[Peace-discuss] Christian Science Monitor: Israel overrides court, removes Palestinian protest settlement

[Robert Naiman]

Please help spread this around. If you tweet it, use the hashtag
#BabalShams.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0113/Israel-overrides-court-removes-Palestinian-protest-settlement

The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com
Israel overrides court, removes Palestinian protest settlement

Palestinians set up the Bab Al-Shams village two days ago in the sensitive
E1 area, pointedly mirroring a tactic used by some Israeli settlers to
establish facts on the ground.
[image: Temp Headline Image]
Israeli border police evict a Palestinian activist from an area known as
E-1 near Jerusalem, Sunday. Palestinian activists erected tents in the area
on Friday saying they wanted to 'establish facts on the ground' to stop
Israeli construction in the West Bank. The Palestinian activists were
borrowing a phrase and a tactic, usually associated with Jewish settlers,
who believe establishing communities means the territory will remain theirs
once structures are built.
(Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP)
------------------------------

By Christa Case Bryant, Staff writer / January 13, 2013
Jerusalem

Israel <http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Israel> today evacuated a
Palestinian tent village in the sensitive E1 area near
Jerusalem<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Jerusalem>,
overriding a court order and invoking military powers to shut down the
nonviolent demonstration.

Palestinians established the Bab Al-Shams village two days ago, pointedly
mirroring a tactic used by some Israeli settlers to establish facts on the
ground, to protest the steady expansion of Israeli settlements in the West
Bank <http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/West+Bank>. It’s part of what
they hope will become a broader nonviolent movement to pressure Israel.

“We have to move from reaction to taking the initiative, as we did with
this activity,” said Mohammed Khatib, a protest leader from the town of
Bilin and one of the protests at Bab Al-Shams. “I think it will be an
inspiration and a turning point for Palestinians to participate in this
activity.”

Israel signaled that it was unwilling to tolerate nonviolent protest in E1,
citing security concerns. But while E1 is among the most poignant and
provocative locations Palestinian protesters could have chosen, critics of
the Israeli government’s crackdown say it hardly amounted to a security
threat.

“Is this going to incite the local goat population to sedition?” asks
Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli attorney and founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem,
which tracks developments that could jeopardize a two-state solution. “It
is transparent that this was a use of military authority in order to thwart
a nonviolent and legitimate political protest.”
Crucial patch of land

E1 is a crucial connector between Jerusalem and one of the largest Jewish
settlements in the West Bank, Maale
Adumim<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Maale+Adumim>, which
Israel would like to retain under any peace agreement with the
Palestinians. It is also highly controversial, since critics say it would
effectively divide the West Bank in two; the narrow corridor for
north-south traffic that would remain, they contend, would be impractical
in many cases and potentially vulnerable to Israeli closures for security
reasons.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Benjamin+Netanyahu>
announced
that Israel would revive plans to develop E1, eliciting an unusually strong
statement of disapproval from the US State
Department<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/U.S.+Department+of+State>.
The move was seen as both punishing the Palestinians for pursuing statehood
recognition in the United
Nations<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/United+Nations>,
and bolstering Mr. Netanyahu’s standing with right-wing voters ahead of
Jan. 22 elections.

Netanyahu had appeared to quietly back off those plans in recent weeks, but
the Bab Al-Shams village revived the issue. After weeks of polls showing
that he was rapidly losing ground to Jewish Home party leader Naftali
Bennett, who advocates settlement and opposes a Palestinian state,
Netanyahu took swift action.

"I immediately called for the area to be closed off so there would not be
large gatherings there that could cause friction and breach the public
order," said Mr. Netanyahu in his weekly cabinet meeting today, according
to a translation by the Israeli newspaper
Haaretz<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Haaretz+Daily+Newspaper+Ltd.>.
"We will not let anyone block the continuum between Jerusalem and Maale
Adumim."
A tourist destination?

The Palestinians had presented the village to Israel’s High Court of
Justice as a tourist destination to learn about Bedouin culture, and had
secured a temporary court injunction barring evacuation unless there was an
urgent security threat.

But Israel countered over the weekend that the Palestinians had
misrepresented the project and ordered all the protesters off the land
until it could be determined whether it was indeed private Palestinian
property, as the protesters claimed.

“An urgent evacuation is needed because of urgent security concerns in
order to prevent a serious breach of public order,” wrote Osnat Mandel, a
senior official in the state attorney’s office, according to Haaretz.

Mr. Seidemann says the E1 area, like many areas of the West Bank, had been
declared state land – a common occurrence when no firm claims of private
ownership can be made. Even within the E1 area, however, there are pockets
of private ownership, says Seidemann, adding that he doesn’t know for sure
the status of the land where the Bab Al-Shams village was established.

But despite the evacuation at around 2 a.m. this morning, Mr. Khatib says
he sees Bab Al-Shams – named after a Lebanese novel about the yearning of
Palestinians for a state of their own – as a success.

“The tents are still there,” he says, adding that a powerful message has
been conveyed to the international community. “This shows the reality of
the occupation forces, how they deal with [protests], how they use
violence.”
 --
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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