American journalist David Ignatius wrote an article in the Washington Post newspaper in which he tells what he saw during his visit to the West Bank last week, during which he witnessed the suffering of Palestinians from the harassment they are exposed to, whether from the government or Israeli citizens.
He said that he traveled throughout the West Bank – its cities and villages – for three days, from the barren hills below Hebron in the south, to the chalk highlands of Nablus in the north.
He added that what he saw was a pattern of Israeli domination and routine abuse that makes daily life a humiliation for many Palestinians, and could hinder the peaceful future that Israelis and Palestinians say they want.
Blatant racial discrimination
Ignatius spoke sarcastically about driving cars on the roads of the West Bank, saying that it is a “two-class” situation, as Israelis drive in their cars with yellow plates on a heavily guarded highway, while Palestinians move in cars with white plates on rugged roads.
He added that he saw the accumulation of cars at the Israeli checkpoints near Bethlehem and Nablus, which were lined up for more than half a mile, and the wait to cross to the other side could last for more than two hours.
Ignatius describes the delays, insults, and outright attacks on the Palestinians as having become a “gloomy routine,” and adds that his tour of the West Bank was a “reality test” indicating what might happen the day after the end of the war in Gaza.
He said that US President Joe Biden and other world leaders express their hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state once the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is defeated, commenting that he hopes to see that come true, adding, “But people must be realistic about what (this hope) hinders.” Obstacles appear before our eyes.
fairy tale
Ignatius does not hide his pessimism about this, as he points out that the common hope for establishing a Palestinian state is like a “fictional” story in the midst of the crushing daily pressures imposed by the Israeli occupation.
He explained that the obstacles standing in the way of a Palestinian state lie in the Israeli settlements and settlement outposts scattered on the hilltops in the West Bank, whose high walls and concrete walls symbolize their stability and the inability to move them from their place.
He said that Daniel Seidman, an Israeli lawyer – perhaps the main critic of the settlement movement in Israel – told him that the settlements were established to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
According to Seidman himself, ending the occupation will be necessary for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, adding that approximately more than 700,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, and that at least 200,000 will be forced to leave, according to his estimates.
Civil war
But he believes that some settlers will resist, warning at the same time that “there is a high possibility of a civil war erupting between the State of Israel and the ‘settler state of Judea and Samaria,’” using the settlers’ biblical terminology for areas of the West Bank.
For the settlers, obstructing the establishment of a Palestinian state is part of the task on their shoulders, says Yehuda Shaul, a leading Israeli expert on settlement affairs.
Shaul pointed out that in 1980, Matityahu Drobles, who was then head of the Settlements Department of the World Zionist Organization, explicitly stated his goal in a comprehensive plan. He wrote at the time that “the Arab minority, isolated by Jewish settlements, will find difficulty in its territorial integrity and political communication.”
Drobles added, “The best and most effective way to remove any ambiguity about our intention to cling to the Judea and Samaria region forever is to accelerate the settlement momentum in these lands.”
According to Ignatius, Biden is the latest president to confront the reality that addressing the Palestinian issue means confronting Israel, especially regarding settlements.
The largest increase in settlements
The number of official settlements and “unrecognized” outposts is increasing, with the Israeli “Peace Now Movement” confirming that this year witnessed the largest increase since it began tracking settlement growth in 2012.
The acts of violence committed by settlers against Palestinians have also worsened in recent years in a “frightening” manner, at a time when human rights defenders say that they are deliberate efforts “to intimidate them in order to keep them away from the lands that the settlers believe that God gave to Israel.”
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, settlers have launched 343 attacks against Palestinians, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. At least 143 Palestinian families, including 1,026 individuals – including 396 children – were displaced due to the violence. The settlers killed 8 Palestinians and wounded 85 others, according to the same UN office.
Violent settlers always go unpunished, as Ignatius pointed out that 93% of the 1,597 investigations opened by the Israeli police between 2005 and 2022, in cases in which Israelis were said to have harmed Palestinians, were closed without an indictment being brought, according to the Israeli Human Rights Organization. Yes religion”; She said that only about 3% of them resulted in convictions.
Ignatius goes on to narrate his observations, saying that the threat to the Palestinians is becoming more severe in Area C, where the number of Israelis outnumbers the Palestinians by more than 400,000 to 300,000.
The Israeli army imposes severe restrictions on Palestinian travel there, and settlers regularly attack villages and Bedouin camps.
One of the indicators
One of the indicators that the Biden administration may be taking the settlement issue seriously – in the opinion of the American writer – was the announcement this December that settlers who are believed to have participated in violent attacks against Palestinians may be denied entry visas to the United States. With their family members. However, Ignatius does not consider this a solution to this great problem, but rather “the beginning.”
He describes the city of Jerusalem as a jewel in the middle of this land, and it is also the “most turbulent” battleground between Israeli settlers, and the place where the United States will face the greatest challenge in formulating a settlement.
One of the big goals of ultra-Orthodox Israelis is to increase their presence throughout the Jerusalem area. To the south – according to Seidman – the settlers plan to install a cable car over the Silwan neighborhood, which has a Palestinian majority. To the north – where the Christian sites are – there is talk of establishing a biblical amusement park supervised by the Israeli Parks Authority.
Ignatius says that Seidman told him that the political conflict over Jerusalem “continued to be driven by the madness of religious people obsessed with arson.”