The crippling yoke of apartheid in Hebron
Israeli military operates with impunity and colonist provocations against the Palestinian population in the city have intensified
ast week Israel announced that the heart of Hebron would henceforth be a separate municipality directly governed by Israel’s civil administration. There are about 700 extremist Israeli colonists currently living in a few compounds in the centre of the city protected by the Israeli military. While this disruptive and provocative presence has been ongoing for more than two decades, the decision to formally divide Hebron into two cities was profoundly unsettling, though not entirely unexpected.
Twenty-two years ago, I wrote down my observations of what was happening in Hebron — in an effort to convey how Israeli policies were cruelly impacting daily life. At the time, I was one of the leaders of a project launched by US Vice-President Al Gore working to support the “peace process” by growing the Palestinian economy. The year was 1995. The glow of Oslo had not yet gone out, but it was dimming. I visited Hebron and left profoundly disturbed by what I saw. Daily life there is far removed from the peace process. Palestinians in that city are forced to endure debilitating economic pressures and harsh repressive military control.
More than one year after the massacre at the Al Ebrahim mosque, the nearly 300,000 residents of the Hebron district are still suffering from the consequences of that horrific act. Baruch Goldstein [the Jewish terrorist who committed the massacre] is being celebrated as a hero [his grave in the nearby colony of Kiryat Arba has become a pilgrimage site] and the Israeli military is providing extensive security for the extremist colonists who live in the heart of Hebron and in large colonies that border the city.
In order to protect the 300 Jewish colonists who have illegally seized three large buildings in various parts of the centre of town, the Israeli military has deployed over 1,000 heavily-armed soldiers. They have closed off major streets including large sections of Hebron’s souq [the central market]. As a result, Arabs may no longer drive through Hebron. Instead they must travel all the way around the perimeter of the city. One dozen newly constructed metal gates provide the Israeli military with the ability to shut down the entire city centre, at will. The scene in this once bustling souq area of Hebron is simultaneously frightening and depressing. The stress that this environment places on Hebron, a city of over 120,000 people, is obvious. It is equally disruptive to the wellbeing of the additional 150,000 Palestinians who live in the neighbouring towns and villages.
To protect the colonists travelling from the nearby colony of Kiryat Arba, the Israeli military has established numerous checkpoints and closed side roads. The situation is absurd. Residents from two Palestinian villages with combined populations of 30,000 can no longer drive the short distance into Hebron to shop and visit relatives and friends. The checkpoints are even more disturbing. On a virtually deserted road, a row of Arab cars wait at a checkpoint while young Israeli soldiers sit under an umbrella ignoring them. The drivers bake in the sun for 10 minutes or more as the Israelis decide, on a whim, to let one pass and then, many minutes later, to let another pass. Holding them and letting them pass — for no reason other than to demonstrate that they are in control.
Violence is a part of everyday life in Hebron. While shootings of Palestinians were a frequent occurrence, an Israeli human rights organisation recently reported that the Israeli military has apparently changed tactics and now uses random beatings to make their point. The report documents hundreds of beatings per month. The reasons given by the soldiers for the beatings range from punishment for illegal parking to “just having fun.”
Humiliating security procedures
Colonists rioting, empty Arab shops, police beating Palestinians, the closure of the city and the destruction of its economy, the daily harassment and pressure: this is the daily life of Hebron during this time of peace.That was a picture of life in Hebron 22 years ago.
Since then the situation has only become more oppressive. The Al Ebrahim Mosque has been taken over by the Israeli military and crudely defaced and divided — with the largest portion given over to Jewish colonists to pray, while Palestinians must go through humiliating security procedures to enter.
In the Hebron Protocol of 1997, the Palestinian National Authority was forced to cede control of 20 per cent of the city to the Israeli military — an area that included a few hundred Israeli colonists and over 30,000 Palestinians. The recent decision to create a separate municipality for the colonist population within this 20 per cent now formalises this division. It also includes a provision allowing colonists to seize vacant properties owned by Palestinians who left to escape the harassment they suffered at the hands of colonists and soldiers. The Israeli intention appears to be to connect this wedge they have cut through the heart of Hebron with Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of town. This has been the goal of this decades-long atrocity and serves as a clear indication that the Israelis have no intention of leaving this apartheid regime they have created in Hebron.
Dr James J. Zogby is the president of Arab American Institute.