Palestinian women at al-Kaws spring, a water source stolen from Nabi Saleh village by settlers, on Sunday, April 22, 2012. The Israeli government recommends when Jewish tourists visit this site, they come armed because of an “adjacent Arab village.” (Photo: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills)
When sojourning in the West Bank, the Israeli government recommends traveling armed “because the site[s are] adjacent to an Arab village,” said a travel guide produced by the Ministry of Defense and mailed to families of soldiers who have died. The publication was this year’s annual gift to the bereaved, and highlighted 40 travel destinations in occupied Palestine, including sites taken over by vigilante settlers. Haaretz reports:
The volume includes touring information about 365 sites, about 40 of which lie over the Green Line, a detail that goes unmentioned. One spring is at the Migron outpost, which has been the subject of major political controversy and is slated for relocation. Another, the Meir Spring near the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh, has been the subject of protests over limitations on Palestinian access to the site. The book features other West Bank sites that have been taken over by Israeli settlers.
Listings include advice to come armed to West Bank locales ‘because the site is adjacent to an Arab village.’ Another warning recommends that visitors come armed ‘because there are Bedouin encampments in the area.’
One of the sites listed, “Meir Spring” is actually al-Kaws spring. Once part of the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, the spring was taken over in 2009 and re-named by settlers from the illegal outpost of Halamish. This event then sparked protests in the village against the occupation, which have since become weekly demonstrations. Palestinians are barred by the military from visiting the spring, but over the weekend a group of 30 Palestinian women and activists from different villages were able to reach it, picnicking in protest of the confiscation. The Palestine Monitor writes:
There was a noticeable lack of presence of women from the village during the picnic… Manal [Tamimi] explained. One [reason] was that they were busy with preparing the village for the reception of 16 year old Wisam Tamimi, who was arrested and spent several months in an Israeli prison, while the other factor was that there was still a sense of fear of getting arrested by the Israeli army, especially so soon after the latest Friday protest in which the women were beaten with batons by the soldiers.
This initiative, the first of many to come, is led by a dynamic group of Palestinian women involved in the popular resistance and activism on the ground. It is a message directed simultaneously toward the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian male-dominated resistance actions, to demonstrate the creativity, efficacity and resilience of women driven efforts to challenge the occupation.
‘We plan on making this a habit,’ Salwa Deibas from the Women Affairs Center said. ‘We want to make this spring accessible to all the villagers overtime, and repeat this in other villages that had its resources stolen from the occupation.’
According to Manal Tamimi from Nabi Saleh, Palestinians have not been able to visit the spring for more than two years.
Bizarre. In “territories occupied”, armed citizens of the Occupying Power are belligerents. Valid military targets for armed resistance.
Belligerents have rights, but they must carry their arms openly and; according to the Hasbara, they must wear uniforms.
The reason the GC’s exist is to PREVENT this sort of thing happening, where the civilians of the Occupying Power are also protected by having them STAY OUT OF “territories occupied” so they DON’T become belligerents or illegally settle!