Tackling violent settlers in the West Bank, together

Like every morning, there was tension.

It rang in the air like static. There was so much going on recently that only a fool would venture into the mountains without warning.

The sun was already high, radiating heat from the silent land. Animal bells were heard, men and boys whistled and called dogs.

On top of the hill opposite the Jewish settlement of Rotem. Nearby was an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) position. There is immigration protection.

Anyone looking down would have seen a gathering at Ahmad Daraghme’s home: a Palestinian shepherd; pro-Israel activists; foreign journalists and their camera.

Talking to Ahmad was a 71-year-old Jewish man who used to accompany the shepherd in the hills, despite violence and torture.

A man, it seems to me, will not back down from any fight he believes is right. “If I am sure that my views are true, then I am ready to fight for my beliefs. Is it forced? That’s right,” said Gil Alexander.

He belongs to the Jordan Valley Activists, an Israeli group dedicated to the protection of the Palestinians. They accompany the shepherds to and from the pastures.

Maybe the settlers will appear near al-Farisiyah this morning, maybe not. The abuses have been rampant since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking 251 hostages.

The settler violence that had been going on for years in the West Bank escalated, aimed, Palestinians believe, at expelling them from the country.

According to OCHA – the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs – there have been more than 1,000 attacks by settlers against Palestinians since Octoberwith at least 1,390 people – including 660 children – homeless.

Deadly violence often accompanies assault. OCHA recorded 107 resulting in Palestinian deaths and injuries, 859 caused damage to Palestinian property.

Thousands of Palestinian trees and saplings have been destroyed. Farmers like Ahmad describe how access to water for families, crops and herds is often closed or restricted.

International attention is focused on Gaza, but the level of violence among the country’s residents has prompted the US, the EU and Britain to impose sanctions on other settler leaders and, for the first time, against all outposts outposts.

Activists in the Jordan Valley understand that the most important thing is to stay calm. No matter how annoying it is.

Gil Alexander knows what the residents can do, even if no resistance is offered. He has the scars to prove it. But this morning he is happy.

He says: “A day like this makes me happy. If we can prevent the attack, that makes me satisfied.”

Gil has become a close friend of Ahmad Daraghme, who has been abused many times. Ahmad accuses the Israeli army and police of taking the side of the migrants, a claim supported by numerous reports from Israeli and Palestinian human rights activists.

Pointing to the mountains around him, down the highway, Ahmad says: “The problem is…all this land is not allowed to us. This hill is forbidden, everything is forbidden. This situation is complicated: it doesn’t matter if we have a permit or not, they always cause us problems.”

We climbed the hills, over rocks and ravines, until the valley opened up below us. The land was an auburn color, covered with dried stalks of freshly cut corn, good fodder for hungry sheep.

Ahmad was in front of us riding his donkey, leading the herd to pasture, as his ancestors had done for generations.

The mountain deer flapped its hot fur and disappeared. The image was in the teacher’s eden. It is actually a painful battlefield.

Last December, Gil Alexander and another activist were with Ahmad when the settlers attacked at night. They were badly beaten and sprayed with pepper.

In an incident elsewhere in the village, Gil fell to the ground trying to prevent a settler from dispersing the Palestinian herd.

He has faced endless threats. The fact that he is a religious Jew angers the residents, who believe that the West Bank – the ancient lands of Judea and Samaria – are Jewish.

Gil is the son of French Jews and immigrated to Israel when he was 20 years old. His father fought in the French Resistance against the Nazis. Gil says: “I feel like a representative of Judaism that cares for people.” “They are few today in Israel.”

Palestinians like Ahmad Daraghme have lived under suspicion since Israel conquered the area in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Since then more than 160 settlements have been built in the Occupied Territories – including East Jerusalem – with approximately 700,000 Jewish residents. There are approximately three million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

For Gil Alexander, who describes himself as a Zionist, the territory of Israel should end at the 1967 borders. Any settlements in the West Bank should only exist with Palestinian consent.

“We can love this land without being the owners, the sole owners of the land… In order not to keep holding the local people by force, we must give a part of this land in the hope that we will be able to get there freely later.”

Gil says that this is the only way to avoid “the secular religious conflict that has existed for 100 years, since Zionism existed, between the Palestinian people and the Jews”.

Although Gil believes that “nothing is impossible” such a view seems far removed from the bitter politics of today.

Israel now has the most right-wing government in its history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depends on the support of pro-immigrant groups to keep his ruling coalition alive.

Recently Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, spoke of “massive steps” to expand the work of solving problems with government funding.

Three weeks ago the government declared almost 3,000 hectares of the Jordan Valley as “regional land” – the largest amount in three decades.

It comes on top of a similar announcement of nearly 2,000 hectares in the area in March.

The highest court of the UN – the International Court of Justice – described Israel’s occupation as “de-facto annexation” and violating the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which condemns “racial discrimination and racism”.

Ahmad Daraghme knows how to work on the ground.

Talking about his old pastures, he says: “All these places, all these places, we are not allowed to reach them. Some have been planted with olive trees. Some became reserved areas…They want us to leave this place. They want to be here. They don’t want us here.”

The political momentum is among the residents.

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, recently voted by a majority of 68 to nine to reject a Palestinian state in the West Bank on the grounds that “it would pose an existential threat to the Government of Israel and its citizens, further the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region”.

Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel’s security control of the West Bank is essential to the country’s security.

For someone like Shai Rosengarten, people like the Jordanian Valley Activists are “radicals” who should not be allowed in the West Bank.

He says “the settlements in Israel are very important, because we think that in Israel, we have to connect with our heritage”.

Coincidentally, like Gil he comes from Holocaust survivors.

His grandfather came to Israel from Poland in the post-war years.

Shai is the leader of the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu that supports these settlements. He says, settler violence is only done by a few people. He says what he calls “hardline” human rights activists are the problem.

“We see them as strong. And we see their work as interfering with military work. So this is very bad for the area.”

I asked Shai what he meant by bad for the arrivals?

“No, I actually mean that they interfere with military operations. Of course, they try to abuse the settlers, but they also try to abuse the soldiers. And we have many examples of those kinds of activities that come in front of Israeli soldiers, and just, you know, put their camera in front of their face.

“And you know, this is very damaging and very bad for the Israeli soldiers who need to focus on what’s going on.”

Gil strongly rejects such portrayals and says he defends true Jewish values.

He is part of the minority in Israel that currently has little political influence. But standing in the shade of an Acacia tree, with Ahmad gathering sheep and goats to keep for the night, Gil Alexander insisted there was hope for a peaceful end to a conflict he believed had no military solution.

“There is nothing we can do… War, obviously, will not give us anything. From battle to battle, we become weaker and weaker… Even our strength has limits.”

With additional reporting by Haneen Abdeen.