West Bank: Decade of Occupation

"We are not going to leave this place. We will stay here forever in the middle of Samaria. There is no power in the world that can force us out."

--Israeli settler on the West Bank

Ten years ago this week, the Six-Day War erupted. In its most extraordinary military triumph, the Israeli army reunited the divided Holy City of Jerusalem, decisively defeated the combined forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, and occupied huge swatches of Arab land--the Sinai, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

For all the Arabs in the occupied territories--but perhaps particularly for the 650,000 Palestinians on the West Bank--the decade since the '67 war has been a time of frustration, humiliation and resentment. Israeli troops still maintain law-and-order--often with brusque insensitivity--in their 2,270-sq.-mi. homeland of rolling hills and desert.

In many ways the occupation is as benevolent as an occupation can be. West Bank Arabs hold free municipal elections, their newspapers--although censored--are probably allowed more latitude than those in any Arab state, and their standard of living surpasses that of their cousins in Egypt, Syria or Lebanon. Yet even West Bankers who remember that they were also second-class citizens under Jordanian rule between 1948 and 1967 remain bitterly opposed to their Israeli overlords. Says the Arab mayor of Nablus, Bassam Shaka'a: "If I could communicate with the world, I would shout 'We want our freedom! We want to feel like human beings! We want to live like other people!' "

Spit of Land. The West Bank Arabs fear that a decade of occupation could turn into permanent possession and continued encroachment by Jewish settlers. Since 1967, 45 communities (nine of them Jerusalem suburbs built on Arab land) have been created on the West Bank--in violation of the Geneva Convention of 1949, which states that an "occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." To West Bankers, the settlements are not only permanent, but they are also designed to surround and isolate the major Arab centers of population. Example: in the Latrun finger, a spit of land that juts out between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Arab villages of Beit Nuba, Emmous and Yalu, with all their 1,800 houses, were bulldozed to the ground. East of the present Jerusalem-Nablus road, meanwhile, the Israelis are linking their major settlements overlooking the Jordan Valley with a new two-lane highway called the Allon Road (named for Israel's present Foreign Minister). The road clearly defines the West Bank areas that Israel intends to keep.

New Facts. The prospect of Likud Leader Menachem Begin as Israel's next Premier further discourages the Palestinians. Since Begin has referred to the West Bank as a "liberated" (rather than "occupied") territory, it is likely that he will approve of more Israeli settlements there if he becomes Premier. Shortly after Likud won last month's election, Begin made a ceremonial visit to Kaddum, a West Bank development sponsored by nationalist zealots of Gush Emunim (group of the faithful) that had never been approved by the Labor government. The devoutly religious members of Gush Emunim, most of whom supported Likud in the election, believe that all of ancient Samaria and Judea (meaning the entire West Bank) is part of Eretz Israel, and they intend to create "new facts" for the Jewish state by building even more new communities there. Says Binyamin Katzover, a founder of the Kaddum settlement: "In my life and the life of our people there have been three turning points: the establishment of the state of Israel, the Six-Day War, and now the assumption of power by nationalists. We represent the people. Most do not want to give back any piece of Judea and Samaria." In answer, Nablus' Mayor Shaka'a warns: "Each settlement creates more hatred. If Begin makes more new settlements, there will be more hatred still."

So far there has been no trouble involving Jews and Arabs at Kaddum, an 18-month-old settlement of 200 Israelis near Nablus that overlooks two Palestinian villages, Git and Kaffar Kaddum. There is little contact between the communities. Living inside a guarded, wire-fenced military compound, the settlers are completely isolated from their neighbors. Says Ze'ev Saffer, who runs Kaddum's drugstore: "We do not buy supplies from them because they want everything in cash and are not ready to give us credit." The Arabs, for their part, are hostile and suspicious. "They are not farmers," one told TIME Correspondent David Halevy, who visited Kaddum last week. "They are soldiers or civilians who work for the army."

In fact, the men of Kaddum are mostly professionals--doctors, engineers, economists, computer technicians and businessmen--many of whom commute to work in Tel Aviv, 30 minutes away by car. At Kaddum, these self-styled pioneers have paved roads, set up a main square called gloriously "Return of a Nation Square" in Hebrew, planted flowers, built a school, a synagogue, a mikveh (ritual bath), and three workshops that produce income from metalworking, ceramics and sewing. In all there are 37 families, with 100 children. Reported Halevy: "Their eyes shine when they talk about the Promised Land: 'It is written in the ancient holy books that the first temple will rise and fall, that the second temple will rise and collapse, but the third temple, whose birth will come in pain and struggle, will survive forever. We are building the third temple.' "

To the Gush Emunim pioneers, Kaddum is only the beginning: eventually they hope to build a new Jewish city in the middle of ancient Samaria. More small communities like Kaddum are in the planning stage. "We are preparing for ten new settlements in the next six months," says Yosef Arziel, a leader of the movement. Another Gush Emunim spokesman, Chanan Porot, insists that the West Bank is big enough to support both Jews and Arabs. But, he adds, "the policy toward the Arabs should be changed. Either they must accept full Israeli citizenship with all rights and duties or leave the country."

Real Face. Many Israelis see a spirit of adventurous heroism in the attitude of the illegal settlers. West Bank Arabs see only arrogance and contempt for their rights--and they fear that things will grow worse for them under a Likud government. Says Mayor Elias Freij of Bethlehem: "With the election of Begin, the whole world can see the real face of Israel. It is expansionist, and it wants [all the West Bank] even though it doesn't belong to the Jews."

The Arabs have a number of complaints. During the ten years of occupation, West Bankers say, they have consistently been subjected to mass arrests for security violations, interrogation under torture, sudden deportation, communal punishment for individual offenses (TIME, May 30). Even those who have not run afoul of Israeli military discipline chafe under a regime they find capricious and humiliating. Complains Tayseer Kanaan, who was Jerusalem's chief judge in the time of Jordanian rule: "Even my tax and phone bills are in Hebrew. It makes me feel illiterate; I have to go to someone else to find out what they are for."

Although living standards have risen sharply on the West Bank, Arab leaders resent the economic bonds that tie them closer and closer to Israel. Nearly 40,000 West Bankers now commute to jobs in Israel--at wages one-fifth lower than comparable Israeli pay. Israel has become the West Bank's principal trading partner and the West Bank is now Israel's principal export market after the U.S. Meanwhile, the Jewish settlements have built a thriving agribusiness ($27 million last year) in competition with Arab farmers.

The occupation government collects West Bank taxes and turns back much of the money to Arab communities. But negotiations have to be conducted in Hebrew, with Israeli law as the binding covenant. Rather than accept such conditions, several West Bank towns, including Nablus and Hebron, have refused to accept further aid. The Arab world has rewarded their defiance by "adopting" West Bank municipalities. Hebron has been taken under the wing of Saudi Arabia's holy city of Medina, which is underwriting a $15 million gift. Mayor Freij of Bethlehem, which was adopted by Abu Dhabi, returned last month from a visit to that oil-rich Persian Gulf sheikdom with pledges of $600,000 now and $10 million later to develop his town's tourist business.

Some Arab complaints against the occupation are obviously exaggerated. The Israelis, for instance, have provided far more classrooms and hospital facilities than the Arabs will admit. Some of the charges--notably, the extent of torture carried out under interrogation in Israeli prisons--cannot be proved. Individual Arabs have given vivid testimony of maltreatment. "I can assure you we don't have torture," answers Brigadier General David Hagoel, the West Bank military governor. "I am against torture completely." Hagoel admitted to TIME Correspondent Don Neff that occupation forces sometimes surreptitiously bury bodies of Palestinian terrorists. "Funerals can cause great demonstrations that go on for days," he said.

Likud leaders insist that the occupation under a new government will not become as anti-Arab as West Bankers fear. Ezer Weizman, who as Likud's probable choice for Defense Minister would become the new overseer, may even withdraw the army occupation force and replace it with border police. Says Weizman: "I think we should start changing our Arab and military government policies. If I discover misuse of power, humiliation on purpose, or mishandling of the civilian population, heads will be chopped off."

The shape of Likud's occupation policies--and the shape of the new government itself--awaits the lengthy consultations that will start this week when Begin formally accepts President Ephraim Katzir's invitation to form a new government. Begin picked up more political support last week: retired Major General Ariel Sharon, a hard-line nationalist, announced that the two Knesset members of his Shlomzion party would support the new government.

Solution Wanted. But Begin is more interested in wooing Archaeologist-General Yigael Yadin's Democratic Movement for Change, which won 15 seats at the expense of the Labor alignment. Yadin, who wants the Foreign Minister's portfolio that Begin offered to Moshe Dayan (TIME, June 6), last week stressed that serious ideological differences still separate the D.M.C. and Likud: "They say there should be Israeli sovereignty between the sea and the River Jordan, and we say there should be territorial compromise for peace. The question is: What will happen within the next year or two?" On the West Bank, Arabs are wondering the same thing. "We want a solution, either by peace or war," says Mayor Mohammed Mousa Ammer of tiny Dura, near Hebron. "Extremism will only hasten war."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.