Israel Speaks
International media often talks about the Israeli settlements.
The settlements are said to be an obstacle for the peace process
and the settlers are described as extreme fanatics.
What are the settlements really like and who are their inhabitants?
Generally speaking, settlements are Jewish colonies which are established
in Judea and Samaria, in the so called West Bank.
There are over 100 of these settle- ments with a population of over
300 000 Jews.
The settlement question causes political dispute also in Israel
where the Right supports and the Left opposes it.
Pinhas Wallerstein is a father of 7 who lives in the Jewish settlement
of Ofra which is home to 600 families.
He has been an active member of the Judea and Samaria settlement council
already for over 30 years.
The settlement ideology emerged already in the times of Joshua.
After the Yom Kippur War, which was a very traumatic war
for the Israeli society, -
Defence Minister Moshe Dayan said: "It was like the destruction
of the third Temple." The battle was about the existence of the state.
A movement was established which believed that building settlements
could help in that situation.
Ofra was established in 1975.
We have to remember that the right wing was not in power at that time
but Israel was led by the Left until 1975.
Back then President Shimon Peres was the Defence Minister.
They set up an air force base on the hill opposite to us.
We received permission to set up a work camp there, -
because Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin did not allow building a settlement.
Shimon Peres wanted to have young work force there.
All the young people came there to build a fence around the base.
During the days we worked on the hill and at night we came down.
Women and part of the older people stayed down here.
There was a deserted Jordanian camp here
and it didn't belong to anyone.
There was one room for each family and we shared a dining room.
This is how we started our lives in the settlement.
Only in 1977, when Begin came to power, were we recognized
as a settlement in every aspect.
The plans changed and the government's policy changed.
In fact, Ofra was the first settlement in the political Samaria
reaching from the North of Jerusalem to Afula.
We are the first citizens to inhabit the area North of Jerusalem
under the Labour party and not under the Likud party.
There has always been delegitimization against Israel.
The intensity of international pressure depends on who
the President of the United States is at any given time.
We have to remember that when it comes to the establishment of the first
settlements, already Begin was pres- sured not to establish settlements
He established the first settlements inside bases which, of course, -
led to various problems.
Actually, in every phase of the development of the settlements
there has been international and leftist pressure.
If someone had said that today there will be over 300 000 Jewish settlers
in Judea and Samaria, I would have sent him to medical treatment.
Many Jews end up living the West Bank area, although there would be
more comfortable places to live.
Emily Amrosi is a mother of 2 and a journalist for Israel Today magazine.
She lives in the settlement of Talmon with a population of 250 families.
We didn't come here because of some specific reasons, -
but because it is natural for Jews.
Maybe I had a longing in my blood for many years to come here
and not only here but, generally, to Israel.
Now that we have the possibility of coming here, there's no reason not to.
In practical terms, I like living here because we have a good community
and excellent education. It's nice for my children to grow up here.
People take care of each other and no one feels alone.
The air is wonderful and we don't have traffic jams.
There are, of course, disadvantages. We are far away from the city
and the roads are not so nice. We are still happy to live here.
Many times I remind myself that I belong here.
In a way that the land doesn't belong to me, but I belong to the land.
The core dispute in the settlement issue is who the land belongs to.
Part of the Arab population of the West Bank claim that the settlers
annex lands that belong to them.
Settlers and many other Israelis view it differently.
The land belongs to the Jews according to the promise
given by God in the book of Genesis.
We believe in this promise without a doubt.
During the 2000 years that we were not in the land of Israel, -
other people inhabited the area.
They have the right to live here and we didn't come to drive them out.
We want to live in good terms with them.
We are located opposite a Palestinian village.
We want to build good relations.
We are not the obstacle, but the other side is.
It has happened time after time. When Israel reached out its hand
for peace, the Palestinians rejected it.
Even the initiatives of private Israelis have almost never succeeded
which is very sad.
I myself relate to them as guests.
When I have guests in my house I try to honor them
and give them everything they need.
Similarly, if a guest comes to my country I have to give him
what he needs. If the guest, how- ever, does not behave respectfully
I can drive him out of my house.
Israel does not yet have enough power to drive out these guests.
We are continuously reaching our hand in hope for peace, -
but maybe some day this hand will dry up.
The issue is not who the land belongs to, -
because, anyway, according to the law it belongs to the state of Israel.
I think some leftists try to turn this into a legal problem.
Can we agree that all Jewish settle- ments on lands which do not belong
to Arabs are under Israeli sovereignty? The answer is no.
Those who want to establish a Palestinian state here
don't want the Jewish settlements to remain even if it was legal.
The debate on who the land belongs to is a part of the delegitimization
of the settlements, i.e. they are not legal.
So what? If they are legal, will you let them remain?
Let's say the illegal settlements would be evacuated.
Will they let the legal Israeli settlements remain here?
I don't believe this is the problem.
If there is a Jewish house on Palestinian land, -
it has to be paid for or evacuated. There is no other choice.
One cannot take land that belongs to someone else.
According to the Palestinian law, if someone sells land to a Jew
he is punished by death. This is the law.
If we buy lands from them, -
we make an agreement with a third party.
We bought the area where the Ofra chicken yards are from two Arabs
who live in the village of Silwad.
A month later they were killed in the middle of the village.
If an Arab claims not selling land to Jews he has to prove it in court.
Road no. 60 is the main road through Judea and Samaria.
Along this road, 12 km North of Jerusalem, in 1999 a settlement
by the name of Migron was established.
Today, it has a population of around 50 families.
Ittay Harel is a father of 5 and a social worker by profession.
He has established a riding stables in Migron for therapeutic purposes.
This is a beautiful place. It's the land of Israel waiting for
its children to return. This whole area is completely empty.
Zionism is to believe in the land and work there
and be part of the community.
We live in a small place, which has advantages and disadvantages.
We don't have a supermarket here. There was no electricity nor water
in the beginning.
The schools are far away and so on.
There are also governmental problems here; -
even though they understand that it's an important place to live in, -
they don't behave accordingly, because they're afraid of pressure.
Consequently, we cannot build here freely or bring families here.
Nevertheless, they have finished a plan for 500 inhabitants.
The ideology of the settlements has completely been made into
a political issue.
Migron has yet not been recognized as a legal settlement
because the court is looking into a claim that it was established
on lands belonging to Arabs.
We have old pictures from the air from the 60's where we can see
that no one lived here and there has never been agriculture here.
No one is angry at anyone.
Unfortunately, some leftist Jews claim that we took the land.
The Arabs, on the other hand, do not claim this.
Between 1999-2006 not even one Arab came here.
Once a woman who had escaped from her house came here, -
because the family wanted to kill her.
It's a great shame that it's the Jews who cause problems.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been stagnant for years.
Many see the settlements as the obstacle for regional peace.
I'm sad when being asked this question, -
because we talk about it without seeing what has happened.
We removed all the settlements from Gaza without a war.
What did we get?
We got a great strategic threat on the state of Israel.
Hamas says the truth: in addition to murdering Israelis, -
they will never accept a Jewish state in the Middle East.
I could close my eyes and say that the settlements are an obstacle for peace.
I live here in Ofra, because I believe that without Ofra
the state of Israel might not exist.
Not because this place is holier, but because I believe
without it the state of Israel might not exist. This gives me strength.
I think the state of Israel is probably an obstacle for peace, -
because we are surrounded by Arab countries
who don't want us to be here - not in the 1967 borders, -
not in Talmon, nor in Yaffo, Haifa nor Ashdod.
The problem won't be solved even if we removed all
the 300 000 inhabitants.
Nothing will be solved, but rather our enemies' appetite will only increase.
Always when we have pulled back, terror has followed us.
We think the solution for terror is giving up areas to the Arabs, -
but then we will get more and even worse terror from them.
The relations between Jews and Arabs in Judea and Samaria
have not always been tense.
I grew up in good terms with Arabs and we also visited Arab villages.
When my sister could not pass her driving test in Jerusalem
she went to Ramallah to do it.
It's so quiet here, but not even the leftist could imagine
that a soldier today would go alone to do a driving test in Ramallah.
My sister did. She didn't pass the test there either, but somewhere else.
This was perhaps the best possible situation and this is how I grew up.
When I was a kid I broke my arm in a place where, today, no one would be
without a weapon. I hitchhiked all the way to Jerusalem in an Arab taxi
and there were no road blocks and things were much better.
Before the intifada, when Ofra was established in 1975
the closest phone was in a nearby village called Ein Jabrud.
I went to the café every day after work to use the phone.
We are now living a time when everyone has a cellphone
but back then contacting people was not that easy.
Other villages saw me as a Jewish leader, -
which is why I was invited to all the weddings
and they were invited to attend all our events.
This changed after the intifada.
It's not because everyone hates us, but because
the new leaders decided to oppose the settlements
and that's why it was dangerous to be in contact with us.
In November 2009 Prime Minister Netanyahu froze all building
in the West Bank settlements.
The decision was a result of the international and, particularly, -
United States pressure on Israel.
The building has been frozen actually already for 15 years.
The building freeze did not begin today, but a long time ago.
One of the hardest periods was during Ariel Sharon's term
when they froze the building. Olmert's term was also difficult.
However, there has never been so difficult a situation as today.
In addition to not being allowed to build in our neighbourhood, -
also building between houses is forbidden.
As if some Arab would come and want to build his house there -
on my yard?!
It's forbidden to build a terrace or a park for the children.
Neither can we build a new school.
The children study in caravans, which are in horrible condition.
We have never had this kind of a situation before.
Building has always been restriced, even in Rabin's term.
Now the situation is confusing. If someone wants to build a terrace
inspectors will come to destroy it.
After the first time you bowed your head, next time it's much easier
to get you to bow down even lower and lower.
Eventually they can step over you.
This has been the situation in Israel for the last 15 years -
since the Oslo accord. We are in the Middle East, not in Finland.
Here only the strong survive - and those who are right.
You have to be strong, but also friendly to guests.
It doesn't mean that a strong person has to be evil as well.
We have the law of the Torah which tells us how to relate to gentiles.
The state of Israel has bowed its head lower and lower.
Our enemies are used to being able to throw rocks at us.
The leader of Hizbollah said Israel could be wiped out with one hand.
He has learned that Israel is afraid. When the Jews are weak
everyone tries to push us even further down.
We need to learn to stand tall and stop apologizing.
Although the settlers are convinced of the legitimacy of their actions, -
they sometimes have to ask them- selves if it's worth all the trouble.
It's worth it, but we have paid a heavy price for it.
You can talk about it in theory.
Almost every week settlers die.
You ask yourself these questions seriously.
It's not simple.
Eventually the question is: can we live a normal life here?
The settlers don't want to be soldiers.
The question is: is it possible for us to live a good life here?
Do people want to come here, because the education is good?
The land of Israel is the land pro- mised to our forefathers in the Bible
but it's not enough. It fits an army and waging war.
Most of my life I have been the leader of the settlement council.
You have them in Finland as well. They take care of the education, -
sewage, electricity, water etc.
I make sure that it's easy to come here.
The buses need to be bullet-proof, because we are being shot at.
If a mother is shot on her way back home, -
how do we cope with that?
These ideological questions rise up constantly.
Nothing is sure in life.
If someone claims to know for sure where he's going, don't believe him.
We must ask ourselves if we're doing the right things; -
am I putting my children in danger or am I losing job opportunities
by living here instead of the city?
Because we cannot build here, for 10 years I have lived in a house
made out of carton. Elsewhere I could already have built my own house.
Because the state is afraid and bow- ing down, I have to live in a caravan.
It's not easy nor comfortable.
I believe that our efforts in every area
have given us success.
When God wants something, He let's things happen.
Our job is to do our best.
I believe without a doubt that now that we have
already over 300 000 settlers here, I know God made this happen.
But maybe if we had tried harder, God's help would have been
even greater.
God does not work for us, but we work for God.
Zionism is not going only to easy places, but doing what
the Bible says.
We can clearly see that the time of redemption has begun
in that Jews build their houses in exactly these places
where the stories of the Bible took place.
It's part of the redemption, even though it would not be easy.
I can see a great blessing in what we do.
In the beginning there was nothing, and now there are 50 families.
The settlement is growing slowly and with God's help it will grow even more.
There is also a historical perspective.
My father lived in the Ukraine during the Holocaus.
His brother died of hunger. My great grandparents were taken to Siberia.
They lived through everything: Communism and Nazism.
When they finally reached Israel, the Brits drove them out to Cyprus.
My father had a broader view, because he sees where he came from
and where he ended up.
However, it's not easy that our settlements are called illegal.
When you look at where a person grew up and where he is now
you have to get some perspective.
We hope the situation would improve and not go up and down as it does now.
However, we believe that God will take care of everything.
Translation: Sonja Mattayev