An Israeli settler's viewpoint

Partial view of Efrata

After five weeks of looking at Israeli settlements from the Palestinian and international law perspective, today we visited the Efrata settlement between Bethlehem and Hebron, and got the Israeli perspective from spokesman Bob Lang. Raised in New York State, he has lived in Israel for nearly 40 years and at one time was an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now he is head of the Religious Council.  (He was the same person who briefed my wife and me five years ago on our first visit to Israel/Palestine.)

Bob Lang leading EAs down to his house

Begun in the 1970s, Efrata ishome to 9,500 people, and with the lifting of the freeze on expansion last year, there are plans to build 1,000 more homes. Bob says its not a "settlement" but a normal community, with schools, stores, synagogues, and a library. He says it was built on "disputed"  rather than "occupied" public land that Israel took over from Jordan in 1967, and therefore is not illegal.  (International humanitarian law  defines occupation as exercising effective control, regardless of whether territory is disputed. Under the fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel ratified, moving population to occupied territory is illegal.)

Efrata spokesman Bob Lang

Efrata is in effect a segregated community because only Israeli citizen citizens can live there. "We are not an obstacle to peace," says Bob, recalling that settlers were removed from Gaza without bringing the parties any closer to peace. He says Efrata suffered two suicide bombers during the second Intifada,  and security forces arrested an intruder with a long knife last month. He says 75 Israeli cars were stoned by Palestinians in the past week. He condemns violence from whatever source.

Palestinian village of Ibdel Ibrahim

There is no separation barrier between Efrata and the adjacent Palestinian village of Ibdel Ibrahim, and Bob says both communities appealed to the Supreme Court to oppose its construction. They lost their appeals, but since funding is not available, no barrier has been erected. Bob says Efrata emergency vehicles serve the Palestinian village as well, and people from both communities help each other in case of an accident regardless of who it is. In Bob's words, "We believe that we are here to stay, as are the Palestinian villages around us. We have to find ways to live together."



On the road to Jerusalem, we saw that Israel had put an attractive pattern on the separation wall on the side viewed by settlers' cars, but were told that the other side, facing the Palestinian communities, is plain concrete.

Back in Jerusalem I was happy to see my Palestinian friend from Arlington, Fakhira Halloun, who was with a group of students from Pennsylvania. I had a chance to tell them about the work of EAPPI and to listen to a concert of an Israeli and Palestinian trio that had been scheduled for them.

Fakhira Halloun

Trio Taxism