By Adam Hanieh
HEBRON — Tension was high as I entered the city centre. Someone warned me that there had been more "problems"; I soon saw what they meant. Ahead Palestinian youth clutched rocks, while the soldiers faced them with machine-guns and tear gas.
An uneasy truce had descended because only two hours earlier 23 Palestinians had been shot and taken to hospital. On June 15, more than 30 Palestinians had been shot in protests that lasted for six hours. As we walked past the soldiers, we heard further shots in another part of town.
The protests followed a June 10 decision by the US Congress to recognise Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. Congress also voted to provide US$100 million to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Both these decisions have been strongly condemned by Palestinians. Until now most countries, including the US, have not recognised the 1967 Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem.
Palestinian Authority higher education minister Hanan Ashrawi said, "The resolution puts a big nail in the coffin of the peace process and the credibility of the US as a peace broker".
Similar protests have occurred since the signing of the Hebron agreement earlier this year. On April 8, two Israeli settlers unloaded their army-issued machine-guns into a group of Palestinians, killing one and wounding three others. This triggered six days of protests along the partition line that separates Palestinian and Israeli Hebron, leaving two more Palestinians dead and more than 160 injured.
Despite the rhetoric that accompanied the signing of the Hebron accord, the reality is very clear: 400 Israeli settlers occupy 20% of the city in which 100,000 Palestinians live.
The settler compound is surrounded by barbed wire, high fences and Israeli flags. The settlers are mostly members of the extreme right-wing Gush Emunim movement, which regularly organises protests claiming that all of Hebron belongs to Israel.
In September 1988, a Gush Emunim leader, Rabbi Levinger, who shot and killed a Palestinian standing outside his shop, was sentenced to 14 weeks in prison. In 1994, another settler, Baruch Goldstein, entered the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron with three automatic weapons and massacred 30 worshippers.
The official Israeli investigation found that Israeli soldiers were under order never to fire at a settler, even if they were shooting Palestinians with an "intent to kill". The Israeli government imposed a curfew on the Palestinian population, closed 20 Palestinian shops and divided the mosque in two, with the larger half given exclusively to the Israelis.
The mosque is supposed to be under Palestinian control, but Israeli troops surround it and the Israeli flag flies from its peak. Arab residents entering the mosque must undergo two body searches, while Israeli settlers may enter with their automatic weapons. I even saw a Muslim worshipper asking an Israeli soldier for permission to say "Allahu Akbar" while he was praying!
Hebron itself, like all of the West Bank, is divided into three areas: A, B and C. In Area A, the Palestinian Authority has limited self-rule except for security; in Area B there is joint control by Israel and Palestinians; and Area C remains exclusively under Israeli control. Currently 70% of the West Bank and 40% of the Gaza strip are considered Area C.
The limited nature of Palestinian control is responsible for a strong shift away from support for the peace process. A recent poll conducted in the Palestinian-controlled towns of Hebron, Ramallah and Bethlehem revealed that 50% opposed negotiations with Israel and 48% were in favour of suicide operations.
The reasons for these sentiments become clear after travelling through the West Bank. Israeli settlement is continuing at a rapid rate, and the Israeli government has constructed a major road system which connects the settlements and can be used to prevent Palestinians moving between areas.
In Hebron, the Israeli army can easily prevent movement in and out of the city and even between its two sides. Despite claims to the contrary, the Israeli army can enter Area A for "security reasons". As I drove through Area A in Hebron, I saw Israeli army trucks passing unhindered.