How Are Settlements Created

An Israeli activists from Breaking the Silence describes a method used by Israeli settlers (with the protection of their gov.) to steal the Palestinians lands.

“Breaking the Silence” is an organization of Israeli veterans of the Second Intifada, collecting soldier’s personal testimonies and accounts of life in the Palestinian Territories. Today I took a tour of Hebron city led by one of these veterans, who shared his own experiences in dealing with settlements, evictions, and commands. The city today is a depressing ghost town, and Ilan, our guide, narrated how this came to be. I’ll share here some of the more interesting explanations.
Driving past small settlements on the way there, Ilan described the process in which a settlement is created.
1. Settlers establish an illegal outpost on Palestinian-owned land, usually a couple of caravans on a hilltop.
2. The IDF orders that the settlers have 30 days until eviction, but are still obligated by Israeli law to protect the Israeli settlers. Consequently, soldiers set up a nearby “temporary” caravan.
3. After a couple weeks, for the soldiers’ convenience, the military brings electricity, water, and eventually roads to the soldiers’ caravan on the outpost.
4. Settlers usually take the military’s resources illegally, allowing them to lead a sustainable life on the hilltop.
5. Near the end of the 30 days, a military official decides that, based on the amount of money and resources already devoted to the outpost, the settlers and military can stay. The official then marks the land as a closed military zone, where Palestinians are not allowed, even if it’s their own land.
6. Ottoman and British law specifies that if land is unused for three years, it is annexed by the governing power, in this case Israel. So, after three years of forcibly keeping the Palestinians off their own land, the settlers can legally buy the land from the state, thus turning the land into a legal Israeli settlement, requiring state money for defense and infrastructure.
This process helped me to understand the importance of the demonstration I attended last week in South Hebron against a settler outpost. At the time I didn’t realize that one small construction on the Palestinian land would most likely turn into a full-scale settlement.
Of course, some illegal outposts are in fact evicted after the 30 days, and these are the stories that make the Israeli and international news. But these incidents are rare.



You can find the full text here:
http://www.studentscrossingboundaries.com/journal/breaking-silence-city-hebron