An Insidious Occupation

Before I get into this post, I would like to say a couple things.

First, I will freely admit that my sympathies tend to lie more with Palestine than they do with Israel (if that wasn’t clear already by my presence here). However, I believe that being overly fervent, dogmatic, or even overly supportive of one side or the other is wrong and counterproductive. The conflict will never get anywhere until we realize that both people hurt legitimately, feel anger legitimately and that both people call this land home legitimately.

Second, I would like to emphasize that under no circumstances do I believe violence is justified. Violence is a stupid response that never solves anything. I do not believe that anything ever warrants the use of violence, whether that violence is a bombing (either by and individual or an air force), plane hijacking, or military assault. All are equally wrong, no matter for what reason.

That being said, let’s get into it.

I have seen many things in my time here. I have learned a great deal about the nature of the conflict. One thing I have seen and come to realize shocked me when I began to accept it. What is going on here is old school colonialism. Plain and simple. There is no other way to put it. Colonialism ripped out of the pages of 19^th century England.

Look, I am in no way denying Israel’s right to exist or anything. I’m not saying Israel doesn’t belong, or that it’s their land or anything like that. I’m talking about the continued occupation of the West Bank. It’s colonialism in the style of the Europeans in Africa. Israel keeps Palestine and Palestinians dependent. Dependent on Israel for any number of goods and basic utilities. Israel stifles growth here. It stifles economic, infrastructural, and political development. It’s kind of outrageous.

Let’s start with water. Israel controls every drop of water in the West Bank. Far from just ‘arguing’ over water rights to the Jordan River, Israel controls all of it. After the Palestinian Authority was created following the Oslo Accords, Israel took control of all the underground water reservoirs. The wall between Israel and the West Bank follows the route of the major underground reservoir. The reservoir is now on the Israeli side of the border. Israel does not allow Palestine to drill any wells. It does not even allow farmers to drill artisan wells. The Palestinian National Authority has to buy water from the Israeli water company, Mekorot. In the summer, Mekorot reduces water supplies to Palestinian towns by over 40% in favor of increased supply to settlements in the area. Needless to say, there are severe water shortages here. Farmers don’t have enough water for their crops. There isn’t even enough drinking water.

Israel also controls all the electricity in the here. Israel won’t allow either the Palestinian Authority or Palestinian companies to build power plants here. Whether they be coal, gas, solar, etc., Israel will not issue permits to build anything. Palestinians have to buy electricity from Israel. Again, there isn’t enough electricity here. The lights in my office constantly go on off. Imagine being in a place where “rolling blackouts” are a part of life.

Palestine is also kept from making many needed infrastructural improvements. If you go around Palestine, you’ll notice that a lot of the roads are in really bad shape. The problem is that the West Bank is split into three: districts A, B, and C. A is areas that are governed and policed by the PNA. B is areas that are governed by the PNA, but policed by the IDF. And C is areas that are run completely by Israel. Now, Israel only allows the PNA to make improvements to roads that lie entirely in area A. If the road cross two or three areas (as they most often do), the PNA can’t touch it. It has to say messed up.

If anyone wants to build or develop anything big here, they have to get permission from the Israeli authorities. The PNA governs day to day operations, but ultimate authority lies with Israel here. And you better believe it’s not a civilian authority. The IDF runs this shit. The authorities don’t allow a lot of industry to develop here. There are very few industries here. There are rock and stone quarries, a couple shoe and clothing factories throughout Palestine, and that’s about it. Not a whole lot. Economic development is largely stifled. Israel keeps Palestine and Palestinians economically dependent on its own industry and its own goods. It’s creepily similar to the way European nations would allow one or two industries to develop in colonial African nations, and otherwise keep them dependent on imports from the colonial power. Very little local industry is allowed to develop. Very little investment in new markets or fields is permitted. Israel keeps the economy here stagnant and dependent on Israeli goods. In return for a mass boycott of Israeli goods during the Intafada, Israel instituted crippling economic sanctions that brought the fragile Palestinian economy to its knees.

After all this time, Israel also carries out midnight raids of people’s homes and arrests folks. The IDF will raid the offices of businesses and charitable organizations and freeze their bank accounts all in the name of “counter-terrorism”. Often, very little proof is given. The director of the center I work at was telling me that he was arrested and spent three years in Israeli jail. I asked him why. He said that there wasn’t really a reason. He was part of a political organization in the PLO that the IDF didn’t like. The IDF came in the middle of the night, arrested him and a bunch of other people, and took him to jail for three years. After that, he wasn’t allowed to leave Palestine for several years. He wasn’t even allowed to leave Jenin. Every time he had to go to Ramallah or Hebron for anything, he would be stopped at the checkpoint, handcuffed, blind-folded, and kept there for four to five hours. Afterwards they would let him go. On the way back to Jenin, the same thing. I have heard this from several other people here. Apparently it’s a pretty common thing here. The IDF stops you at a check point, keeps you around for a few hours, then lets you go. When I talk to some folks here I begin to understand their anger. They are humiliated daily. They are controlled and pushed around daily. They do not have a functioning state to advocate for them. They don’t have an adequate police force or army to protect them. They are controlled by a country that does not have their interest in mind. Ultimate authority lies with a set of authorities that seem to utterly hate them. They don’t have economic opportunities. Their future doesn’t look bright. They don’t have a lot of rights. They are denied resources. They are denied the opportunity to even create opportunities for themselves. They have no money. They have no security. They have very little opportunities to leave or go anywhere. Their nascent and prospective country is in shambles, and to top it all off, no one sees a solution in sight.

Folks don’t have freedom of movement here. There is a Palestinian National Authority, but they are not able to exert their authority as a governing power. There is a huge Israeli army base right outside of Jenin. It’s the first stop of Israel’s detainees. Israel supersedes the PNA’s authority. It undermines it. It undermines the people’s willingness to hold their government accountable and demand more of it. How are people going to demand more of the PNA when Israel is carrying out random arrests, or restricting people’s movement, or hording water? Are people really going to be focused on holding the PNA accountable when Israeli authorities restrict almost every part of life here? The fact of the matter is that people here do need to hold the PNA more accountable. They need to be more active and involved in the running of this land. But as long as Israel is around giving (or not giving) permits for development, supplying (limited amounts) of water and electricity, and making its own policing and legal decisions, the PNA will not be viewed as a government, but as leaders in a struggle against oppression.

The occupation is often subtle, but it is insidious. It is one that denies these people the ability to develop their land. It keeps them from even having the opportunity to move their home into the future, or provide economic opportunities for themselves. It keeps them almost completely dependent on one power for basic goods and services. The economic restrictions stifle any kind of growth here. It keeps them controlled by a state that has very little interest in providing anything for them. Israel could give less of a crap about these people, yet exerts ultimate control over their lives. The settlements are, at best, mean-spirited, and at worst, meant to create an Israeli majority in the West Bank. We have been taught that colonialism is something that happened in the past, that it is part of history, and so we are hesitant to use that word to describe the situation here. But that is what is going on. It is dependence theory in action. Straight up, old school colonialism, right out of the pages of 19^th century Europe.