Bombs over Gaza provide smoke screen for Israeli snipers in Hebron

A cursory glance at Israel’s political and economic dynamics at work suggests that Operation Protective Edge has less to do with the Hamas security threat and more to do with the overall mechanisms of occupation that perpetuate the qualitative and quantitative advantage over the people of Palestine, specifically those elements that directly influence the settlement enterprise expansion across the West Bank, in particular that of Hebron.

More than meets the eye

The unrelenting bombing of Gaza isn’t about Israel’s security through the dismantling of the Hamas tunnel economy — created as a way to sustain life and Hamas’ position after Israel’s unilateral declaration of an embargo around Gaza. In many cases, the mass media has turned the tunnels into a political propaganda tool, focusing on the materials to build rockets, rather than their main utility of supplying Palestinians with medical equipment, a way to seek employment outside of Gaza, among other basic nessecities of 0life. The ground invasion wasn’t about retribution for the alleged kidnappings, nor can the current relationships between Israeli authorities, settlers and Palestinians be boiled down to overt racism (although these are all socio-political assets for Knesset members to legitimize the siege on Palestinians).

A closer look at recent events (Operation Brother’s Keeper and recent settlement expansion) and historical trends shows a linkage between social unrest and the continuation of the illegal settlements across the West Bank. One may ask, “What do Israeli snipers perched across the hills of Hebron have to do with Operation Protective Edge?” [Particularly when Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Hamas wasn’t responsible for the kidnappings.] In view of this, things begin to make more sense: the current massacre in Gaza is the international diversion needed to tighten Israel’s Gordian knot around the economic resources of the West Bank.

This is a likely scenario, especially if time is ticking on the expansion of Israel’s settlement enterprise. This may indeed be the case, given the fact that Israel’s settlement economy took a 20 billion dollar hit in the first four months of 2014 as a result of the increased call for boycott across the European Union — which happened before the current operations. (So you can anticipate that with additional global pressure, the boycott movement will only be more effective.) Coupled with more and more countries acting aggressively on the diplomatic level, with South Africa going so far as to prosecute citizens serving in the Israeli military, and the Palestinian position of negotiation — which is usually fighting from the ropes — it becomes a lot more problematic for the Israeli regime if the State of Palestine decides to seek access to the International Criminal Court.

Having access to the I.C.C. could be very dubious for Benjamin Netanyahu. As Human Rights Watch comments on the applicability of international law:

“The ICC’s statute also classifies as a war crime the “direct or indirect” transfer of civilians by an occupying power into occupied territory – a category that would include the Israeli government’s facilitation of the transfer of its citizens into settlements. Another war crime under the statute is the “forcible transfer” of protected people in an occupied territory – in this case Palestinians – off their lands, such as by demolishing their homes and preventing them from returning.”

HRW adds some facts about Netanyahu’s time as Prime Minister of Israel: “Since Benjamin Netanyahu became Israel’s prime minister in 2009, Israel has begun construction on more than 9,480 settlement homes. Israeli demolitions during the same period left more than 4,600 Palestinians homeless. Both trends accelerated in 2013: 2,534 settlement housing starts in 2013 represented an increase of more than 220 percent over 2012, and demolitions that left 1,103 Palestinians homeless were up by almost 25 percent.” Even if there isn't the international political will to convict him, charges against him would affect him negatively with regard to his future employment and thus his personal economic situation.

This external pressure could be forcing Israel’s hand. There have been calls by Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett to annex 60 percent of the West Bank. Bennett’s plan is to formally annex the illegal settlements, starting with Ariel, Gush Etzion, Ma’aleh Adumim, Beit El-Ofra and communities that overlook Ben-Gurion Airport. Bennett cites security, but also pulls no punches to demonstrating that the Palestinians natural resources, such as water, is crucial for Israel. Therefore, it must be taken from the Palestinians. See Bennett explaining his position here:

The hand behind the back

Ideological Zionism has always been a hegemonic discourse is Israeli politics and society, and yet this has not always materialized into concrete steps towards the realization of those dreams. Rather at times, has been a political tool to garner votes during election times. However, we can see real movement in the advancement of formally annexing key chunks of the State of Palestine, in disregard of international law.

With most analysis being focused on Israel’s current military blitzkrieg on the civilians of Gaza, some of the steps towards consolidating control on the West Bank are going unreported in the main stream media. Itay Epshtain is the advocacy coordinator for Acción contra el hambre, the Spanish branch of Action Against Hunger. Epshtain reported earlier this week that the Knesset House Committee, chaired by MK Yariv Levin (Likud), passed a resolution confirming that all Knesset Permanent Committees may summon any party, including the Israeli Military Commander of Occupied Territory, to report on issues within their competence.

According to Epshtain’s reportage, “The rules on summons and compulsory disclosure, pursuant to Article 100 of Knesset Rules of Procedure are now in effect in relation to the West Bank (including deliberation of bills and secondary legislation, scrutiny of the Government and public authorities, including bodies specified in article 21(b) of Basic Law: the Knesset, and deliberations on the implementation of legislation that was deliberated in the Committee, on matters referred to the Committee by the Knesset Plenum or the Knesset Presidium, on issues that are under the jurisdiction of the Committee by law, and topics initiated by the Chairman of the Committee and Knesset Members).”

“In effect, all Knesset Permanent Committees can now exercise oversight over occupied West Bank. Furthermore,” said Ephstain, “this should be considered a major milestone towards the formal annexation of occupied Palestinian territory.”

Regavim, a self-proclaimed Zionist organization with a focus on Palestinian land (which it explicitly states in their vision statement), portrayed this as: “A Historic decision — handling civil matters relating to Judea and Samaria to every Knesset committee. In the wake of war, a historic decision of unparalleled importance for settlements. Redressing the injustice of 400,000 civilians in Judea and Samaria have been neglected during these years. Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security rejected most of the subjects due to the busy agenda. Now with the hard work of MK Yariv Levin and the approval of the Knesset Chair Yuli Edelstein, the new decision will do justice to the hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians.”

To be sure about the intentions of this legislation, one need only consider some of Yariv Levin’s statements on the current Gaza bombardment; he was quoted as in the Times of Israel saying, “[Israel] must move on to massive military activity and flatten entire regions from within which rockets are being launched. We must also place pressure on the civilian population. It is good that the electricity was disconnected and it is a shame that it was not done earlier.”

Admittingly, legislation does not always translate into facts on the ground, but what it does do is pave the way to legally implement changes in the future. Israeli settlers can develop Palestinian land by circumventing some of the security concerns the Israeli military forces have used disrupt expansion plans. By putting development in the hands of the Knesset, there is an open channel for Israeli politicians to co-opt public sentiment against the Palestinians and translate that into settlement expansion.

We have witnessed this political phenomenon just this year. The Gush Etzion Regional Council established three new illegal settlements in the West Bank in the Gush Etzion settlement block as a punitive measure to the Israeli settler kidnappings in the West Bank. Additional public funds have also been set aside, including extra bus transportation to facilitate growth.

This is not to say that there aren’t interested parties set to benefit from Israel’s war in Gaza. Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems — all Israeli defense companies — have a lot at stake in the current assault in terms of honing their systems and marketing their products to the international defense community. Gaza provides an opportunity to “field test” their products.

As Haaretz reporter Shuki Sadeh points out, “The IDF needs the defense industries to develop weapons systems on its behalf, but since the IDF is a small army in international terms and the defense contractors and that the more the contractors sell overseas, the cheaper they can sell to the IDF — and this is one of the defense establishment’s main goals in encouraging weapons exports. Estimates say that 80% of Israel’s defense production is for export, and the rest is bought by the IDF and other local security forces.” (Click here for more on the linkage between military officers continuing their careers’ as advisors to Israeli military complex and the inherent conflict of interests in avoiding war.)

Additionally, the discoveries of the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean are also a key assets for Israel to secure and maintain transit supply through the greater Middle East and to Europe. Collectively, these hold an estimated 26 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas. Although Israel plans on securing these resources, it can hardly be reasoned that Hamas possesses a significant enough military force to threaten the flow of natural gas in the Mediterranean, considering the ‘damage’ they have inflicted with the thousands of make-shift rockets they have sent. The ineffectiveness of the notorious rockets are well documented and talked about at length, and they arguably don’t have the capacity to hit a moving ship.

The importance of Hebron

Although the majority of settlement expansion has focused on the most populated settlement blocks, Hebron is a different reality. Hebron’s historical, cultural, and religious significance of puts it squarely at the heart of the Israeli settlement movement. From the spiritual tales of Abraham, the father of the monolithic traditions, to the romanticized stories of the radical Rabbi Moshe Levinger’s night and the Palestinian Park Hotel, which proved to be the first steps in establishing Kiryat Arba, the first settlement in Hebron after the Six Day War, this area has been one of the most continuously and violently contested swaths of land in the world. A victory in Hebron thus galvanizes and mobilizes the spirit of Israel’s settlement movement.

There are over 20 different points of Israeli settlement expansion across Hebron, when taken collectively, represents a strategic plan to seize complete geographic control of the Tomb of the Patriarchs through a series of Jewish only communities and reinforced by an Israeli military presence. For the Israeli settlement movement, there is a lot at stake in Hebron. Mobilization is evident in recent years, such as the establishment of a large scale archeological museum, built on Palestinian land, which serves not only as an economic instrument of tourism, but also strategically cuts the Tel Rumeida hillside in half and separates a Palestinian community into two.

There is also the case of the al-Rajabi building: It serves as a strategic hilltop outpost, which not only gives the Israeli settlers topographical advantage over the Palestinians that reside in the valleys, but also serves as a stepping stone towards the Tomb of the Patriarchs, connecting Givot Havot and Kiryat Arba to the religious and economic resources of the Old City. The case of the al-Rajabi building is particularly dubious since the Israeli Supreme Court accepted evidence that the documents used to purchase the building were forged — according to their own forensics team — but ruled that because the settlers acted in good faith, were entitled to the building. Israel has acted on behalf of the illegal settlers in numerous and bizarre ways to continue to synch the knot around Hebron.

This shows up in real numbers in terms of settlement growth, and the Palestinian flight from the system of apartheid. In 2006, Palestinians left the area because of violence, lack of opportunity, and need for a better life, leaving behind 1,014 Palestinian housing units in the Old City. According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, this number represents 41.9 percent of the housing units in the relevant area. Additionally, there are 1,829 structures no longer open for business. The report notes this number represents 76.6 percent of all the commercial establishments in the surveyed area.

This Palestinian exodus stems in part from the systematic use of violence by the Israeli military on the indigenous Palestinians of Hebron. Operations Brother’s Keeper and Protective Edge have both served as political opportunities to continue establish control of the West Bank while the world is focused on other dynamics of the conflict.

Operation Brother’s Keeper vs Operation Protective Edge: What the numbers show

Graphic, heart wrenching images of young Palestinian fathers weeping helplessly over their suffering daughters fill Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds around the world, and understandably are one of the world’s greatest humanitarian concerns. But as a result, other stories of Israel’s methodical march to claim the land has taken a back seat in the peace process. However, looking at the dynamics of military operations — particularly that of Hebron recently — demonstrates that the Israeli “security” narrative is really just a euphemism for annexation of Palestinian land.

A few months ago, during the height of Operation Brother’s Keeper, the Israeli military were deployed in the thousands to sweep across the northern area of Hebron in the State of Palestine, making violent home incursions into Palestinian homes breaking interior walls, scattering food from refrigerators across the floor. There is evidence of Israeli soldiers relieving themselves on the floor – some of which I reported on earlier during the military occupation. Israel’s military occupation forces continued to make thousands of unwarranted arrests and detentions – often simply pulling people off the streets because they happened to be outside smoking or joking with friends.

And while the operation caused an estimated 3 million dollars in property damage, and tensions were arguably higher than they are now — considering that almost 2,000 homes were being raided, hundreds more were arrested, homes demolished and the Israeli military forces faced a much more dangerous environment then than at present — ironically, their use of live ammunition was less then than it is now.

Soldiers continued to suppress Palestinian protests in the Hebron area with teargas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets during those months, with rather rare instances of live ammunition. This was also a time when Palestinian civil society were organizing the prisoner release demonstrations, much like they are doing now as they stand in support with the people of Gaza. When we start to look at the numbers, it just doesn’t add up.

Here is a look at the numbers of Palestinians injuries inflicted by the Israeli use of live ammunition in the Hebron area only, as reported by the local hospital to the Palestinian District Coordinating Office: January: 3; February: 9; March: 3; April: 20; May; 16, June: 6; July: 168; and August (through the 14th): 120. However, it is important to put these numbers into the social context of the West Bank and Gaza: Most protests — where the majority of violence occurs — usually take place on Fridays after the Call to Prayer in the afternoon. So, rather than understanding these as monthly totals, it could also be roughly interrupted as the aggregate of Friday protests.

Although there was a slight spike in May (probably a product of civil society’s call for the Palestinian prisoner release), it would seem that the numbers would have increased dramatically during Israel’s Operation Brothers Keeper which began roughly on June 12, when the kidnappings had occurred, and continued to increase until June 30, when the bodies were found.

Consider the Palestinian mood of resistance during Operation Brothers Keeper: at a time when the Israeli military arrested 381 Palestinians, searched 1,955 locations, including 64 charitable institutions and detained, harassed and interrogated thousands more in Hebron, there were only six instances of injuries related to live fire during protests and six deaths by gunfire.

Compare that to now, when the majority of Israel’s military resources have been consolidated around their incursion into Gaza, which started in the beginning of July, and brought an end to Operation Brother’s Keeper. Over a month and a half, during which the Israeli military reduced its military presence to normal levels, the number of instances reported of live ammunition skyrocketed to 168 in July and 120 through the first half of August.

Again, most of these injuries occur during Palestinian protests to the war in Gaza, amongst other issues. Most of these protests are organized in part by the non-violent resistance movement in Hebron. Protests in the first two weeks of August (where 120 Palestinians were injured by live ammunition) were organized in part by the Hebron Defense Committee and the Youth Against Settlements, two non-violent organizations in Hebron.

On August 1, 2014, the Palestinian march of unity and mourning with the innocent people languishing in Gaza quickly turned into a demonstration of Israel’s unrelenting policy of force. In the eyes of the Israeli military, any voice, even a non-violent one, speaking out against Israel’s belligerent military occupation must be squashed. (In some cases, Palestinians detained and arrested were credentialed members of the press, rather than activists). Israeli soldiers, perched high upon roofs, hidden behind terraces and water cisterns, poking their sites behind the safety of windows and walls, rained down an indiscriminate torrent of sound grenades and rubber bullets as the marchers chanted in solidarity with the 1,650 murdered in Gaza.

Maybe it was the years of living in Hebron under the heavy hand of military rule that had weathered their resolve. Maybe it was the stirring images of children’s limbs and weeping fathers holding their loved ones, or the reports of Israel targeting schools, hospitals, and UN facilities that strengthened their will on that day. But the crowd stood in defiance in the center of Bab al-Zawiyeh, waving their banners, singing their songs, and making their voice heard over constant explosions of the soldiers unloading their weapons upon the crowd, as the Israeli military turned a peaceful march into violent, chaotic scene.

As people refused to empty the streets, Israeli soldiers steadied their rifles from above the tall buildings, out of harm’s way, and peppered the crowed with live ammunition, wounding over 100 Palestinians.

A week later, a Palestinian man was shot in broad daylight during a march. The murder of 42-year-old Nader Mohamad Saady Idress by Israeli sniper fire while simply walking through a Palestinian protest on Friday, the 8th of August, is a tragedy. He leaves behind seven children, all under the age of 16, and a wife. His death represents a historical trend of Israelis taking advantage of political opportunities to expand the Israeli settlement enterprise and expand control of strategic economic resources.

Whether the directive to use live ammunition has been constructed with caution and analysis by the upper-echelons, and additional training has been strictly mandated across the brigade serving in Hebron, there has been a clear policy shift in the last month which authorized the use of Israeli snipers across Hebron against Palestinians, specifically at the intersection of H1 and H2.

Comparing numbers in a one year cycle in the West Bank alone, and excluding the war in Gaza, in all of 2013 the Israeli military reportedly injured 3,706 Palestinians, while in less than eight months of this year, that number has already been eclipsed: 3,736.

The startling figure is the frequency of deaths: last year at this time nine Palestinians were killed across the West Bank by Israeli forces. This year the number has almost quadrupled, to 34, according to a UN report (again keeping in mind that Israel’s major operations moved when Operation Brother’s Keeper concluded and left the area of Hebron and consolidated their resources around Gaza).

A person could argue that these numbers reflect the increase of danger to Israeli soldiers, however, this rebuttal has no legs — especially in the area of Bab Al-Zaweyah, the area where Nader Mohamad Saady Idress was killed. In this specific location, the Israeli military station themselves on the third and fourth floors of Palestinian buildings to maintain the topographical advantage, well out of the reach of teenagers throwing stones from the streets. Given the effectiveness of alternative means of suppression of Palestinian protests, such as tear gas, rubber bullets, and sound grenades (To be clear, all of these “alternative” weapons have a long history of fatalities connected to them.), along with well-timed coordination with the Palestinian Authority — whose job it is to maintain security in the H1 section of Hebron — there is little evidence to suggest that prior means to suppress Palestinian demonstrations should be exchanged for live fire.

Israel has formally addressed the aforementioned use of live fire with an internal investigation in the Or Commission report in response to the Second Intifada. The Israeli commission issued reforms on the use of live fire ammunition: “The committee determined that it should be made unequivocally clear that firing live ammunition, including sniper fire, is not a means to disperse crowds by the police. This is a means to be used only in special circumstances, such as when there is a real and immediate threat to life or in the rescue of hostages.”

All signs point to securing the settlements

After looking at the socio-economic and political dynamics at stake, as well as the additional considerations of Israel’s current military operations, there are several reasons to conclude that rise in Palestinian injuries in the West Bank, particularly now, represents Israel’s policy to establish facts on the ground through creating a social-political environment to expand the illegal settlements in an irreversible way — especially when examined against the reality of the Palestinian exodus from the Old City of Hebron.

As horrendous as the war is in Gaza, and how moving the images are, it is easy to lose track of Israel’s policy of settlement expansion. But a proper analysis — even when it seems shallow in the light of the suffering of the Palestinians in Khan Younis and elsewhere — must include the strategy and philosophy of the settlement movement and annexation of Palestinian lands, the very reason this conflict exists.