Settlers and Palestinians unite in opposition to Israeli annexation

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Some Israeli settlers agree with their Palestinian neighbors in the occupied West Bank that the Jewish state’s plan to annex part of the territory would undermine their years-long reconciliation efforts. Palestinian Khaled Abu Awwad and Israeli rabbi Shaul Judelman live just a few miles away from each other in the southern West Bank, the former in Bethlehem and the latter in Tekoa, a settlement considered illegal by the international community.

The two are the joint directors of Shorashim-Judur, or Roots in Hebrew and Arabic, a movement founded in 2014 to establish dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians sharing the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967. US President Donald Trump’s controversial peace plan paves the way for Israel to annex parts of the West Bank, including Jewish settlements considered illegal under international law. In a statement this week Roots said unilateral annexation would constitute an “aggression” that would “stand in opposition to the principle of mutual respect” which is “the foundation for advancing peace and security”. Roots has its headquarters in Gush Etzion, a bloc of two dozen settlements and outposts near Bethlehem that some have speculated will be among the first Israel would annex. At a recent meeting there Abu Awwad and Judelman shared the concerns they have if Israel went ahead with its annexation plans. On a terrace surrounded by olive trees, Abu Awwad compared annexation to a “declaration of war” that could bring violence. “Any unilateral decision cannot be a sign of reconciliation but on the contrary, raises the level of the conflict,” he said.

Sitting next to him, Judelman said “it is not enough to oppose annexation, people from both societies must unite and propose something else”. “But it takes political leaders with courage to break the iron wall between our two societies,” said the rabbi, his head covered with a large skullcap. “We have a generation of Israelis who never met a Palestinian but only saw a terrorist on TV, and a generation of Palestinians who only saw an Israeli soldier and this is what Israelis are to him,” said the rabbi, his head covered with a large skullcap.

— AFP Khaled Abu Awad (left), a Palestinian from Bethlehem, and Shaul Judelman, an Israeli settler from nearby Teqoa settlement, who are both co-directors of movement of settlers and Palestinians called ‘Shorashim-Judur’ (Hebrew and Arabic for ‘Roots’) and who both published a petition against Israel’s intention to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, speak during an interview.