Beni Raz: the West Bank settler who wants to leave
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- Written by Peter Beaumont in Qarne Shomron Peter Beaumont in Qarne Shomron
- Published: 09 February 2009 09 February 2009
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Beni Raz: the West Bank settler who wants to leave
Settler tells of threats of violence over call to buy out properties
* Peter Beaumont in Qarne Shomron
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 February 2009 11.12 GMT
* http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/09/israel-settlers-compensation
Beni Raz: the West Bank settler who wants to leave Link to this video
Things are ugly in Qarne Shomron for Beni Raz. He's a solid man in middle age with a deeply lined, expressive face. The day we meet, one of the residents of his West Bank settlement has tried to take down one of Raz's posters calling for compensation for those who want to evacuate.
He also threatens Raz with violence.
Driving back to his home in the settlement, Raz tries to report the threat to a blue-shirted policeman wearing a kippa. He is fobbed off.
As he walks away, exasperated, one of the small group of men who were standing with the policeman – a Russian immigrant – pursues Raz across the street and shouts at him.
The problem is that Raz is out of step with most of the other settlers in Qarne Shomron. Raz wants the government to pass a law to buy out him and the other settlers who would like to leave the occupied West Bank. And he is hated bitterly for it.
"You are living in a community beyond the Green Line. You don't like it? Leave. Go way from here," shouts the Russian angrily. "It's not just me," says Beni, "there are 100,000 others."
"You mean there is someone else apart from you who wants to leave?" counters the Russian sarcastically.
"Yes. And I'll tell you something else. You people are terrorising people. You are scaring them."
I think for a moment the Russian will hit Raz. "You want all of this to be Palestine?"
"To give back the land, sir," says Raz.
"What, return this land? This is my land," spits back the Russian angrily. He calls Raz a fascist. "It's my land," continues the Russian, apoplectic with rage. "I bought it [from the state]."
"The state didn't buy it," says Beni. "The state conquered it."
I am outside the little shopping centre in Qarne Shomron, home to 6,500 people. During the second intifada, in the pink-signposted cafe, a suicide bomber exploded.
Four neighbourhoods are built across these hills, deep into the West Bank. There is a new neighbourhood for English-speaking only religious Jews, a place of huge villas, some still under construction. The oldest district has residents both religious and secular. It is a place of rundown and cramped dwellings.
Visible in Qarne Shomron and on the roads outside are posters for the settlers' National Union party.
They declare "I am orange", one of the slogans of those who opposed the withdrawal of the settlements in Gaza in 2005. These days its meaning has been appropriated for the West Bank settlements, and they are plastered over even the Palestinian bus stops.
The story of those who insist on staying – prolonging the occupation for religious and nationalist reasons – is well known. Less well known is the story of those few who are prepared to stick their heads above the parapet and say that they want to go.
"I'm alone waging a war against stereotypes and I'm alone in this campaign in terms of the settlers, because the settlers are very scared to speak out in case anyone one does bad things to them like they did to me," says Raz.
"But I know that from the little people come big things. I'll give you an example, it was four mothers that got us out of southern Lebanon.
"Five minutes before you arrived a settler came and ran and tore down my posters. I asked him not to and he threatened me and said he would do something very bad. He said to me: 'If it weren't here [by a police checkpoint] I would do something else to you somewhere else.' I know exactly what he means. He's a very aggressive person."
This is not so much an ideological issue for Beni Raz but a pragmatic one. He came to Qarne Shomron – supported by Israeli subsidies – because he was persuaded it would be a good life.
Following the erection of the Israel's separation wall, which left his community on the wall's Palestinian side, separate from Israel, he wants his government to help and compensate those who want to leave with the same largesse that brought many of them here. To bring them back to Israel.
Raz is a complex man. No leftwinger, he supported the war in Gaza.
Yet he also expresses sympathy for the Arab villages around Qarne Shomron whose lands have been appropriated. He says the Jews have forgotten their own history of exile. These days he feels more sympathy with the Arab villagers.
His vocal desire to leave, promoted through his organisation the One House Movement, has seen Raz ostracised in his community.
He used to sing at the local community centre. No one wants him to perform any more.
He says he was thrown out of his job driving a local minibus. So now he works part-time as a security guard in Tel Aviv.
"The Jews call me a fascist, they call me a German. They call me an Arab. They call me a land seller. A traitor.
"Okay. If that's the price I have to pay for the goal towards which I strive then that is what I have to pay."
It has even seen differences within his family. His son Roy, who works for the telecommunications company Yes, cannot agree with Raz's stance.
But he is also furious at the way his father has been treated for speaking out. For holding his own views.
Roy believes it is a growing trend in Israeli society – the suppression of dissent.
Sitting on their sofa in their modest house, Roy and his father launch into an argument I feel they've been through a thousand times before.
But the difference, Roy explains, between this conversation and the earlier row with the Russian is that debate is possible. Outside, Roy, believes "dialogue can't happen".
One thing on which the two do agree is that inevitably the settlements will be evacuated.
The centre of their disagreement is whether the settlers – leaving of their own accord ahead of a final negotiated agreement – will undermine Israel's bargaining position.
The only party to openly endorse the views of those like Beni Raz is the leftwing Meretz. It is faring badly with the voters.
Raz's wife, who is avoiding the political debate between son and father, cooks a stew in the kitchen and hums what sounds like Bob Dylan's Blowing In The Wind while their dog Aziza scampers around the house.
"We are being kept here," explains Raz, "to be a negotiating card for the day the agreement is finally made. I am a bulletproof vest for a future government. They could take the settlers out and leave the army. They don't have to keep me here."
Why doesn't Raz simply leave? It is a question of economics. What he paid for his house in 1992, he could never recoup. The housing market knows what the politicians will not yet accept.
But it is not entirely about self-interest. "I'm just a small citizen, I'm not a meteor. With the small strength I have I want to fight at here, to ensure the bill [to compensate those who wish to leave] will be brought to the Knesset; that the bill will pass, and this country will make peace with the Palestinians so that we can live like we want to live."
When I leave, Raz is singing a famous Hebrew song called You And I at the piano. We listen in Roy's room, red-painted and still adorned with the emblems of the interests of his teenage years: posters of the Beatles and A Clockwork Orange. Lines are painted on the walls from the Doors and Led Zeppelin. I listen as the two men get lost in their voices.
You and I will change the world, you and I.
Then everyone else will come.
It has been said before I said it, but that doesn't matter.
You and I will change the world.
Bad will come upon us. It's no matter. It's all right.
It has been said before I said it, but that doesn't matter.
You and I will change the world
It seems to me a good motto for Beni Raz.
Israeli Arabs fear a Gaza backlash as far right prepares for power role
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- Written by Peter Beaumont in Umm Al-Fahm Peter Beaumont in Umm Al-Fahm
- Published: 08 February 2009 08 February 2009
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The elections have been overshadowed by Gaza - and the man most likely to gain takes the hardest line on the conflict
Fadi Mustafa is a successful young PR executive. He has an office in Tel Aviv and another in the northern Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, where his family home is. He encourages other young Israeli Arabs to break through the glass ceiling of discrimination. He was what Israeli Arabs call a "straight back", in contrast to a previous generation - the "bent backs" who were bowed down by the experience of the creation of the Israeli state and the wars that followed.
He will look any Israeli in the eye as an equal, he insists, and shows me a painting that was given to him by the Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman.
But right now Fadi is an angry man, enraged by the rise of Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Homeland) Party.
On Tuesday, if all the polls are right, Lieberman will emerge as the most significant beneficiary of an Israeli general election campaign played out against the bloody background of the three-week assault on Gaza in which more than 1,300 Palestinians died, many of them civilians.
The rightwing Likud party of Benyamin Netanyahu will probably emerge as the winner ahead of the Kadima party of Tzipi Livni. But most Israelis also recognise the wider significance of the moment: these elections are likely to mark the emergence of a far-right force, with a racist anti-Arab agenda, as the country's power broker.
If Lieberman has his way - and his party has surged ahead of Labour to push it to a humiliating fourth place - Umm al-Fahm may be transferred out of Israel into the Palestinian Authority, something its residents forcefully oppose in exchange for Israeli "villages", or settlements.
Its young people may be required to serve in the army, which they currently resist as they consider that army is fighting their own people in the Palestinian Territories. They would, all in all, be required to demonstrate - in Lieberman's own words - their loyalty to the state, both ordinary people and politicians, in exchange for citizenship.
But, even though his party is trailing Likud and the centre-right Kadimam, what Lieberman says matters. It is expected that a Netanyahu government would find a senior post for him, possibly as either defence or foreign minister. But his general influence is more important than any portfolio he might take.
Israel's fifth elections in a decade have been characterised by incoherent campaigning by most of the parties and muddied by the effect of the campaign in Gaza. Analysts believe that a large part of Lieberman's success is that his message - racist as it is - has come through clearest.
"Listen," said Mustafa, the PR executive, bitterly, "Who is Lieberman to say to me that I should be part of the West Bank? I speak Hebrew better than he does. I know Jewish culture better than he does. I got the highest score in Jewish history when I matriculated. I doubt he even studied Jewish history.
"I work together with Jews in Tel Aviv. We are the ones who are building the state together not him. It is not for Lieberman to say, 'You are a bad Arab and you are a good Arab. Who should stay and who should go. He will not decide who I am," he insists. "I will decide who he is."
It is not the first time that Umm al-Fahm has become a cause célèbre in Israeli politics. In 1984, the ultra-rightwing Kach organisation of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane - banned as a terrorist group - tried to rally here. Then both Jews and Arabs blocked it.
At the beginning of the second intifada in 2000, there were fatal riots here when the residents of the Ara valley, in which it sits, took to the streets. But the religiously conservative town is regarded by Israelis with suspicion for two other reasons.
Since the 1990s it has been a stronghold for the Northern Islamic Movement. Israelis claim, too, that prior to the construction of the separation wall, Umm al-Fahm was a point of infiltration for bombers from the West Bank. Now, however, it has become a symbol of Israel's growing attitude of harshness - not only to the Palestinians in the occupied territories, but also towards the Arabs in Israel itself. A symbol of the uneasiness of the relationship between Jews and Arabs within Israel.
On the Arab side, the tension focuses on the discriminatory treatment of Arabs over everything from jobs to economic opportunities, as well as anger over the treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
For some on the Jewish side, it focuses on the twin ideas of a fear of an enemy within, combined with a more general anxiety about the demographics of a state where Jews might - in the not too distant future - become a minority.
Lieberman's discourse on loyalty and citizenship, as he defines it, has crept into other areas of the debate.
Last week, in response to Lieberman's proposals, Kadima leader Livni, running slightly behind Netanyahu, framed her own vision of the loyalty question in a speech to 100 local mayors. The speech differed only from Lieberman's in insisting that ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews - who are also largely exempted from the army - should also do military service.
But it is not only Umm al-Fahm, a pretty little town of mosques and steep streets that is lacking in the Israeli flags so visible elsewhere - which is in Lieberman's sights. It is Israeli Arab politicians, too. He believes that the parties should be banned from the Knesset (the courts disagreed). He has said they, too, should be dealt with like "other terrorists" and be tried for espionage or have their citizenship revoked.
Last week one of them was visiting the town: Ahmad Tibi, leader of nationalist Arab Ta'al Party. In the back of his car, as he toured, Tibi warned that Lieberman poses a threat not only to Arabs but also in his view to "Jews and Israel".
"The difference between Lieberman and [Austria's] Jörg Haider and Jean-Marie Le Pen, to whom he has been compared," said Tibi, "is that they were locals acting against immigrants. Lieberman is an immigrant acting against the locals. And while Umm al-Fahm is very much threatened, I think it is stronger than Lieberman. I think it is the Jewish majority that should be afraid of this phenomenon.'
Said Abu Shakr who runs Umm al-Fahm's art gallery, which tries to bring Arabs and Jews closer together, voices a similar warning. "Lieberman is bad for both Arabs and Jews. We have to worry about Israel in general."
While many Jewish voters disagree, there are some, still, who agree that the Lieberman phenomenon is a threat to all Israelis. Among them is Leon Deouell, a professor of psychology at the Hebrew University. Writing on the Yedioth Aharonot website Ynet last week, he said: "Yisrael Beiteinu openly calls for undermining the most basic rights in a democratic society, including the right to express and promote one's views. Without these rights, there is no democracy," he said. "This is a clear and present danger that no voter may ignore."
The residents of Umm al-Fahm would agree.
UN halts Gaza aid over 'thefts' by Hamas
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 06 February 2009 06 February 2009
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The UN aid agency in Gaza says it has suspended all relief shipments after hundreds of tonnes worth of food aid were seized by the Hamas government.
Ten truckloads of flour and rice were taken from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the UN's Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said.
Unrwa said it would not restart aid until it had assurances from Hamas that such thefts would not be repeated.
Gaza is facing a humanitarian crisis after Israel's three-week offensive.
About half the population is dependent on UN food aid. The UN said it had increased its food distribution in recent weeks to cover 900,000 of Gaza's population of 1.5 million.
Israel intensified a blockade on the territory 19 months ago when Hamas took over the territory.
Second incident
Unrwa said the trucks of food had been imported from Egypt, and were due to be collected by its staff at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Friday.
"The food was taken away by trucks contracted by the Ministry of Social Affairs," the agency said in a statement.
It was the second incident in three days. On Tuesday, 3,500 blankets and more than 400 food parcels were seized at gunpoint from a distribution centre in Gaza, the UN said.
The suspension "will remain in effect until the aid is returned and the Agency is given credible assurances from the Hamas government in Gaza that there will be no repeat of these thefts", a statement said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7875171.stm
Published: 2009/02/06 15:02:44 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Stop the deceit and whitewashing: the deepening of the occupation's infrastructure
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- Written by Haaretz Editorial Haaretz Editorial
- Published: 05 February 2009 05 February 2009
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The Defense Ministry's database documents illegal construction in more than 30 settlements, including such veteran settlements as Ofra, Elon Moreh and Beit El. Worse, the document - which is being revealed today for the first time in an article by Uri Blau in Haaretz Magazine (in Hebrew) - details a scandalous amount of land theft by the "legal" settlements. Schools, synagogues and even police stations have been built on private Palestinian land.
This is not another report by Peace Now or another investigative report by the media. It is an official document, drafted by a retired senior officer, Baruch Spiegel, on orders from former defense minister Shaul Mofaz. It casts a heavy shadow over Israel's pro-peace statements, while raising questions about its official position that "the use Israel makes of land for the settlements accords with all the rules and norms of international law. Privately-owned land has not been expropriated for the sake of establishing the settlements."
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The harsh findings were hidden from the public for two years due to the brazen argument that their exposure would undermine the country's security and its foreign relations. But is the revelation of Israel's ongoing land theft and its seizure of territory supposedly under negotiation what undermines its security, or the crooked behavior itself? Is enabling the public to exercise its right to know that the authorities are systematically violating their international commitments to stop settlement expansion, especially outside the "blocs," what undermines Israel's foreign relations, or the very fact that such deceit is occurring?
Responsibility for this lawless policy rests with all Israeli governments for generations. But first and foremost, it rests with ministers Tzipi Livni, who previously headed the ministerial committee charged with implementing the Sasson Report, and Haim Ramon, who currently heads this committee, and has for more than a year. The Labor Party's representatives on the panel also contributed their bit to obliterating the report's recommendations with regard to tightening supervision over construction in the settlements, improving deterrence and stiffening penalties.
All construction in the settlements should be frozen immediately until deeds of ownership and building permits have been checked for every neighborhood and building. The Knesset must demand detailed explanations from the defense establishment for the sins of commission and omission documented in the Spiegel report, as well as for their subsequent whitewashing. And the state comptroller should open a comprehensive investigation into the behavior detailed in this document.
It is not possible to demand that the Palestinians demonstrate transparency in their battle against the infrastructure of terror while at the same time throwing sand in the world's eyes over the deepening of the occupation's infrastructure. Or in the words of U.S. envoy George Mitchell's report from May 2001: "The kind of security cooperation desired by the GOI [Government of Israel] cannot for long coexist with settlement activity."
Who Profits from the Israeli Occupation? A new on-line database
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- Written by Who Profits Who Profits
- Published: 05 February 2009 05 February 2009
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Who Profits from the Israeli Occupation?
Announcing a new on-line database: www.whoprofits.org
Now, more then ever, Israeli activists need a powerful global movement to help us build a just peace in Israel/ Palestine. Looking for effective tools for ending the occupation, we have launched a new website listing companies directly involved in the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. The grassroots initiative, of the Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace, includes a database and an information center, and reflects an on-going two-year effort, rigorous research, documentation and site visits.
This unprecedented on-line resource already lists about 200 companies, and hundreds more will be added during 2009, offering an extensive and intricate mapping of the corporate aspects and interests in the continued occupation. The website offers a new useful categorization of all corporate interests in the occupation, and exposes specific examples of direct involvement of many international and Israeli companies for the first time. In tracing ownership links it shows in detail how some of Israel’s largest corporations are tied in with the occupation.
The database allows for advanced searches, such as: Which U.S. corporations support the West Bank military checkpoints? Which of the companies are listed in the London stock-exchange? What settlements’ production is formally registered inside Israel? Note, however, that the on-line data is always partial, always growing, and please send us any relevant information, further requests for information or suggestions.
As Israeli activists, we feel obligated to try and educate ourselves and others about the economic incentives and corporate involvement in the occupation, but this is not enough. You can support our efforts by continuing this investigation in your own country, by informing others of our website, or by sending us a much needed donation.