Letter from Bethlehem: more Illegal settlements and checkpoints

Bethlehem Separation Wall ICN/JS

Toine van Teeffelen, Author and Pax Christi partner at the Arab Education Institute in Bethlehem writes:

Of course people here in the West Bank are happy that the Gazans finally have some air now, although the problems of rebuilding are huge and no one knows how long the ceasefire will last. Gazans don't know whether they can have a moment of joy, or should mourn and cry given all the dead and a almost devastated society.

I write from the West Bank. Intercity traffic is becoming increasingly problematic. Many new blocks have appeared around towns-over a hundred. In Beit Jala, for example, one going west, and in Beit Sahour one going east. Traveling is not impossible, but it's getting harder and harder. As the first Palestinian prisoners are released as part of the Israel-Hamas deal, the Israeli army is making it difficult for people in villages to organize celebrations by checking cars one by one at checkpoints. Between Bethlehem and Ramallah, there is not only the so-called "container" checkpoint east of Jerusalem, but also a new one at the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.

The Allenby Bridge between the West Bank and Jordan, the only overseas route for Westbankers, is difficult to cross. Travelers who are willing to pay 100-150 euros extra for a so called faster "VIP" arrangement at the bridge discover that even in the VIP queue hundreds of travelers are stuck. A taxi driver yesterday asked 200 shekels (€54) for a ride of just a few kilometres from the Deir Hajla monastery near Jericho to the Brug. Leaving the West Bank is a multi-day project right now. Some travelers to Jordan spend the night at the Jericho mosque-that is, if the city is open at all (it was closed yesterday). A few days ago, when Greek Orthodox Christians celebrated their baptism and buses and cars went to the Jordan, many couldn't return because of a strict checkpoint and slept in their cars at night.

The travel restrictions can't be considered separate from Trump's inauguration as the new US president. Rumour has it that Trump has given the green light for further colonization of the West Bank in exchange for Israel's willingness to agree to a hostage deal. His new ambassador in Tel Aviv, Huckabee, and the incoming defence minister, Hegseth, are declared supporters of evangelical Zionism. (The latter even expressed his support a few years ago for the "miracle" of the reinstating of the Third Temple on the place where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is now standing.)

The very limited sanctions Biden imposed on violent colonists were overturned by Trump on the first day of his presidency. There are now daily reports that colonists are making the roads in the West Bank unsafe and throwing stones. Even some houses were set on fire. In Qalqilya in North West.

Will the settlement project on the West Bank be in full swing in the coming months? The world is less alert, now that the ceasefire gives political space not only the Palestinians but also Israel. Israeli reservists and servicemen, who are withdrawing from Gaza and Lebanon, are at least partially redistributed to the West Bank. The likely scenario is that travel within the West Bank will become more difficult in the near future and settlements in the countryside will now expand rapidly, facilitated by land acquisition, fragmentation of the Palestinian West Bank, and US back coverage.

LINK

Arab Education Centre: https://aeicenter.org/