|
KC Native Joe
Carr Working for Peace in the West Bank
October 8 - Settler Meeting
Today we met with an Israeli settler.
Ardie Geloman was born and raised in
Chicago, and immigrated to Israel in 1982. In 1985, he moved to Efrat
settlement between Bethlehem and Hebron on the West Bank. He believes that
this area is historically the heart of Jewish Israel, not Tel Aviv or Bier
Sheva. He said he doesn’t like the word settlement, and refers to Efrat as a
town. It has grown faster than most towns; only 200 families lived there
when he moved in, and now there are over 10,000 families. Efrat is one of
the largest settlement blocks in the West Bank, it stretches for 10 miles
and cuts a chunk out of the southern west bank. Ardie thinks it is unfair to
call this a settlement and not do the same for Palestinian towns that have
“sprung up” in recent years, even though many of these were founded by
Palestinians displaced from the building of Israeli settlements.
Ardie buys into the Israeli Government’s
elaborate narrative that justifies their occupation of the West Bank and the
continuous building of settlements. He argues that terrorism preceded the
Israeli occupation and all the nasty things that come along with it. The
occupation would end tomorrow, he says, if Palestinians reject terrorism and
accept the Jewish state. He claims that the Arab world has never accepted a
Jewish state in the Middle East. They attacked it in 1948, he said, and the
territory Israel gained from the war is therefore rightfully there’s. He
claims they were also attacked in 1967, when Israel invaded the territories
to “stop terrorism against the Jewish people”. Israel only maintained its
occupation because “the Arabs” have maintained their terror campaign he
said. This of course ignores the fact that suicide bombings are a brand new
phenomenon; the first one was in 1995 and there were only a couple each year
until Sharon escalated the occupation in 2000 and provoked the 2nd
Intifada.
Ardie made many comparisons to the US.
The European settlers had no rightful claim to the land, he pointed out,
unlike Israel which has both biblical and archeological evidence of their
former inhabitance. Europeans committed almost total genocide against the
natives, he said, unlike Israel who merely expelled them and continues to
let many stay. Yet no one would dare claim that the US has no right to exist
he complained, but I guess he hasn’t talked to American Indian activists or
their allies.
He claimed he is not an apologist or
spokesperson for the Israeli Government; on the contrary he criticizes it
regularly. For instance, he disagrees with their parliamentary electoral
system in which one votes for a party rather than a person, and he thinks
the British Mandate law allowing administrative detentions is outdated and
oppressive. He also thinks Israel should have a constitution, rather than a
conglomeration of Ottoman, British, Jewish, and modern laws. He believes
this would solve Israel’s problem of its “activist” supreme court that rules
in such a way to create laws.
What was scary about Ardie was not that
he was a right-wing fanatic, but that he was a rational, loving human being,
who was simply committed to his narrative. He even referred to himself as a
Jewish peacemaker, and joked that he would wear a blue hat (like our red
ones). For work, he is a fundraiser for an international Jewish women’s
organization that gives money to Jewish families living under the poverty
line. A noble cause, we all agreed.
He believes that there can be peace
between Israelis and “the Arabs”, as soon as the Palestinians overthrow
their “corrupt and terrorist government”, recognize Israel, and agree to
negotiate for a state. He doesn’t see how Israel has systematically built
settlements in such a way as to make a viable Palestinian state on the West
Bank a geographic impossibility; he thinks a couple smart people could sit
down and figure out a workable solution. He doesn’t believe the Israeli
population opposes a Palestinian state per se, they just don’t trust Arafat
(a “serial terrorist” he called him) and will never allow a state in which
he has power. However, he said repeatedly that the Palestinian state must be
democratic, and we didn’t quite understand how it can be democratic if
Israel has veto power over the leader they choose.
All in all, it was the most stressful
meeting of the delegation. We ended quickly so that he could eat Shabot
(dinner on the Sabbath) with his family, and we could catch a bus back to
Jerusalem. In the van on the way to the bus stop he said he longs for the
day that he can once again go to the market in Hebron without being looked
at with hatred. “Why don’t people want peace?” he asked. “Why don’t
governments let them have it?” I muttered under my breath.
Ardie’s son mentioned that he hopes he
can some day play soccer with the Palestinians as he did before the first
Intifada, and I remembered our conversation with the 11 year old Palestinian
boy Ma’an, and his hope to one day play soccer with “good Israelis” (those
who don’t hate Palestinians). It is hard for me to see how Ardie could get
past his lies and fear, but “Ultimately,” Ardie said “people of goodwill
will get together and solve the problem”. I only hope that he is right.
|
