Standoff at Rissan Hill: Resisting a new Israeli outpost

Soon tear gas grenades are raining down, launched by the Israeli soldiers stationed on the hill. The better equipped protestors strap on their gas masks, while for the others, the air is difficult to breathe. The soldiers fire rubber bullets. One person is slightly injured. The protestors temporarily withdraw.

Thirteen kilometres north-west of Ramallah, Rissan Hill, located at the intersection of the Palestinian villages of Ras Karkar, Kafr Nima and Kharbata, is a site of acute tension.

"Since September 2018, Israelis have established a hilltop outpost" in a strategic position meant to keep control of the Palestinian villages, says Jonathan Ulmo*, an Israeli activist opposed to his country's occupation and Daoud Achon*, a Palestinian resident of Kafr Nima.

"There were about a dozen settlers, they pitched tents for sleeping, they began planting things and widening a dirt road that connects the hill with Ras Karkar," he adds, pointing up to the outpost.

Since then, the 'jumuah' - the obligatory Friday prayer, has been carried out here every week to protest this land-grab. Opponents of the occupation from every walk of life join in. Daoud Achon believes this is imperative because "if we don't resist, they're bound to grab all our land even though we're the legal owners."

While all this land does indeed belong to the three above-named villages, it is in Zone C (totally under Israeli control for administrative and security purposes) as defined by the second Oslo agreement, signed in September 1995.

They've been doing that since the 90s, grabbing the land and cordoning off the Palestinian villages

"The Israeli army is duty-bound to come and protect the settlers who have decided to make their home here, even though their government has declared this activity to be illegal!" José Tavdyoglo an activist with the Israeli NGO, Ta'ayush, assures me.

Leaning against an olive tree and gazing at the horizon, Jonathan Ulmo describes this spot as "especially important" because it is at the intersection of the Jewish colonies Nehali'el, Talmon and Doley to the East and Modi'in Illit to the West.

Modi'in Illit colony is considered ultra-orthodox and with its population of 70,100 is the West Bank's largest. "The long-term project is to build a highway connecting those Eastern colonies with the one in the West. They've been doing that since the 90s, grabbing the land and cordoning off the Palestinian villages," he laments, with reference to the hundreds of outposts set up since then.

	Israeli forces throw tear gas during a protest against settlement construction on Palestinians field in the village of Ras Karkar, West Bank, November 16, 2018 [Anadolu]

According to Israeli legislation, the construction of a road necessarily entails the confiscation of a strip of land 100 metres across. The locals could well be deprived of "anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 dunams (100 to 200 hectares)" according to Jonathan Ulmo's estimate, creating an increasingly prison-like environment for the Palestinian villages, surrounded by walls and highways.

The Israeli authorities have made no official announcement concerning this new outpost, and José Yavdyoglo identifies a media issue as well:

"Insofar as the extension of an outpost and the building of a road starts as a mere hypothesis, the media have little to say about it. It is only when the work has begun that they deal with the subject, but by then it is too late. We have only to look at the way things have been done in the past to realise how they will proceed here in Ras Karkar."

For the past 70 years, international law has condemned Israel's colonisation, whether in the form of outposts or colonies

José Tavdyoglo is referring to the two outposts set up in the Jordan Valley in 2016 and denounced by the Israeli non-profit, B'tselem.

As Haitham Khalib, a native of the neighbouring township of Bil'in, sees it, "Our villages are gradually becoming prisons. It's one of the methods the settlers use to make us leave of our own accord."

A "sneaky" method says José Tavdyoyoglo, "since the state of Israel partly disclaims responsibility by half-heartedly declaring the settlers" actions illegal, all the while taking advantage of them to extend its hold over the occupied West Bank".

At Rissan Hill there are various forms of resistance: Public prayer, collective dancing and chanting: "This is Palestine!" and "This is our land, we won't leave it, you must leave!" as well as slinging rocks at the Israeli soldiers.

Asked about the violence involved in this stone-throwing, Yossef Karaja, a Fatah activist exclaims: "The rocks are harmless compared with their guns. If we had their weapons, we'd be happy to give them our stones..."

Over the last three months, several protesters have been arrested and injured by Israeli troops, including three photojournalists. "My 14 year-old son was jailed for a month at the beginning of October because he demonstrated. They let him go on condition he never came back here and after we had had to pay a lot of money" the boy's father, Albit Foudek* tells me.

In spite of everything, Ahmed Aras*, a 47 year-old father who lives in Kafr Nima, exclaims as he watches the young resisters confront the Israeli soldiers: "I tell my children they have to stay here, they mustn't go away! They've been taught to love their homeland even if it's dangerous, today struggle is the only way."

A tear gas grenade lands at their feet and the group scatter, setting fire to the ground-cover shrubs to produce smoke that helps dissipate the gas.    

For the past 70 years, international law has condemned Israel's colonisation, whether in the form of outposts (illegal under Israeli law) or colonies that are considered lawful.

The most recent reaffirmation of these principles is to be found in UN Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted on 23 December 2016.

It states "that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967... has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution".

This situation did not keep Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, just prior to International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, from urging "Israel and Palestine to restore the promise and viability of the two-state solution, premised on two states living side by side in peace".

Here in Rissan Valley, few people believe in the feasibility of that solution.

Opponents of the occupation from every walk of life join in

José Tavdyoglo stresses the thoughtlessness of Guterres' position: "The policy of colonisation and the unrestrained establishment of these outposts are the biggest threat to the creation of two separate states. The least the Israeli army could do would be to prevent them being set up here but they protect them and use them."

For Yossef Karaja, "the fact is that in spite of this mobilisation, we are very much alone here in Ras Karkar, Kafr Ni'Ma and Kharbata... the rest of the world no longer shares our struggle."

After playing cat and mouse with the Israeli soldiers for three hours, the protestors gradually go home. A teenager, his lower face covered with a scarf, says to me: "I live here, I have no choice but to resist if I want to live free."

And in parting, he shouts: "See you next Friday!"

*Names changed for security reasons


Gary Libot is a freelance photojournalist and journalist based in Palestine. 

Follow him on Twitter: @GaryLibot

This article was originally published by our partners at Orient XXI. 

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.