By Jonathan Ferziger
Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- From the ancient hilltop of Shiloh, the future for Jewish settlers in the West Bank is getting brighter as the prospect for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians is fading.
Fearing eviction five years ago as a part of a proposed peace deal, Shiloh's 1,200 residents are building new houses, synagogues and schools, including a 13-domed rabbinical seminary, or yeshiva. After barring new homes for years, the Israeli government doubled the number of permits for the West Bank this year, triggering U.S. criticism and Palestinian threats to break off talks.
``There were a lot of people who were very discouraged'' in Shiloh, said David Rubin, the town's former mayor, in his home overlooking the Palestinian community of Sinjil a mile away. ``That has changed, and I think we're moving forward again.''
That's because U.S. President George W. Bush's peace plan is withering. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who had signaled willingness to surrender most of the West Bank, was felled by corruption charges that forced him to announce his resignation. Uncertainty over the U.S. election in November and Palestinian infighting also has clouded the outlook. Increased activity in Shiloh and other settlements may delay things more.
``We're definitely not happy about the lost opportunities,'' said Yariv Oppenheimer, director-general of Peace Now, which advocates a halt to settlements. ``We're not expecting anything dramatic to happen in the peace process for the next few months.''
Six-Day War
Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan 41 years ago, when it also seized the Gaza Strip from Egypt and Syria's Golan Heights during the Six-Day War. Some 300,000 Jewish settlers and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank.
In August 2005, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon evicted 9,000 settlers from Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, as a goodwill gesture. Hamas -- an Islamic militant movement that the U.S. considers a terrorist group -- later took control of Gaza.
Sharon's action fueled concerns that Shiloh could be next. Jewish settlers arrived there 30 years ago and lived in beat-up trailers and makeshift cabins.
Today, its winding streets are flanked by two-story homes, many with jungle gyms and barbecue grills on tended lawns. Its main synagogue resembles the tent-like structure of the ancient Tabernacle, which stood nearby 30 centuries ago.
Commuting From Shiloh
Protected by Israeli soldiers, the town has become a bedroom community for employees of software companies an hour away in Herzliya and accounting firms in Tel Aviv, 30 miles (48 kilometers) west.
During the first five months of 2008, the Israeli Housing Ministry issued permits for 433 new units in West Bank settlements, up from 240 in that period a year ago, Peace Now says. Shiloh, about 25 miles north of Jerusalem, got 20 of those permits. Government-authorized bids for construction projects, the first step required to build housing in the West Bank, increased sixfold during that time to 417 units.
Palestinians and many Israelis decry the settlers as obstacles to peace. Shiloh residents see themselves as protectors of an ancient Jewish site who have been victimized by terrorists and unappreciated by other Israelis.
Rubin, a 51-year-old native New Yorker, moved to Shiloh 16 years ago and was mayor from 1998 to 1999. In 2001, he was driving on Route 60 near Shiloh with his then-3-year-old son, Ruby, when they were caught in a Palestinian ambush.
`Suffered Trauma'
His car riddled with 43 bullets and blood gushing from a thigh wound, Rubin drove to a nearby settlement and found that Ruby had been hit in the head by a bullet that missed his brain stem by a millimeter. It took two years of treatment for the boy to recover.
``Virtually everyone in Shiloh has suffered trauma,'' said Rubin. Today, he runs the Shiloh Israel Children's Fund, which supports kids hurt in Palestinian attacks and raised $222,000 last year, mostly from abroad.
In biblical times, the Tabernacle preceded the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem as the region's center of religious life. Jews 3,000 years ago came from across the Holy Land for three annual festivals, sacrificing goats, sheep and other animals at the great bronze altar outside the Tabernacle and burning spices on a golden altar within.
``Shiloh was the cultural heartland of the Jewish people,'' Rubin tells visitors on tours through shrub-covered hills being combed by archeologists for Tabernacle remnants. ``How could anyone give this up?''
Christian Tourists
That sentiment is shared by Christian supporters of Israel, who visit the Tabernacle ruins in armored buses. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, hosted Rubin on his ``700 Club'' program and praised Shiloh's ``brave modern pioneers settling the land of the Bible.''
Israeli and Palestinian leaders have been negotiating since a Bush-sponsored summit last November in Annapolis, Maryland, to end their 60-year-old conflict and establish a Palestinian state.
Time is running out. Bush, 62, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, 73, are nearing the January ends of their terms. Olmert, 62, plans to step down after his Kadima Party picks a replacement next week.
The two sides already have said they won't be able to resolve their disputed claims over Jerusalem by year-end. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been pushing them to at least formally state what issues they do and don't agree on. Settlements like Shiloh may be one of the latter.
``I've said it to my Israeli counterparts that I don't think the settlement activity is helpful to the process,'' Rice said Aug. 26 in Israel. ``Anything that undermines confidence between the parties ought to be avoided.''
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2 comments:
I was in the same bunk as a Jonathan Ferziger at Camp Morasha in 1973. I wonder if it's the same guy.
At the Bloomberg site is his email, write him
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