Siege by Settlement

Hebron is the biggest Palestinian city with the largest economy. There are 350,000 Palestinians living here. Also 800 settlers protected by 3900 IOF soldiers. 

The history of how the settlers came to this city is one of typical Israeli incremental treachery. The story begins right after the 1967 war and subsequent occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. In 1968, seventy-five American Jews came in to Hebron, stayed in a hotel at the outskirts of the central city, and then wouldn’t leave. They claimed the land was given to them by god.

They quickly appealed to the IOF for protection and were provided with a military contingent. It was an invasive Jewish outpost in a Palestinian city. Within a couple of years, these invaders moved right into the nearby military base. In the mid-70s, they declared themselves a settlement and recruited another 2500 Jews from Brooklyn and Sydney to move in with them. The government soon declared the settlement officially legal and the military moved out. In 1979, the settlement moved into the center of Hebron and expanded through the 80s. 

After the 1987 Intifada came the 1993 Oslo Accords, which excluded Hebron from the divisions made in the governance of the occupied territories (areas A, B, and C). The reason it was excluded was to protect the settlements. Hebron was the only place where settlements were built right in the midst of a Palestinian City. 

The zionists living in Hebron were angry that Israel didn’t just take over Hebron. One of them, Baruch Goldstein, a former IOF officer, went into the Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994 and gunned down Muslims in prayer, killing 29 and wounding another 120, before he himself was killed. Another 22 Muslims were killed by other settlers as they fled from the mosque. In response, Israel decided to divide the mosque in two, giving Jews one side of it and Muslims the other. They imposed a 6 month 24 hour curfew on Palestinians, effectively stopping economic life in Hebron.

In 1997 came the Hebron Protocol, dividing the entire city into 2 districts, H1 and H2. H1 would be governed by the Palestinian Authority and H2 by Israel. No surprise that H2 was located exactly in the commercial and industrial center of the city. Soon, they walled of Shuhada St, the commercial backbone and central connecting corridor of the central city. Then from 2000-2005, another curfew. The central city became a ghost town.

These days, the richest and most influential settlers live in Hebron, backed by huge funding from the American-based Hebron Fund and Jewish National Fund. Settlers actually get paid a stipend to live here. There are 6 settlement houses, 1 Yeshiva school, and a military presence 24/7. 

One might wonder why the settlers are so intent on staying here, in an area surrounded by boarded up buildings and homes, intentionally made that way by Israel. They actually have branded it as the only Jewish ghetto in the world. The fact is they needn’t  have created the desolate conditions around themselves, but they keep it that way for public relations and fund-raising. They want the area to look bad for the many politicians and wealthy Jewish Patrons that they bring here.

It is a staged setup. Most of the settlers who live here actually have homes elsewhere in the West Bank. They come and go. There are only about 100 people who live here year round. The point is to provide evangelical Christian Zionists with a place they can support to further their vision for the creation of a new Jewish state and the rapture that will follow. A cause to give their money to.

In the meantime, since the genocide has been taking place in Gaza, they city has been pretty locked down. People cannot easily move around in the city or travel out of the city. A trip that might have taken an hour now takes 6-7 hours because of the checkpoints, walls, and closed roads. The length of time it can take depends on the mood of 18-19 year old soldiers. It’s all part of the collective punishment Israel is wreaking on all Palestinians.

We had a walk around the blight-stricken Old Town today and saw first hand the results of the ill intent of Israel and its rabid settlers. 1350 shops have been closed down and those still open have no business. Whole areas indeed do look like a ghetto, with buildings boarded up and garbage strewn about. It’s sad to see.

I said to the man leading us around that I would be so pissed if I had been subjected to this destruction of my community, military occupation, and aggressive hostility from religious fanatics wanting to run me out of my home. He said, yeah sure, he’s pissed. But what can you do? They are doing their best to survive and take care of each other.

This is what a long term siege by settlement looks like, churning away at the heart of a city and its people. And it’s getting worse.