The Jewish West Bank

In an effort to better to understand the motivations and opinions of "settlers," or Israelis living in the West Bank, Kivunim took a day-trip in the rainy mountains of Judea and Samaria. These hills are mostly uninhabited, and provide a beautiful landscape. As opposed to Jerusalem, here Palestinians can build freely, and Israeli settlements halt construction frequently.We began in Psagot, a settlement not far from Jerusalem, where we watched a film that defended the Biblical ties of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

Pictures of West Bank Settlements

After Psagot we went to Shilo, an area with an extensive archaeological site because the Biblical city of Shilo was the home of the Mishkan, or mobile tabernacle that housed the Jewish covenant. After a tour of the archaeology, we had lunch and I browsed through a book written by a past mayor, basically describing the "protocols of the elders of zion" conspiracy, just about Muslims instead of Jews. Frightening that people think that way.





Then we went to Barkan, a settlement with a lookout of Tel Aviv. Residents of this area discussed the need for Jewish settlement in the West Bank so as to protect the security of the state. Many of the residents are secular, which could suggest that they're living there not out of ideological reasons, but out of economic ones. The residents also discussed the relationship with local Arab communities. There's an industrial area near Barkan where Arabs are hired and get 3x as much money as elsewhere, so they benefit from the Israeli Labor Laws.





This is from the industrial sector, at a plastics factory...


We ended in Ariel, the largets settlement in the West Bank, located centrally for security as well. The population is currently twenty thousand, and as we took a tour, we were introduced to the enormous college-town, as well as the theater, that was in the news last fall during a boycott of the West Bank, by Israeli's. Listen to our guide defend his home.



For most of the trip I struggled to find a balance between the views I had heard during my visit to East Jerusalem, and the opinions of these settlers. I found equilibrium while at Barkan, recognizing both the need for defense and the decent relations with Arab towns. However, I lost it again in Ariel because the guide's advocacy turned me off.