Les extrémistes juifs veulent de nouvelles colonies

PATRICK SAINT-PAUL envoyé spécial à Efrat, Le Figaro, 01710707. POSTÉ devant une barrière jaune, qui barre la route, un groupe de soldats israéliens interdit l'accès à la colline 1 013. « Ceci est une zone militaire fermée », lancent-ils à travers leurs mégaphones, sans conviction. Il en faudrait davantage pour décourager les centaines d'Israéliens, qui ont décidé d'ériger une nouvelle colonie au sommet de la colline, face au village palestinien de Halhoul, dans le sud de la Cisjordanie. Des organisations d'extrême droite ont lancé hier une offensive concertée pour créer quatre nouvelles colonies en Cisjordanie, espérant ainsi accentuer leur mainmise sur ce territoire occupé par Israël depuis 1967.

Drapeaux orange et bouteilles d'eau

Voitures et autocars déchargent leurs passagers au pied de la colline 1013, sous le regard médusé de quelques Palestiniens ayant osé venir assister à l'événement. Équipés de leurs « lulav », des feuilles de palmier utilisées pour construire des cabanes à l'occasion de la fête juive de Soukkot (« Tabernacles »), les colons contournent les militaires et gravissent la colline. Certains sont armés de leurs fusils d'assaut M 16, pour se protéger contre d'improbables attaques palestiniennes. Arrivés au sommet, ils construisent des synagogues improvisées avec des pierres et des cabanes de Soukkot, avant de prier et de lire des passages de la Torah.

Inquiet de la timide reprise des négociations de paix entre le premier ministre israélien, Ehoud Olmert, et le président palestinien, Mahmoud Abbas, les colons ont décidé de relancer la construction de colonies, pour empêcher des évacuations de Territoires occupés qui accompagneraient la création d'un État palestinien. « Oslo a été une catastrophe, affirme Nathan Shwartz, un colon religieux venu de l'implantation de Karme Tzur. Olmert est prêt à diviser Eretz Israël (le Grand Israël de la Bible). Il est prêt à diviser Jérusalem. Si nous laissons faire cela, les terroristes du Hamas s'empareront de Jérusalem et s'y installeront avec leurs roquettes Qassam. Nous devons les empêcher. C'est une question de vie ou de mort pour nous. »

Des camionnettes équipées de haut-parleurs et de drapeaux orange, la couleur des colons évacués de la bande de Gaza en 2005, sillonnent les routes. « Montez partout. Cette terre est à nous. Des milliers de gens sont avec nous, venus des quatre coins du pays, pour défendre leur patrie, Eretz Israël », lancent les haut-parleurs entre deux chansons populaires. Dans la colonie d'Efrat, les quelque 600 militants qui ont lancé l'assaut de la colline de Givat Ha Eitam sont emmenés par Nadia Mattar, l'égérie du mouvement antiretrait de la bande de Gaza, et par Itamar Ben Gvir, l'un des chefs du mouvement des colons d'extrême droite, déjà incarcéré à plusieurs reprises. Équipés de drapeaux orange et de bouteilles d'eau, les jeunes colons ont l'intention de camper sur place.

Les habitants d'Efrat espèrent pouvoir mettre la main sur la colline de Ha Eitam, que le tracé de la barrière de séparation israélienne a placé du côté palestinien, pour s'agrandir. « Nous avons besoin de cette colline pour notre expansion naturelle, explique le rabbin Ryskin d'Efrat. Nous combattons les fondamentalistes palestiniens. » Où les Palestiniens établiront-ils leur État, si les colonies s'étendent sans limites ? « Là où nous ne sommes pas. Il leur restera bien assez de place », juge le rabbin.

Les colons s'attendent à être délogés sous le couvert de la nuit par l'armée de ces implantations, qui sont illégales même au regard du droit israélien. Pourtant, les organisateurs considèrent leur opération comme un succès. « C'est un message pour le peuple, visant à contrer la politique destructrice du gouvernement. Des milliers de personnes l'ont entendu », se réjouit Datya Itzhaki, l'une des dirigeantes du mouvement, évacuée de Gaza en 2005.

Wadi Rahul: Second Settlement Attempt

International Solidarity Movement. July 25th, 2007. Palestinians, International Human Rights Workers and Israelis recently went to the village of Wadi Rahul, which is near Bethlehem, to document a number of Israeli settlers that intended to initiate a new illegal settlement on a hill beyond the Efrata Settlement on Palestinian land.

It is understood that this was their second attempt and on this occasion they have sought to assemble a large number of people through the internet, inviting people throughout Israel and the settlements. We received information of the hour and the place of where they would leave, on foot since the police organized numerous “check-points” to intercept them. However the Settlers had sufficient information to avoid these meaningless preventative measures and were able to access the land.

Towards 16:30 we divided into two groups to be able to observe from two farmers homes which hill the Settlers wished to occupy. It is understood that one of the farmers had been notified by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) not to leave his property after 5pm.

During the previous evening, the army and the police had implemented a gate along the road the Settlers wished to take. During the day this particular road had been filled with police and military vehicles, the number of which increased significantly during the build up to the event.

Towards five in the afternoon, it was possible to see hundreds of Settlers begin marching towards the land they wished to occupy. They obviously hadn’t been dissuaded by the checkpoints or gates and had found suitable alternative routes to enable them to get to their chosen site.

Shortly after, they appeared in a cultivated field, still walking. They formed a row and passed across a field in the direction of the hill they wished to occupy. They appeared to be walking in the middle of the fields to avoid interception by the police or the army.

In the other location where activists were based to help protect Palestinians, it was also reported that Settlers had thrown rocks at the property and there had been an attempt to detain someone, however they were later released without harm.

Originally we maintained our observation of events from the roof of the Palestinian home, however we moved to the outside of the house close to where the Settlers were passing to ensure they didn’t act unnecessarily aggressive.

Whilst the Settlers trespassed onto Palestinian land, a few Settlers attempted to converse with the Palestinians however this was very much limited to stating that the Palestinains should leave as, “it is not their land”. A further Settler claimed that the land had been given to the Jews by God.

The march continued toward the hill, where the police and the army were expecting them. At this point the Settlers scattered in many directions and the security forces were incapable of preventing the Settlers from passing around them to continue their march. It is worth noting that the soldiers made little effort to use the “crowd control” devices they tend to employ at Bil’in, on their own people. ie. sound grenades or tear gas.

Among the participants there were people with backpacks and what appeared to be camping equipment, indicating the Settlers were likely to remain in place. It’s difficult to determine the exact number of Settlers that participated in this event due to the numbers being so dispersed across the hills, however it is estimated there were approximately 600 Settlers.

The police managed to stop the march from passing before it arrived at the second hill which was on slightly higher ground. When an activist approached to see what was happening, it could be seen that many of the Settlers were beginning to return and had begun to leave the area.

A number of buses appeared to remove the demonstrators from the land however many chose to leave on foot.

Later HRWs returned to the house with the Palestinians, and we remained there to be able to cover possible aggressions later that evening by any remaining Settlers.

Until well into the night, until at least 1am, many bus trips were made to remove the remaining Settlers from the area. There was a large military presence maintained and a significant attempt to remove determined Settlers who wished to stay on the Palestinian land.

There were many groups of people patrolling the area through the night, causing great anxiety among the Palestinians (in the house we were in, all the family watched from the balcony, and they only felt comfortable enough to sleep when three more internationals arrived.)

Throughout the night, soldiers, Settlers and Police continued to move throughout the surrounding fields, sometimes using flares to determine positions of each other and settlers.

Even in the morning it was still possible to see Settlers remaining in the fields from the previous day.