with her identity as a Jewish settler)

“So what happens to the character of a Jewish state?” Asks Rudy.

Orit’s answer surprises me,

“I don’t know what a Jewish identity is . I’m American but also Jewish. Is it Hasidic , is it secular what is it? We just need a place of refuge for Jews where they feel safe to escape the anti-Semitism. Unfortunately anti-Semitism is a feature of Islam. Even from pre-Holocaust days.”

Now she needs to read up on history and Islam. Anti-Semitism has no place in Islam. Moses and Jesus are revered as prophets. Jews and Christians are named as “People of the Book” who will have no fear, in the Qur’an.
In fact in modern times, the ill-will against Jewish immigrants grew after the 1917 Balfour Declaration, when faced with greatly increased Jewish immigration to Palestine (then an Ottoman province), local Arabs realized that the Zionists’ goal was to carve out an independent Jewish state from what was then Arab/Ottoman land. Historically Jews have been persecuted in far greater numbers by non-Islamic regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe. And Islam and Muslims had no role to play in the Holocaust.

We stop at the beautiful Ariel Community Center and meet some Ariel residents, to get a one-on-one perspective. The building (better than most community centers I’ve seen in the US) was donated by John Hagee’s Christian Ministries, San Antonio, Texas. I wonder why? At the hip coffee joint “Cafe Cafe”, we break out into small groups and huddle around coffee and cookies.

Arik Dushi, Ariel City Council Member is assigned to our group.

Arik has a thriving restaurant called Hummus Abu Dushi. He is darkly handsome, and looks completely Middle Eastern. That’s because he is. His father is a Turk and his mother, a Yemenite Jew. I realize that his face reminds me a lot of the kids I used to play with in our apartment building in Yemen, where I spent three years growing up.

Arik tells us his story.

” I live in Ariel with my wife and son, and we are expecting our second child any day. I’m an Ariel city council member but I have lots of Arab friends. I visit the neighboring Arab villages all the time and never have a problem. My son is four and my manager Faisal’s son is seven. They love each other. It’s a Pure Love.

I served in the IDF at 18 and never went to university. I was in Jenin during the Second Intifada. It was an awful time. I lost ten friends. My best friend died in front of me and I tried to save him doing CPR on him for 45 minutes.

I will never forget one incident. We had to do a house-to-house search. We are taught not look at the Palestinian women in the eye because they are modest. I was searching a Palestinian house where we heard there was a terrorist hiding. I was the troop leader. I gathered and put all the residents of the house in one room. All of them went, except one very fat grandmother, who couldn’t move and just sat in the middle of the room on a stool, staring at us helplessly.

I had a feeling there was a terrorist close by. I slowly went up to her, and lifted her skirt with the muzzle of my gun. And there was the terrorist crouched between her legs, head down, holding a gun”.

“Did you kill him”, I ask?

“No, we arrested him”, Arik replies.

“My wife who was my girlfriend at the time, said I used to scream in my sleep, for a long time.

My Bible gave ME all this land. But I think we can live side by side. Two-state solution won’t happen. It can’t happen. All Palestinians would rather be part of Israel. Palestinians from Nablus, Palestinians from Jenin; every single one. Their government is corrupt. They would be so much better off as Israeli citizens and they know it.”

Really, I think to myself. That’s not my impression. We just came from Jenin. Palestinian resistance is alive and well.

“What if Ariel was made part of an Israeli state, where would the borders be? Could you draw them on this map for me?, I slide the map and a pen across the table towards him.

He draws slowly and deliberately, a large circle around Ariel that takes maybe 10% of the West Bank with it, into Israel.

Arik continues emphatically, “But they’re not going anywhere and we’re not going anywhere. I don’t know what the problem is. THERE IS NO PROBLEM. We should have one state with equal rights for everyone.”

Susan jumps in. She is a convert to Judaism. “But what about the character of Israel as a Jewish home? What about the Hatikva (Israeli national anthem).

“We can change it”, Arik says jokingly, “Add some lines. Or maybe the just sing the Palestinian anthem after.”

“What are you doing here,” I say to Arik, “You should be in the Knesset”.

“Yes I plan to be there one day”, Arik replies. “My mother says, I always do whatever I set out to do.”

With Arik Dushi

Ofair shows products of the Lipski factory, Ariel

Palestinian worker at Lipski factory

Beautiful swimming pool at Rec Center, Ariel

An Immoral Occupation: Touring the Golan Heights

Ron Shatzberg is our guide for our tour of the Golan Heights. He was Chief of Staff of the Mountain Infantry Brigade of the IDF, for eight years.

“We have one mountain and we have a brigade to defend it,” he jokes.

The bus winds its way through the hills, past mango, banana and avocado orchards. This area is very hot in summer and the climate suits the tropical plants.

Ron begins his briefing,

“The year 2000 was the last serious attempt to reach peace with Syria. It was between Hafez Al-Assad and Ehud Barack, at Shepard’s town in USA. I was involved with that. This weekend has been quite significant in the Syrian war. The regime launched an attack on Kunetra, the biggest town in the Golan Heights. The whole area was in control of rebels but now that Homs has been captured, the regime is trying to take this area of the Golan back. There have been air raids. And we might even hear bombing when we get there.”

He opens up and points to a map, “We are traveling south from the Mount of Beatitudes. This purple line on the map is the very important 1923 British and French division line. Zionists tried best to influence this line. This is the last internationally recognized line in this region. All other lines are outcomes of war etc. For Israel that’s significant, but for Syria, it doesnt recognize this line.

The rejection of the 1948 UN partition plan of this region into Israel and Palestine led to war with surrounding Arab nations . The purple areas on the map are the demilitarized zones, but this area has always been a war theater. There have been constant clashes,about 65-68 violent incidents between 1948-1967, with Israel occupying the Golan in 1967. And in 1981 Menachim Begin annexed the Golan. Most of the world doesn’t recognize the annexation.

There used to be 100,000 Syrians living in the Golan until 1967 in 60-70 villages. It was a very poor area. The largest village was Kunetra. The Syrian residents fled during the war and were prevented from coming back by the Israeli army. Their villages were bulldozed. The only ones that stayed were the Druze. They have the ethos of sticking to their land and are loyal to whichever regime they are under. The Druze religion is an offshoot of Islam but believes in all the prophets and also in re-incarnation. A Druze is reincarnated as another Druze, and Druze can’t marry out of their community.

There are 20,000 Druze in the Golan and they have Israeli ID cards. There are 170,000 Druze in Israel proper. They have full Israeli citizenship. They are loyal to Israel and serve in the Israeli military where all branches are open to them. They also serve in the security apparatus. My commander was a Druze. There are also 400,000 Druze in Syria and another 400,000 in Lebanon.

The Golan Druze are in a difficult position. They know they might go back to Syria one day. They have to be careful. They can’t be too pro-Israel in case there’s retaliation when the Golan is returned back to Syria some day. The Syrian Druze generally have supported the Syrian regime, and the Israeli Druze have supported Israel, so on occasion, you have Druze fighting other Druze on opposite sides.

As Russian influence has declined, and the nature of war has changed fundamentally, any war will be a war of technology. Re Israel’s take on the current war situation in Syria, there are a few scenarios, but all bad from Israel’s perspective.

If Assad wins with Iran’s support, he will be very much in Iran’s debt, and that’s not good. If he loses, Syria becomes a more Islamist country; anti-Shiite Al Qaeda influenced groups will add their drama to build a more Islamic country in Syria. Not a good option either. There could also be a disintegration of Syria into an Alawite part along the seashore, a Kurdish part bordering Turkey and a Sunni part around Damascus. This is already happening to some extent. Kurds having autonomy, the Turks are not fond of that scenario. Back in the 50s and 60s we had close ties with some prominent Iraqi Kurds, based on the premise that the enemy of my enemy, is my friend. That was when they were fighting the Iraqis. This is no longer the case.
However, we see status quo for a while and don’t think the Syrian conflict will end any time soon.

Israel would like a credible partner in Syria we can negotiate with. But some people feel a disintegrated Syria would be better because it would lessen their claim to the Golan.”

Israeli spy master Eli Cohen was instrumental in providing intelligence to Israel about Syrian positions in the Golan. An Egyptian Jew pretending to be a Syrian businessman, he ingratiated himself to Syrian political and military elites for three years, passing key information to Israel, until he was discovered and publicly hanged by Syria before the six day war. The intelligence he gathered is an important factor in Israel’s success in the Six Day War. His widow is still trying to claim his remains.

Now we are traveling between point 5 and 8 on the map and getting close to the 1973 armistice line between Syria and Israel. There are a lot of minefields here laid by the Israeli side.

“In 1973, Syrian came with two divisions, about 20,000 troops. An Israeli post was completely surrounded with my friend in his tank, which was hit. He crawled out and hid, creeping for three days on his hands and knees at night, until he reached the Jordan river. In the small bunker on the right, 11 Israeli soldiers hid until they were discovered by the Syrians. The Syrians threw grenades into the bunker and then yelled if anybody was there. Only one Israeli soldier came out, and convinced the Syrians that he was the only one in there, saving the remaining 10. He was taken prisoner of war and later returned. ”

Ron talks about the state of relations with Egypt:

“We have good relations with the military regime. It’s in the interest of both countries to maintain the peace agreement. But we are very concerned about the situation in the Sinai. The Sinai has kind of been a no-man’s land but now there’s growing threat from Islamists. Same situation as we face with Lebanon and Syria; where various non-state actors can take control of lands bordering Israel and launch attacks on us; but the government says don’t blame us, we didn’t do it. Like Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

I ask about the recent talks to form a Fatah-Hamas unity government.

“On the one hand, Israel is worried because the PA and Israel both cooperated in hunting down Hamas terror groups when it was in both parties interest. This was very much below the radar at the time, through shared intelligence etc. So now we feel perhaps we will lose that partnership. But on the other hand we feel having a unity government will lessen the chances of Hamas to launch attacks against Israel because they will be part of a unified Palestinian government. So it’s not a security issue it’s more a political issue.”

We pass the Kunetra crossing, which is the only land crossing between Israel and Syria, the one featured in the movie “The Syrian Bride”. Soon, we are driving between two volcanic mountains that both have horseshoe shaped craters, and we see some apple tree plantations. Israel’s best apples come from the Golan. We spot an Israeli military armored car in supposedly a demilitarized zone, it had red plates.

Ron explains, “Army cars have black plates in Israel but this is a demilitarized zone so there’s not supposed to be an army car here. So we put red plates on the army car which makes it a police car, not army. That’s how both sides play games with each other.”

We are climbing up Mt Bental and park at “Coffee Anan” cafe, which means “coffee in the clouds”. There’s a whole contingent of UN vehicles parked here, supposedly monitoring the truce.

Ron gives us his assessment of the latest debacle in the “Peace Process”.
“We worked very hard for nine months, but there were many mistakes from the beginning. The whole idea of reaching the permanent status agreement was a little far-fetched. Now we may be at at a 20-year deadlock.

The one very good thing Kerry did was to form an Arab leaders support group. My work is now the trilateral approach. Israel /Palestine/Jordan as one strategic geographic unit as a buffer against rising Iranian influence. Jordan is crucial to peace in the Mideast. I am currently doing track 2 negotiations with the Jordanians.

However, we are running out of time. Very soon, the critical mass of settlers in the West Bank, now about 300000, will become just too big to resettle. The settlers are very powerful. They make up maybe 2-3% of the population but have 15 seats in the Knesset. The are very determined and prepared to fight and to put themselves at risk for their cause. The secular, moderate Israelis unfortunately, don’t have the same will. If things get too right wing for their liking they just leave, go to the US or Europe, whatever. Jews are nomads.

I believe we are better off with a peace agreement, and two states. Even if it holds for 10 years it’s better. Look at the peace agreement with Egypt. It has held for forty years. When the Muslim Brotherhood came to power they didn’t renege on the peace treaty with Israel. Peace has many benefits. For forty years the money that we would have spent in dealing with an Egyptian military threat, and it’s a lot of money, we used to develop our economy, our education, our IT sector.

I believe it’s necessary for us to have a peace agreement rather than continue an occupation, which is eating us morally from within. This is my view. Unfortunately I am I’m in the minority, but that is my view.

Re the final status of Jerusalem. It is a very sensitive issue. What was discussed between Abu Mazen and Netanhayu in 2008 was that Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem stay within Israel, Arab neighborhoods stay within Palestine, and the 2.4 sq km of the old city with the holy sites of all faiths Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Temple Mount, Haram al Sharif, King David’s Tomb, Mount of Olives etc) become a jointly administered area by Israel, Jordan, Palestine, US and Saudi Arabia, with no one side having sovereignty. It would be a secure area with entrances from the Palestinian and Israeli side but no pass-through. People would have to return to the same place they came from.

But that would be hard to achieve. Why? Because no side wants to give up sovereignty.”

“But which side has sovereignty?” I ask.

“Israel. Israel doesn’t want to give up its sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, ” answers Ron.

Israeli Bunker in the Golan

Bridge destroyed by Haganah

Looking out to the Syrian Border

Orthodox Jewish family on an outing in the Golan

Wild flowers and barbed wire

Sculptures made of weapons scrap metal

Tony Matar : A Man of Peace

Tony Matar is gentle, soft-spoken and smiling, dressed smartly in an Armani logo T-shirt and jeans. He is co-owner of Maxim, a famous eatery in Haifa. He is an Arab Christian.

Haifa is probably the most “assimilated” city in Israel. When Israel came into being the Arabs who lived here were not forced out of their homes and villages, (for the most part). Though there are communities of displaced 1948 Arabs in surrounding villages.

Maxim restaurant overlooks the beautiful blue Mediterranean. It is famous. It’s surrounded by high rise buildings with offices of hi-tech companies. Laila from our group works at Qulacomm and its Haifa office is close by. Colleagues from her San Diego office had recommended that she eat here on this trip. After a fantastic lunch, we move to the sea-front deck outside where we are served coffee and freshly made baklava.

Tony begins to speak:

“Maxim restaurant was built in 1965 by two families Arab and Jew, who were real friends. They decided to open a restaurant. People laughed at them. Friends said forget it, that it was a bad idea. But they did it anyway, and from the first day they were busy and had a lot of work. People started to see their success and wonder how can it be, how can Arab and Jew work together? The first generation worked together and later passed away, the second generation continued to work together. They grew to love one another like a real family. People come here to see us, how could it be?

On a Saturday in 2003, a “terror woman” came here. She sat here for twenty minutes and ate with her driver. Then she stood up in the middle of the restaurant and blew herself up. In the middle of families and children.

21 people were killed, 16 guests and 5 restaurant staff. I was here but had stepped away into the kitchen. I came here and saw blood everywhere. I closed the eyes of my dead workers.

We closed the restaurant; we said enough; no more restaurant. But people came to us and said, if you don’t reopen, the terror will win. So we decided to reopen, and we have been busy again from that day. We are still the same family, continuing as before.”

He opens it up to questions:

“I’ve heard that the suicide bomber’s fiancé and her brother had been killed by the IDF shortly before the bombing. Is that true?”, I ask.

Tony’s face changes and his brows contort. His hands tremble, and his voice shakes as he speaks:

“It is NOT the way. To kill innocent people and children having their dinner? My uncle and my two cousins were killed. Please tell me. Should I go out and kill people? I closed my dead workers’ eyes. But I am a man of peace. I will never do that.”

Someone asks, “Have you forgiven her?”

“No I can’t I cannot forgive her,” Tony answers. I am still very angry. I have two daughters 10 and 5; we don’t talk about it. Even with you, it is very difficult for me to speak about it. But I am a man of peace.

My Jewish partners had one son and one daughter. The son was killed in the war. So for them the Arab is the enemy. But we still work together. We love one another we are one family.

Israel is a very complicated place. We have freedom, but we have to know how to live here.”

Tony makes his hands into fists and joins his two hands together.

“Like this. We have to be close to one another, to live together.”

The Charm Offensive: Meeting IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner

We meet Colonel Lerner in a three storey run down military office building in a Tel Aviv neighborhood. Two attractive young women soldiers in uniform greet us cheerfully. All young Israelis have to do two years of mandatory military service starting at age 18. Arab Israelis are exempted, for obvious reasons. We see more young soldiers as we approach the building. The ugliness of their semi-automatic weapons is in sharp contrast to the beautiful flush of youth on their faces.

My wheelchair companion has come off the bus, but we now discover that there are three flights of stairs to our meeting room – and there’s no elevator. The young soldiers are very apologetic. My companion decides to wait it out on the bus.
We ascend the flights of stairs, with framed posters of IDF military heroes lining the walls, and enter a modest conference room where coffee and brownies are waiting. We settle into comfortable chairs to listen to Col. Lerner.

Peter came to Israel from the UK with his parents, when he was 12 . He is now 40. He still speaks with a British accent. He has spent all his working life in the army, mostly in foreign relations and is now the head of the foreign press branch and all the social media activities for the IDF. He speaks slowly and softly in a measured tone. He is quite charming.

“Today we will talk about how we view Israel’s present security threats, what they mean now and in the future. I would prefer that this be an open discussion. Jump in and ask questions whenever you like.”

Daniel pipes in, “Just tell us if any thing’s off the record, and we’ll be sure to keep it so. Our group’s very good with that.”

Yeah, right. I think.

Peter continues, “Up until a few years ago, it used to be that the main threat to Israel was the Syrian military. They were professional, well-trained and well-equipped. During the last three years everything has changed. Russian power and influence has declined. Because of the present situation in Syria and being preoccupied with its internal troubles, the military’s hands are now tied up. On the Syrian border, we have no idea what’s happening; it changes from one day to the next. One day it’s rebels another day it’s Assad. We are still keeping careful watch.
But now Syria has changed to become a non-strategic threat to Israel.

The main threat to us now, is Hezbollah.
It’s an Iranian proxy. Just a few weeks ago one of the senior Iranian officials said our most southern border is the border of Lebanon. That’s what keeps me up at night. Hezbollah has 10,000 rockets pointed at us, built by Iran, mostly targeting the soft underbelly of Israel. The business and civilian targets, Tel Aviv and the coastal plain. They could rain rockets down on us for a month.

Hezbollah is a semi-state military organization with advanced weapons capabilities 10,000 rockets is more than most European countries have. These can carry a heavy warhead, up to a ton, that can destroy a high-rise building. They are concealed, launched with a push of a button. Hezbollah are also trying to get advanced surface to air S-17 missiles. So they can limit the capabilities of our Air Force to operate in Lebanese skies. Iran was extremely unprepared for 2006. Since the second Lebanon war they have built this capability in their arsenal.

The nature of modern warfare has changed. Its guerrilla warfare now, launched from civilian locations. What Hezbollah does is that they build houses 2-3 stories high in many villages. Rockets are hidden in the house. They take the ground floor and have civilian populations stay upstairs. These civilians can stay there but can’t ask questions or interfere.That’s the pessimistic side.

The optimistic side is that Hezbollah are busy with what’s happening in Lebanon. We don’t feel they are looking for this bout with us. They are too busy with the internal politics of Lebanon. They know they would pay a heavy price. If IDF knows there are rockets in a house, we have intelligence, we will not wait for them to act. What will southern Lebanon look like in that scenario?

In Syria, Hezbollah fights for two main reasons.

1. Because they were asked to
2. To take anything the other side leaves behind, weapons or supplies

I decide to jump in,
“But realistically Colonel, we know that there’s a huge difference in the level of technological sophistication and capabilities of the IDF and Hezbollah. Isn’t it true that with modern technology you would probably intercept most of those rockets before they even got close.”

Peter replies, “Yes, with the Iron Dome, we have this capability, but the system has not faced the possibility of 1000 rockets at a time. It’s not foolproof. Technology is only one part of the equation. It doesn’t replace intelligence and hard facts on the ground. Besides it costs $100,000 to intercept each rocket”.

Someone asks what would cause IDF to act. “We are looking more at intent, not at capabilities. The other side just having capabilities doesn’t mean we act. If we believe someone has the intent to harm us, we will act.

Muneer raises his hand,
“A country can never be unassailable. Wars have become uglier and uglier. WWI then WWII, now modern high tech warfare. Isn’t the best security blanket for Israel, to be at peace with its neighbors, with each side respecting each other’s borders?”

Col. Lerner pauses for a long time. He smiles.

“Good question”, he says.

“We have extended our hand on numerous occasions. As professionals we can talk to each other. When the professionals, the military people talk to each other, it’s a different matter. But at the political level it’s another matter. The politics I leave to the politicians. Until that happens, we have to be ready to defend Israel from any threat.

Someone asks about Gaza.

“Gaza in a sense more complex but more simple. The type of terrorism threat from there is substantial; they have about 3-400 rockets. But simple in that it’s a straight line of defense; we know where it’s coming from, it’s the Sinai border.

The West Bank threats are different. There are four components of our defense:

1. Boots on the ground, we can go anywhere in the West Bank (we can’t in Gaza)
2. Advanced intelligence capabilities, knowing where to go”

He adds jokingly , “Somebody asked Hamas why don’t you launch attacks on Israel from the West Bank. He answered: In the West Bank, If you dream about an attack at night, at they will arrest you in the morning”.

He continues,
3. PA security forces who are our partners in maintaining security.
4. The wall /security fence is a physical barrier.

However, we’d much prefer to meet these terrorists in their houses where they’re planning the attacks, and not at the Wall that’s our last line of defense. From 1999-2002 we wouldn’t go into area A. That allowed the terrorists to develop their capabilities. In the subsequent period there was a huge IDF presence in the West Bank. Now things are much quieter. If we need to pick up someone in Jenin, we go in the middle of the night with 2 jeeps and 12 soldiers. We try to be quiet and not to leave a footprint. Now, the internal movement within the PA is almost without restriction. They can travel from Jenin to Hebron without checkpoints.

Today the level of professionalism in the PA security forces is better than ever. We have a mutual interest. The PA and us. But that could change. If the PA turns against us this will change.This Fatah-Hamas dialogue is of huge concern to us. We have the lowest amount of forces in Judaea and Samaria (occupied Palestinian Territories) now, because the situation is much better. And we also have to have more troops on the borders because of the uncertain situation in Syria and Egypt.

There’s a political process that’s going on. On a political solution it’s one day yes, the other day no. Yesterday Abu Mazen met Tzipi Livni. Our job is to make sure no mistakes or unrest happens, so to the decision makers can make the decisions.

On the IDF’s social media campaign:

” It’s a huge challenge how to convey the message. We have a presence on all platforms Facebook ,Twitter etc. The IDF is reflective of entire Israeli society, not just in the context of the conflict. We have Druze, Muslims, Christians, Jews. We have women in all fields, even combat pilots. The social media campaign was started when we had the Cast Lead campaign in Gaza. Our social media strategy has the following goals:

1. Disseminate the information, get the message out
2. Keep it cordial

You have to participate in the conversation. There are all sorts of people who will have a go at you. The haters will hate, the trolls will troll. And then there will be people in for the discourse who will debate. We tell the story the way we see it. The individualbhiding behind the perceived persona on the web is an interesting thing.

Someone brings up the Shia Sunni split and where the IDF stands on that. The Colonel, though not political, gives a politically correct answer.

“We prefer not to align ourselves with any one side. The Shia Sunni divide has existed since the dawn of Islam. I feel we can talk to moderates on both sides.”

On the subject of civilian casualties in warfare: “Many military observers would vouch that we will go to great lengths to avoid minimize civilian casualties. More than the USA, more than many nations. We sometimes turn the rockets around mid flight if we think they will hit civilian areas. In 2012, the last Gazan conflict “Pillar of Defense” we very precise. We can target very precisely where the terrorists are. Sometimes they use civilians as human shields.”

I ask the question,
“In the event that a two state solution is not found and you end up with just one state, what do you see the role of the IDF?”

“In that case we will defend our existence,” he says. But then quickly adds:

“At the end of the day, it’s a political solution not a military solution. They need to find a solution. Until then we will do our job. That’s what we are charged to do. And when the solution is found we will hand over the reins to whoever we are ordered to.”

Col Lerner looks at his watch, and the meeting is over.

As we leave the office I realize I’ve never felt so charmed by a military man before. The social media strategy is working.

As we head down the stairs I see through an open doorway, more young teenage soldiers hunched over computer screens. On the wall above is a large sign with a “thumbs-up” that says:

Like Us On Facebook.

Lt. Col. Lerner giving his briefing

Like us on Facebook

It’s not Our Time: Friday Prayers at Al Aqsa

It’s Friday and the plan is to leave the group and go from Bethlehem to Jerusalem on our own, to catch Friday prayers at Al Aqsa. My elderly companion, who’s in a wheelchair, is really excited. It’s her first time in the region. The Temple Mount or Haram al Sharif as Muslims call it, was the first Qibla, the direction in which they prayed until it was changed to Mecca later. Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammed also ascended on his ‘Night Journey’ to the heavens from this spot.

We meet George Rishmawi at breakfast and find out that there have been two Palestinian youths killed in Ramallah yesterday, ages 16 and 17. They were demonstrating. George is a Palestinian Christian and lives in Beit Sahour nearby.

“Be careful Ya Sarah” he says. “Maybe today is not such a good day to go”.

We are leaving next Friday, I know it’s either now or never.

George senses my determination. “If you must go, don’t go near the Moroccan Gate. Thats where the soldiers come in. That’s where where the demonstrations are. Use the Lions Gate instead. There’s a lot of tension. Expect tear gas. If there’s any trouble leave, as soon as possible.”

An image flashes before my eyes of me trying to flee with my wheelchair bound companion in a mob of Friday worshippers running helter skelter, and getting crushed in the stampede.

To change the subject, I ask George about his take on the present state of the “Peace Process”. The Kerry talks have just broken down and it’s looking pretty hopeless.

“The peace process is a joke”, George replies, with a mixture of frustration and resignation in his eyes. “Israel is using it to buy time. They want a unilateral pullout but on their terms. They will give us a tiny state, 20 percent of historic Palestine completely controlling the water and other resources. But they want the PA to guarantee and provide Israel security. Why should we provide them security? We are poor. We already spend 40 percent of our budget providing security to our Occupiers. But they don’t want one state either, because then it won’t be a Jewish state.”

He calls the cab driver on his cell phone and talks in Arabic, then says,
“He is asleep, but he will send someone in half hour to take you to Jerusalem”.

The group leaves, and we wait in the lobby for the cab to arrive.
And wait, and wait…

The cab doesn’t come. I’m beginning to get worried. George’s driver was going to stay with us the whole day and help us if there’s any trouble. Maybe this is a sign. Maybe we shouldn’t go after all.

I walk up to reception and ask them. The nice young man behind the counter makes a phone call. “We have somebody else who can take you”, he says. ” He will be here in half an hour”.

It’s now 11 am. We have been waiting for two hours. The cab arrives. A middle aged man, gray haired, clean shaven and smartly dressed with gold rimmed Ray Bans, approaches us.

We get into the cab. It’s a white Skoda. The last time I was in a Skoda was 43 years ago, in Pakistan. My dad’s first car was a Skoda. I remember it because I was in a horrific crash in that car. Another sign.

“What is your name”, I ask him, to distract myself.

“Ibrahim” he says, “What’s yours?”

“Sarah”, I reply.

“Aha, Ibrahim and Sarah!” he chuckles.

I feel protected already. Another sign, but a good one. I smile. “What’s your last name?” I ask.

“Najm uddin”, he answers.

Are you serious? I think to myself. That was my father-in-laws name. He passed away 10 months ago. It’s his wife of almost sixty years who is the elderly companion sitting by my side in the cab.

Double protection. Another sign.

We drive to the checkpoint that takes us out of Bethlehem and the Palestinian Territories and into Israel. Vehicles with Palestinian plates are not allowed into Israel without a permit. It used to be that they couldn’t drive in at all. Ibrahim’s cab has an Israeli plate. I tell him my Skoda story.

“Oh no, Skoda is German car now. Really well built. Such a big trunk. Just like a Mercedes 250.”

And he adds, as if it somehow enhances the safety of the car, ” I bought this car from one Israeli Jewish”. I smile.

We share details about our families. Ibrahim is 61, has six children and 16 grandchildren. He retired as a security officer with the UN and his wife is a biology teacher for grade school kids. He lives in East Jerusalem in a home owned by his family for generations. Ibrahim’s dad was born in 1897 and lived to 104. He saw it all. Ibrahim carries a blue ID card since he’s an East Jerusalem resident, which is a contested area. He can vote in the municipal elections, but he carries a Jordanian (not Israeli) passport.

We reach the checkpoint. I’m expecting a long line and a longer hassle. To my surprise the checkpoint is deserted. The lone IDF soldier with his Uzi slung across his back, leans out from his cubicle. Ibrahim smilies and says something to him in Hebrew. The soldier motions for me to lower the window and peeks inside.

“Where are you from?” he asks pleasantly.

“The US”, I reply, and smile back.

He waves us through.

We arrive at the Lion’s gate and enter the Haram complex. We stroll to the Dome of the Rock through the spacious grounds planted with olive trees. The golden dome shimmers against the cloudless blue sky. The masjid is full of women and girls. Everyone is very courteous as I maneuver the wheelchair inside past women seated in every direction, on the plush red carpet. There are older women in traditional embroidered Palestinian robes, and younger women in fashionable maxi dresses with colorful hijabs.

The masjid is really beautiful, and the atmosphere feels festive. Women are passing candy around. People are taking pictures. Some people have picnic lunches spread out outside.

The azaan, or call to prayer, is sounded. We join in the communal Friday prayers, and out of the corner of my eye, I see the tears roll down my elderly companions face as she prays.

The funeral prayer for the two youth killed in the Ramallah protest follows.
Ibrahim meets us outside afterwards. With him is a guide who introduces himself as Shabana. Shabana looks to have aged prematurely. He is thin, with silver hair neatly parted, and wears a long sleeve button down shirt and slacks that look like they would fall off his slight frame, were it not for his big leather belt. His face is creased all over, but his blue eyes twinkle, and his toothless mouth is fixed in a perpetual grin. On his feet are worn brown sandals that have seen better days.

Shabana takes over the wheeling of the wheelchair despite my protests. I feel bad because he seems old and frail, but he won’t listen. We are on the terrace outside the Dome of the Rock, looking down a flight of stone steps at Masjid Al Aqsa when we hear it. The loud pop pop of tear gas shells.

We stop in our tracks and our eyes are riveted in the direction of the mosque entrance. Youth are running, and throwing what looks like stones. They seem to be chasing soldiers. Soldiers are firing the shells back at them. Everyone watches from a distance where we are, but nobody seems overly worried. It’s hot, so Shabana goes running and produces bottles of ice water from somewhere.

Ibrahim says, “I don’t believe in what they are doing. It’s wrong. They shouldn’t be demonstrating here. If you don’t like The Occupation, go protest at a checkpoint. This is a place of worship. Such behavior should be forbidden here”. I find that a very thoughtful and mature observation coming from him, considering his background.

After a few minutes the protest is dispersed. Rather than go down the steps directly, Shabana leads us to Al Aqsa in a roundabout way to allow time for things to calm down further. His English is surprisingly good. He gives us a tour of the grounds with interesting sights like the “prison for the Jinns” from King Solomon’s times.

We make our way to Al Aqsa and enter. The throngs of people have cleared and it’s mostly deserted now. There are some men scattered on the carpets taking afternoon naps. Some are reading Quran or just sitting around. Ibrahim and Shabana wheel us all the way to the intricately carved “minbar” or podium, where the Imam stands.

” This is a replica of the original minbar of Saladin that stood here, but was burnt down by an Australian Jewish terrorist in 1969″, he says. (The arsonist in question Denis Rohan, was actually a Christian, I later find out. He considered himself “the Lord’s emissary” and he tried to destroy the al-Aqsa acting upon divine instructions to enable the Jews of Israel to rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount, thereby hastening the second coming of Christ)

Shabana also point out a glass front cabinet, the lower shelves of which hold copies of the Quran, and on display in the upper shelves are a collection of spent tear gas shells and bullets that have been fired in Al Aqsa.

“16 people were killed in Al Aqsa in the second Intifada. Shot in the back as they were running”, says Ibrahim. “My brother was shot too, but he survived.”

We say our Asr prayers at Al Aqsa. It’s now time to leave. As we make our way outside through the Lions Gate, Ibrahim leaves us to go get the car. Shabana, puffing and panting, parks the wheelchair, and pulls out a folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket. He carefully unfolds it and shows it to me. It’s an electric bill.

“I have six children. I owe 1000 shekels to the electric company and I don’t have money to pay. They will cut my power. I ask them to let me pay in installments so I gave them 150 shekel deposit. But I have to pay the balance by the end of the month or they will cut the electric to my house.”

I’m usually suspicious of such stories so I take the paper from him and inspect it more closely. It really is an electric bill dated two weeks ago. Shabana’s name is on it. It’s for 1000 shekels. I believe him.

I reach in my purse and and give him enough to cover about half his bill. He old eyes light up and he is full of gratitude. He can’t stop thanking me.
“Thank you! Thank you! I will pray for you and your mother. I will make prayer for your family in Al Aqsa in Ramadan.”

Ibrahim takes us for a drive around the old city. We drive along the Hebron Road, that divides East and West Jerusalem.

“I remember as a child in 1967, when this was a part of Jordan, there was a wall here dividing the city. We would play here right by the wall,” he reminisces, “In 1967 when Israel won the war, they knocked the wall down and occupied the whole city.”

I ask him about the “Peace Process”.

Ibrahim is emphatic in his answer: “I don’t believe in this process. it has brought us nothing. They are all corrupt. If they get $1MM in aid, they keep $900,000 in their pocket. Abu Mazen should just take his papers to the UN and the Israelis and say, I resign! Here, take your state. Occupy all of Palestine. You provide us security, education, health care, jobs. Take it.”

We drive past the Armenian quarter, the Christian quarter, the new and well maintained Jewish quarter and the dilapidated Muslim quarter. Arabs find it very difficult to get permits to build or even to renovate their houses in East Jerusalem. Israel is trying to change the Arab character of East Jerusalem because in any peace deal, the division of Jerusalem will be a key issue.

“What has become of the Muslims, Ibrahim?”, I say with sadness in my voice, reflecting on all the poverty and suffering in the Muslim world.

I am reminded of a conversation with Shoshana the night before at dinner. She is a Jewish rabbi and part of our group. She was quoting from an interesting book she had read called the “The Geopolitics of Emotion”. How different emotions guided the geopolitics of various regions of the world. Quoting  the book Shoshana had said the key emotion that guided the geopolitics of the West (including Israel) was Fear. The emotion that influenced the geopolitics of growing economies like China and India, was Hope. And the emotion that most affected the geopolitics of the Arab Muslim world, was Shame. The Shame of having plummeted from the pinnacle of world civilization and power. I must confess that was a bit hard to hear, especially coming from a Jewish rabbi.

Ibrahim’s answer surprises me. He turns to me thoughtfully and says,

“Sarah, this is not Our Time. We had Our Time. Now it is the the time of Israel and the United States. The Quran has told us about this time 1433 years ago. Our time will come.

We are steadfast and we are very patient.

When I meet people from the United States and also Israeli Jews,  I shake their hands and say:

It is Your Time. Enjoy your time.

It won’t last forever”.

Ibrahim and Shabana

Tear gas shells and bullets

Al Aqsa interior

Shabana

Al Aqsa Ceiling

Lion’s Gate

View from Mount of Olives

Beautiful Hebron, Crazy Abed

“Our Problem is not Jews, it’s Occupation”

Walid Abu-Halaweh looks dapper in his red striped shirt with white cuffs. He is tall and bespectacled, with a perpetual smile. As he explains, his name means Little Boy (Walid) , and Father of Sweets (Abu Halaweh). When he turns I see that he has a very large burn scar that extends from one side of his balding head to the side of his face. I’m curious about how that happened, but decide it would be impolite to ask.

Walid is an engineer by training but also works as the spokesperson for the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee.

We sit on plastic chairs outside a small Arab-owned souvenir shop and dig into falafel sandwiches for lunch, as Walid tells us the Palestinian side of the Hebron story. He smiles constantly, even through the most difficult parts.

“Welcome to our beautiful city of Hebron. As you know after the 1994 Goldstein massacre the Ibrahimi mosque was closed for a whole year and when reopened it was divided into two parts, mosque and synagogue. And the city was divided too; into H1, 80% under Palestinian Authority control, and H2, 20% under Israeli control.

In 1997 under the Hebron protocol, this was the last major city Israeli withdrew from, but insisted on keeping the old historic city center under their control. It was supposed to be a temporary solution with a final settlement in in 5 years, in 2001. By 2001 the settlers were supposed to withdraw completely from the old city to Kiryat Arba with a road access coming in and out for prayer. As you can see”, he motions to a road in front of us with partially demolished buildings on both sides, “they just demolished 500 yr old houses to widen the street they are calling the prayer road. 512 Arab owned shops were closed by military order.”

“After 1967 Israel has three main goals re Hebron:

1. To settle in The center of the city and around it on the hillsides outside of the city.
2. To build a road connection between the settlements
3. To make a continuos building connection, one continuos settlement from the old city to the outside settlements

These settlers are not to be confused with the original Jews who lived in Hebron.

You wonder why they are here. Look around you. It’s not easy for settlers to live in this area. There are only dogs and soldiers” he motions to the deserted, desolate street with shuttered storefronts and graffiti covered walls.

We tour the Arab side of the old city and visit some of the few shops that are still open. There is chicken wire overhead to protect the shops from the trash and dirt the settlers throw from the windows of their apartments on the second floor, that overlook the shops below. There is just a single alley through which the Muslims can access the mosque from their side. Double security gates are at the end, that let just one person through at a time. We see some young men who are led in one by one after each one being questioned by the IDF soldier. I find it odd that the mass shooting was committed by a Jewish settler and yet it is the Muslims who have to face so much security to enter the mosque.

I’m reminded of what the ex-mayor of Hebron Khaled Osaily said to us, “I was the mayor but today I cannot visit parts of my own city. Where can a mayor not go everywhere in his own city. Is there a place in San Francisco that San Francisco mayor cannot visit? We just want to live normal lives in peace and dignity . You saw the wall in Bethlehem. The Berlin Wall was such a wall. But it came down. Life is very short. We just want to live. We think there is still an opportunity for peace with Kerry and under the Obama administration. Today there is 23 percent unemployment in the West Bank and 46 % in Gaza. By 2030, we have to create 1MM jobs. We have financing, we can manage the financing, but we need permission from Israeli to build anything because 60 percent of our land is Area C (under total Israeli control) and permits they won’t allow. Any investment needs political stability and free movement. We can’t provide that. We had the mayor of Johannesburg here and he said this situation in Hebron is worse than apartheid. Palestinians have the same right as other human beings to live in peace and dignity as human beings. We live in a big jail or detention center. “

Walid continues:

“It is abnormal for anyone to live in this area of Hebron. These are ideological settlers living on the strength of their ideology. They are powerful. In order to win an Israeli election you have to be close to these Hebron settlers.

First they occupied and built Kiryat Arba. Then in 1979 some women from Kiryat Arba invaded Beit Hadassah. They are trying their best to buy property here at any cost, but we will not sell. No matter what we are offered we will not sell.”

“But I thought that the PA has a law that selling property to Jews is an offense punishable by death, so you cannot sell,” I ask.

“Look”, says Walid, ” Selling to occupiers is wrong. Not allowed. The problem is not Jews it’s occupation.”

He calls to the shopkeeper from the small gift shop behind us, “Taal ya Abed!”

Abed lumbers over, together with his handsome young son Mohammed. Mohammed who speaks perfect English, tells us this story:

“The Australian Jew, Mr. Gutnick made an offer to my father. These two shops and his house for $100 million dollars. He said they will make the deal outside the country so my father wouldn’t have to worry about anything. My father said NO. He would not sell. No matter how much money he was offered, he wouldn’t sell. He wouldn’t sell out our people.”

Walid chimes in: “That’s why they call him that Crazy Abed”.

We head to the Ibrahimi Mosque from the Muslim side next, and at the checkpoint Walid smiles and jokes with the IDF soldier.

“I said to him, there’s a party at my house tonight. Do you want to come?” He says

“You see, despite the circumstances, we have to keep on living our lives. We want to be happy and live our lives. I want the soldiers to know they can’t get us down. When they see us happy, they feel like they’re the ones in jail being on their guard all the time, not us. When you leave, don’t worry about us. Just be ambassadors of our beautiful city of Hebron and speak the truth.”

We get to the mosque. My companion who is in a wheelchair, faces a long flight of ancient stone stairs. Their is no wheelchair ramp.

“I can just pray right here outside”she says.

It’s her first time in Palestine and I feel disappointed that she won’t be able to pray inside the mosque.

Before we know it two Christians, a Jew and a Muslim from our group, come forward, hoist her up wheelchair and all, and start mounting the long staircase.

The Book with the Bullet Hole

David Wilder has aged a little in the three years since I saw him last. The beard is still full but almost pure silver now. He is pleasantly unassuming, short and a bit portly, and could almost be a Santa Claus if it weren’t for the knitted kipa on his head and the gun in the holster strapped to his hip.

He is the spokesperson for the Jewish settler community in Hebron and has lived in the Old City center in Beit Hadassah for 16 years. He meets us on the Jewish synagogue side of the Ibrahimi mosque to give us us a tour of the ‘Maarat e Mechpelah’ or Tombs of the Patriarchs.

“The Jewish community in Hebron has been living here in an almost unbroken chain for 3000 years. The exception is from 1927-1967. In 1927 there was a massacre of 67 Jews in the old city (during the Arab uprising in the British mandate period). When Israel captured the West Bank in 1967, Jews were allowed to enter the Tomb of the Patriarchs for the first time in 700 years. Now the Tombs are open to people of all faiths almost all year. Ten days a year the entire complex is open only for Muslims and on another ten, Jews have the whole complex to themselves.”

The Tombs of the Patriarchs aka Ibrahimi Mosque was divided and part of the mosque became a synagogue, in the aftermath of the 1994 Baruch Goldstein massacre of Muslim worshippers in the mosque. Per the 1997 Hebron Protocol, the city of Hebron, which is the most heavily populated Arab city in the West Bank with 250000 people, is divided into H1 and H2. H1 is under PA control while 20% of the city is H2 or under complete Israeli control.

“How do we know the tombs are real? We have a video to prove it. It just doesn’t play on my iphone”, David says jokingly.

Then he gets earnest, and though his tone is informational, I can see the religious fervor in his eyes, “We know, because the Ma’arat HaMachpela were built 2000 years ago by King Herod about the same time as the reconstruction of the Second Temple. We know that there are caves inside. According to Jewish holy books, Abraham paid 400 shekels for these caves as his burial place (about $700,000 in todays value) because he believed the caves contained the graves of Adam and Eve. So Jewish land ownership in the area goes back to the days of Abraham.”

Jewish land ownership? I think to myself. Moses didn’t even introduce the Jewish religion until 500 years AFTER Abraham. So how was Abraham a Jew?

Herod the Great built a large, rectangular enclosure over the caves about 2000 years ago but in 614, the Persians conquered the area and destroyed the castle, leaving only ruins; In 637, the area came under the control of the Muslims and the building was reconstructed as a roofed mosque. With the exception of about 80 years during the Crusader period when it was used as a church, the structure continued to be used as a mosque for almost 1400 years.

He leads us inside the synagogue side where many religious students (yeshiva) are busy studying. We enter a chamber and take our seats. I look up. There are quranic inscriptions in gold on the walls dating back to when the Ibrahimi mosque was built in the Mamluk period. There are also many new, gold-embroidered black velvet hangings sent by Jewish families, with Hebrew inscriptions memorializing family members who have passed away.

On either side of us are two barred windows looking onto the green velvet covered memorials. These mark the graves of Abraham and Sarah buried (presumably) in the caves 17 meters directly below the floor we are sitting on. Small plaques with Hebrew lettering say the patriarch and matriarchs names.

From there David takes us to Tel Rumeidah nearby and points out the site of Roman era ruins. On the way we see whole streets of shuttered Arab storefronts and hardly anyone on the abandoned streets of this part of Old Hebron but young Israeli soldiers with scary Uzi machine guns. 4500 IDF troops provide security to the 400 right wing ideological settlers in David’s community. The settlers themselves also carry guns (for protection or intimidation, depending on which side you’re on). http://www.btselem.org/video/2008/11/tel-rumeida-hebron

We climb up the steps to a vantage point with a panoramic view of Hebron.

“I want to be able to move around freely in this city. They say Hebron is paralyzed because of us settlers. But the reality is that They have have access to 97% and we have only 3%.”

We here the sound of explosions. On an intersection in the distance we see Palestinian youth running, throwing stones. Israeli solders are pacing on a nearby rooftop with their large guns. The explosions are tear gas shells being fired.

“We want to live normal lives with our neighbors”, when tear gas is fired sometimes the gas is carried on the breeze to my apartment where my grandchildren are. It’s very difficult.”

We follow David to Beit Hadassah, the apartment building that is his home. It was a hospital which was occupied by extremist women settlers from Kiryat Arba in 1979.
The apartment is small but comfortably furnished, with books lining one wall from floor to ceiling. His little granddaughter plays in the hallway outside. David and his wife, knocked down a wall in their apartment so they could give a room to their married daughter who has five children and lives in the adjacent apartment.
We are served water, which is a welcome relief from the Hebron heat.

It’s time for questions.

“Does everyone in the settler community work?” , someone asks.

“Yes of course they work”, answers David. “Many people work in Kiryat Arba, but whether they make a living is another matter. People think we get a check from the government. I’ve been waiting for a check for 20 years. We get private donations, but we mostly use those to make renovations to our buildings and for PR effort.

I ask him what the rent is for his apartment is.

He scratches his head and says he doesn’t remember (I find that a bit strange). He calls to his wife. A scarf covered head pops out of the back room and says something in Hebrew.

“It’s 1200 shekels, that’s our rent.” He replies. That’s about $350 a month.

“What do you really want”, someone asks.

He thinks for a moment, “I just want to live a Normal life”, he says. “I want to live peacefully with my neighbors. There was an Arab guy with hands of gold who fixed everything in my apartment. An Arab seamstress my wife took her clothes to. But now..”

He motions to Gary from our group and asks him to pull the sixth red volume from the left, on the bookshelf behind him.

“Now open the book and hold it up”, David says.

Gary complies.

There is a bullet hole in the book that goes completely through the thick volume.

“You see this?” David says, pointing at the hole.

“The bullet came from this window”, he points to the small barred window behind us, “And hit the book on the bookshelf.”

“This is what we get. Whatever we give them, this is what we get. Look at the Gaza pullout. What did we get? Rockets fired at us in Sderot”

“I meet with the local Muslim Sheikh, and he agrees with me. The problem is too deep rooted. Too complex. There can be no solution. The Sheikh says: I hold up my Quran and say God gave me this land, and you hold up the Torah and say God gave you this land. How can there be a solution?”

 

 

 

 

David Wilder giving us a Tour

Daniel and Ifti from our Olive Tree Initiative Group

On Hebron Hills with Ron Shatzberg

Our bus rolls to a stop and Col. (ret) Ron Shatzberg hops in. He appears to be in his forties, pleasant looking and friendly, casually dressed in khakis and sandals. Ron comes from the Khalil area and was an Israeli battalion commander in the Hebron area during second intifada. He now lives in Kibbutz Tzora and since 1999 has worked for the Economic Cooperation Foundation an Israeli policy planning think-tank dedicated to achieving an Israeli-Palestinian two state solution; and credited with achieving some of the most important breakthroughs in the peace process, including the Oslo Accords.

Tensions are high. Today is May 15,Nakba Day, “the Day of the Catastrophe”, which marks the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their land in 1948. Emotions are raw and security is at high alert.

We are driving along Route 60, a backbone road that dates back 3000 years connecting key cities like Hebron Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We pass by Al Aroob refugee camp, a densely populated camp full of refugees of the 1948 Nakba. Those who could make a living outside the camp have long since left, those who remain are the poorest, with few options.

Ron points out many roadblocks and closures of key intersections along the road. The junction of Beit Umar village was a very important intersection for the Palestinians, closed for many years but recently reopened with a manned checkpoint . It has seen a lot of friction with daily incidents of stone throwers hurling rocks at Israeli settlers cars. The stone throwers identify the cars by the color of their plates; yellow for Israeli, green for Palestinian. In fact there are other colors too, and vehicle plates may be one of the most visual examples of the all-pervasive nature of the Israeli military occupation.http://nigelparry.com/diary/ramallah/plates.html

Stones can kill. Two years ago a father and small child driving along this road were killed when a stone shattered his windshield and he lost control.

By UNOCHAaccounts there are over 500 or more roadblocks and checkpoints in the Occupied Territories (but Ron says there are only 11 manned checkpoints, something I find a bit hard to believe) . This causes tremendous hardship for Palestinians trying to get around in their own territories. Ron points to a road that was re-opened just 2 yrs ago after 19 yrs of closure.

“We just did an exercise to figure out the added time it takes an ambulance for a medical evacuation because of the many road closures and figured out that it can take 12 minutes or longer , which can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.’ says Ron.

Beit Hagai settlement comes into view; it has about 600 residents mostly extreme ideological settlers. A lot of attacks have happened on settlers at this junction and only a year ago was this entrance to Hebron opened.

“What about settlers?”, I ask, “How long does it take their ambulance?”

“Settlements have their own ambulance on site”, replies Ron. “They won’t go 5 minutes to Hebron, where they won’t be treated, they would go to Jerusalem 40 minutes away. Israeli hospitals are a lot better anyway.”

“We are in a different security situation today, things are much calmer now and more of these roadblocks need to be opened, but there’s still resistance and hue and cry from the settlers living in the area”‘ says Ron.

Why are things quieter, someone asks.

“A few reasons: Intifada fatigue, 5000 Palestinians killed, many more imprisoned and they got nothing to show for it. Better Israeli security that can go at will into any area A, B or C and arrest anyone. The PA is also managing security better and arresting Hamas troublemakers. Abu Mazen has made a commitment to peace.
Also the Israel policy of “mowing the grass”. Before any group they get strong enough to cause damage we mow them down with our intelligence.” Ron explains.

“Now we see much more civil disobedience, peaceful demonstrations, stone throwing”.

We pass stone quarries of Hebron marble. The stone industry is a huge, high demand industry in the area, where most buildings are covered with beautiful natural stone, just like thousands of years ago. Hebron is also known for its vineyards but Palestinians vines produce just table grapes, for eating, since alcohol is forbidden in Islam.

We see some vineyards with vines covered with what looks like tarps and extra fencing and security around them. This land belongs to Yehuda Etzion right wing settler, arch-terrorist of the Jewish underground, credited with the killings of many Palestinians and the famous 1984 (aborted) plot to blow up the al Aqsa mosque.

“He served hardly any time in prison and was given amnesty.” Ron says. “25 yrs ago it was easier to by land from the Palestinians. That’s when they bought these grapevines. Now the PA has a law with the death penalty if you sell your land to Jews. Anybody selling land has to physically produce all the claimants to the title. It was a nightmare when they were building Rawabi Industrial park”.

I ask if Arabs can buy land in Israel.

“There’s no difference between Arab Israelis’ rights and Jews’ rights when it comes to land ownership. But Palestinians can’t buy land in Israel of course” Ron replies.

A disagreement ensues between our Arab bus driver and Ron. He says he’s an Arab Israeli and he can’t buy land in Israel, Ron backtracks a bit. Most of the Israeli land is owned by state with very little private ownership. The law is one matter but most Jewish owners will not sell to Arabs practically speaking, because of nationalistic reasons he elaborates.

Palestinian Territories are divided into Area A, B and C. Area A is where the PA has control of both security and civilian matters. Area B where they control civilian matters but not security, and Area C where the Palestinians control neither security nor civilian matters in their own land; Israel controls both.

60% of Palestinian Territories are classified as Area C.

“A lot of Palestinians own private lands in C Area but Israel makes it very very hard and will not let them build on their own land as they want to keep Area C as negotiating card. Doesn’t let them have building permits. Cases have gone all the way to the Supreme Court and been granted but years later, they still can’t build” says Ron.

We arrive at Kiryat Arba settlement in the Hebron Hills and get out off the bus.
This was the home of the infamous Dr. Baruch Goldstein, responsible for the Ibrahimi mosque massacre of 29 Muslim worshippers during Ramadan 1994.

We arrive at the memorial for Meir Kahanefounder of the Jewish Defense League.Goldstein was a follower of follower of Meir Kahane, an American-Israeli rabbi and ultranationalist writer and political figure, whose work became either the direct or indirect foundation of most modern Jewish militant and extreme right-wing political groups.

“Goldstein made “Aliyah” to Israel in his 20s and acquired a reputation as a kind and gentle physician, even treating Palestinians. With the Oslo process he had a change of heart and decided to derail the peace process by going into Khalil mosque and spraying worshippers with bullets, killing 29, until the worshippers overcame and killed him.” Ron explains, “There were few suicide attacks before then but after this incident Hamas declared suicide bombing as their chosen methodology. People came to Rabin at the time, and said that was the time to get the Hebron settlers out. That was our best chance, but he didnt take it”.

Ron carries on, “As a non-religious Jew I want a presence in Hebron too. It’s my legacy I feel connected to this place and we need access to holy sites. The Cave of the Patriarchs is the second most holy site for Jews after Temple Mount. However something like 60 percent of Israelis haven’t visited Hebron; they just don’t feel connected. Or are afraid to go. We have to promote this like a tourist destination like the Golan Heights. Get people to come here so they fall in love with this place. But the PA says there will be no Jews living in a future Palestinian state”.

“It will be very very difficult to evacuate settlers. 20 years of radicalization has taken its toll. There are hate crimes committed by religious Jews. Extremism breeds more extremism. The settlements are islands of extremism enclosed by a hostile Muslim world. They have learned the lesson from the Gaza pullout: Resist everything, every little thing.”

It has been in my mind just waiting to come out and now I have to ask Ron this: “Here we are talking about a Palestinian State and land swaps when the truth of the matter is, the Peace process is dead. With the increasingly right leaning government in Israel and continuous settlement expansion, it’s practically impossible to create a Palestinian state.”

Ron thinks for a moment then replies: ” We are at a deadlock now but we still have a chance. Iran is a growing influence in the region, in Iraq and in Lebanon and Syria. Our best hope now is a trilateral Palestinian-Jordanian- Israeli partnership with the support of Saudi Arabia, to stem the growing influence of Iran in the region.”

I ponder upon his words. So in other words, the last best chance for peace is to exploit the Shia-Sunni divide among Muslims and use that as a vehicle to impose a Palestinian state (of Israeli specification) upon them? What divides the Muslims and pits one religious group against another is good for MidEast stability? How is fanning the fire of both Sunni (Salafi) and Shia extremism a way to greater security and stability for Israel, or the world?