Battle of the Hilltops

by Katharine Maycock

From: Bullet Points (used w/permission)

It is the most beautiful valley. Tidy terraces dug into the hillsides, silvery olive trees dotted around, vineyards on the valley floor, horses, goats and a powerful scent of gorse. Idyllic rural scene. Driving by on empty Sabbath roads you would not be aware that here, in this valley just north of Hebron, one of the most vicious and destructive battles is taking place.

This is Atta Jaber, age 41, Rudayna his wife, age 39 and their children . The Jaber family have owned and farmed much of the valley for centuries. We visited Atta in his 3rd house. The reason being that Israeli soldiers came and demolished his first house because it was built without a permit. On that day in August 1998, the entire extended family - about 40 people - stood infront of the house to protect it. The soldiers beat many including Atta's 2 year old daughter. 21 people were injured. And the house came down. The family were quick to rebuild a second house, much smaller with 2 rooms. A month later in September 1998 the second house was bull-dozed, as was his orchard to make way for a road for use by Jewish settlers only. When we visited, the entrance road to his house had been freshly bulldozed making it impossible for any vechical to drive over the 6-8 ft mound of soil and rocks.

Dalia, age 6 and Amna, age 8 (Atta's daughters)

Looking from Atta's house over the settler road to the otherside is his brother Jawdi's house and a hill behind him. Jawdi owned the hill, and laboured for 10 years planting and tending an orchard. In 10 hours that orchard was destroyed and the hill has begun to resemble Milton Keynes. Neat rows of red roofed houses lie around the hill. The settlers have added the hill to their plot leaving Jawdi with his house. It is no longer a comfortable home, because the people in this settlement regularly shoot at the house from the hill.

This isn't like demolishing houses to make way for a new runway at Stanstead Airport (UK) - this is the systematic destruction and humiliation of a people. Demolishing a house, is destroying a family. The expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land is feasible largely because of the enormous amounts of funding Israel receives from America, much of which is tax deductible. What is worse, many Christians who support the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, as if to shore up support for a 'greater Israel' are contributing to this destruction. But noone is talking any longer about 'throwing Israel into the sea'. The PLO recognised Israel's right to exist as long ago as 1988 (in Algeria) and this was re-stated at the start of the Oslo peace talks. Yet throughout the 7 years of negotiations the pace of settlement building accelerated - even under peacemaker Rabin.

A sign of hope?

Perhaps due to the publicity of Atta's case abroad, he is now the proud possessor of a document from the Israeli authorities that states his 3rd house is safe from being bull-dozed. However, he has lost much of his land, and his family and home continue to be terrorised by some settlers. Yet, to a foreign Jewish visitor last month who apologised for what the state of Israel had done to him and his family, Atta said with typical pride and resilience " I welcome any Israeli into my house". He means it.

The majority of Jewish settlers in the West Bank are there for economic gains, rather than ideological reasons. They are enticed by the government into cheap housing and subsidised living to occupy some of the most contentious locations in the West Bank. It is a way of making the Occupation extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. In all peace offers, Israel would annex 85% of West Bank settlements (170,000 settlers), as well as all the settlements built around East Jerusalem (200,000 settlers).

But Atta's land has been taken from him in the name of security. What Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says:

"You know, its not by accident that the settlements are located where they are