unsettling business (Guardian audio slideshow)

Legend has it that a stranger bearing good news appeared on a hilltop near what is now Beit Sahour one fateful night 2,000 years ago. Today other visitors are making their way to this tiny Palestinian town just east of Bethlehem, believed to be site of the biblical Shepherd’s Field – where the Angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus. But the intentions of the latest arrivals are far more controversial.

Like almost every town and village in the occupied West Bank, Beit Sahour – where I spent all of last September – is under siege, steadily choked by the expanding Jewish settlements that are perched on the hilltops on every side. Illegal under international law – which prohibits the transfer of civilian population to areas under military occupation – and shocking to look at, the settlements pose a major headache for anyone hoping for peace. They use up water and space – precious resources in an already-crowded land. And every new structure makes a viable Palestinian state even less likely.

Generally speaking, Israeli settlers fall into two categories: the economic migrants and the militant Zionists. Life on the West Bank is cheap for Israelis, thanks to generous government subsidies on water, taxes and other areas of life. And for Israelis at least – since Palestinians can’t cross the ‘security’ barrier – Jerusalem is only a couple of miles’ drive from Bethlehem and Beit Sahour.
The second group are the more idealistic settlers – the people who believe passionately that God has promised them this land – which they call Judea and Samaria – and that the local Arabs stand in the way of that covenant. I met with some and learned there’s really no way to reason with someone who believes his enemy is less than human and that God is on his side.
The most militant among these are the ‘pioneers’ who just set up camp on undeveloped pieces of land or take over Palestinian farms or olive groves and claim them for the Jews. That appears to be what is about to happen in Shdema, a former military site and the focus of this multimedia piece The Guardian’s Rory McCarthy.

I’m pleased this issue has been covered but to me there are shortcomings in this piece. The main one that leaps out, other than his voice being all over it, is that certain statements are not challenged. It’s interesting to hear the crazed logic of the settler-leader but she inevitably throws in some red herrings.
She’s certainly just plain wrong when she says how locals could develop other areas of Beit Sahour. Every decision for a Palestinian must go through the Israeli military – whether you want to extend your home or build a hospital. Invariably the answer is no – and if you try it won’t be long before the army green bulldozers arrive.

Where this slideshow does works for me is how it shows how it is the extreme settler movement that wields the power in Israeli politics. I just wish Rory had found another – local – voice to spell that out for him and to develop the idea further.

CIARA LEEMING