Breaking the Silence

Breaking the Silence is the name of an organization of Israeli soldiers who talk about their experience in the Occupied Territories (West Bank, Palestine). They offer two tours in the West Bank: Hebron and South Hebron Hills. The first is a bit more of an urban tour, while the other is very rural. I was wait-listed last summer to go to Hebron, but I did manage to get a confirmed place on a tour to the South Hebron Hills in early September. It was a trip I'll not easily forget.

The tour meets at, departs from, and returns to the International Convention Center (ICC, Binyanei Ha’uma, near the Central Bus Station). Everyone boards a tour coach and the guide starts talking. Our guide, Avihai started telling us about how he'd always wanted to be a combat soldier. His father and older brothers had been combat soldiers, he too would be one and how important this was to him. The military begins sorting and recruiting soldiers when they are still in high school. Aptitude tests are administered for selection into the special forces -- pilots, spies, and the like. And forever after, Israeli men, in particular, are subject to being identified by where they served (combat, artillery, air, navy, etc) and they make lifelong bonds with their platoon (serving on reserve until 40 or 42 makes a difference too). I've been told by a few Israelis that being part of the Israeli Defence Forces is really important, partly as the making of Israeli identity and partly as the rebranding of the Jewish people that were very differently characterized in early 20th Century European propaganda and of course later as victims of the Holocaust. I don't know if all Israelis agree with this, but it seems like a reasonable statement. 

Avihai told us about his training in the IDF: How he learned to use all sorts of weapons and only a little bit about how to interact with civilians. And then how he found himself serving in the Occupied Territories, in the South Hebron Hills, dealing daily with civilians.  He told us about how he and his colleagues interacted with Palestinians and with settlers in the West Bank. And, he told us that a key job of the IDF soldiers in the Hebron Hills of Area C is preventing Palestinians from delivering their agricultural goods to the town of Yatta.

Area C under the Oslo Accords is under the control of the Israeli military. These days Israeli soldiers patrol Area C and if you are in it, they will likely pull you over for a chat - it happened while we were on tour. Of particular interest, and visited on our tour, in the South Hebron Hills are (1) the line taken by the separation barrier (intruding at points into the West Bank by running north of the Green Line); (2) the village of Susiya; (3) the ring of hilltop settlements; and (4) Military Training Zone 918 (which is a polygon east of Susiya and Hwy 317 and wholly within the West Bank).

Briefly:

1. The Line of the Separation Barrier. Apparently, the low barrier that runs along Hwy 317 (a road that runs from SW to NE sort of through Susiya) was the planned site of the separation barrier, but the incursion into the West Bank was later abandoned for a line further south that more closely traces the Green Line.
2. The Village of Susiya (Palestinian) and the Settlement of Susiya (Israeli settlers). The village of Susiya experiences continuous water insecurity and has to have water trucked and to pay market rates (partly the politics of Israel and partly the politics of the Palestinian Authority are at play here). The settlement does not experience water insecurity and is serviced by pipes.
3. Lucifer Farm and the ring of hilltop settlements. Settlements in the West Bank can be big like a suburb (e.g. Maale Adumim near Jerusalem) or they can be solo farmers (like homesteaders in the Canadian west) (e.g. the ring of settlements near Susiya and Firing Zone 918 - these are known as unauthorized (illegal) outposts). Evidently, under an arcane bit of Ottoman era law (which still operates in Palestine/Israel, along with some British and Jordanian law) hilltops couldn't be owned, thus they are not private property, and are available for settlement (I remain a bit fuzzy on this, it sounds almost as if you can obtain ownership by squatting).  Settlements have begun to ring small Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills and, unfortunately, conflict between the two groups is not infrequent.
4. Military Training Zone 918 (aka Firing Zone 918) is an area from which about 700 Palestinians were evicted in 1998 and 1999 on the grounds that they had taken up "illegal residence in a live fire zone".  B'Tselem (the Israeli Human Rights Organization) has more on this story here.

Looking at Firing Range 918 (in that valley to the left of the hill behind Avihai)

Susiya Village

Susiya Village

Susiya Village

Susiya Village

A workshop in a tent at Susiya - permanent dwellings are torn down

Susiya Village

Susiya Village Tractor

Settlements on the hilltops

The take away of all this is that if it looks and smells like a fish, it probably is a fish.  These four observations added together leave a strong impression that Israel is land grabbing in the South Hebron Hills of Area C of the West Bank. This is not a happy conclusion; however, it fits well within the current dominant political discourse to "create facts on the ground" that will lead to certain conclusions about dividing up land when (never mind the "if") the two state solution arrives.

Breaking the Silence is not uncontroversial. Some Israelis do not believe the testimony of these IDF soldiers and they consider this effort to be disloyal to the state. Breaking the Silence doesn't offer a solution to the conflict, but they do want to tell Israelis what IDF soldiers (the 18-21 year olds of Israel) are doing when in service in the West Bank. In this sense they share the questioning narrative of the movie The Gatekeepers which asked Israelis to consider the Occupation in terms of what it is costing Israel. What does it mean that your youth serve in an Occupied Territory and carry out the chores of an occupying state? None of this is to suggest that ending the Occupation will be an easy task. Israel does face an existential threat in its neighbourhood and it is a small country (this has implications for its defence): the security threat is real. Nevertheless, the cost of the Occupation is too high for everyone: it needs to end. But, just how to do it? 

If you want to know more about Breaking the Silence visit their website to hear some of the IDF testimony.  If you plan to be in Jerusalem consider taking a tour, but be sure to sign up well in advance.