The West Bank

You often hear people speak about the West Bank, the land on the west side of the Jordan River, which the Bible calls Judea and Samaria. It is the area in Palestine where most of the Arabs (Palestinians) live. But until 1948 you could also find many Jews here. Then they were driven out by Jordan, which simply took the area for itself. You could ask: who does the West Bank really belong to?

In 1922, Palestine was designated as a homeland for the Jews. At first Transjordan, the land east of the Jordan River, was included too, but in September of that year the British excluded it. The West Bank lay west of the Jordan, so it was part of the Jewish homeland. The Jews had brought great prosperity to the land; there was work, education, and medical care. That also drew masses of Arabs and other immigrants, some of them from Europe. But the coming of the Jews was strongly opposed by the Arabs. And by the British, who "ruled" Palestine until 1948.

   Settlements   

From 1948 to 1967, Jordan was in charge of a "Jew-free" West Bank. That was a wonderful opportunity for the Palestinians to press for a state of their own. But nothing came of it. The attacks against Israel did continue. You start to wonder: do the Palestinians really want a state of their own? Or is their goal to destroy Israel?

► Construction of Kirjat Arba, 1973       image: National Library of Israël

After Israel won a great victory in 1967, Jews settled on the West Bank once again. Really, this is just as normal as Arabs living in Israel (where they make up 20% of the population). They built settlements there, for example in places where Jews had also lived in earlier years. One example is Kiryat Arba, next to Hebron, a city where Jews lived for centuries until they were driven out by the riots of 1929 and 1936. Later, people also built on land that lay unused. Sadly, some of the Jewish residents (who are called "settlers") are aggressive toward the Palestinians. Besides, these settlements cover only a few percent of the West Bank.

The Palestinians live there in scattered communities. That is sometimes difficult, because of the long distance to a hospital, for example. They also have to deal with many checkpoints.

   Security   

Israel has a clear military presence on the West Bank. That has everything to do with terrorism, against which Israel defends itself. The Arabs keep insisting that Israel must withdraw from "occupied territories." That was decided in 1967, but people forget that Israel also wants secure and recognized borders. The question remains: are the Palestinians willing to recognize the Jewish state? Only when that happens is there any point in negotiating about a "Palestinian state." So it is somewhat premature to claim that the West Bank is an area "occupied" by Israel. Almost the whole world says so. But a decision about this can only come together with a peace agreement. By the way, the Palestinians have turned down the West Bank several times (for example in 1937 and 1947). And the Jews are not granted it either.

   The West Bank Barrier   

After the turn of the century it becomes clearer and clearer: the Palestinian leadership is doing far too little to keep the terrorists in check. There are too many victims. That is why, in 2001, the Israeli government decides to put up a security barrier of steel and barbed wire on the border with the West Bank. In some dangerous places a wall is built.

► Part of the separation wall near Bethlehem

Construction begins in 2002. The whole fence is to be more than 700 km long, at a cost of 2 million dollars per kilometre. Just work that out! But what is the effect? The number of victims of shootings or suicide attacks drops by more than 90%. The cities are calmer. There are also far fewer Palestinian thefts of cars and farm vehicles. Israel also hopes that the Palestinians will finally get serious about fighting terrorism. That, after all, was promised in the Oslo Accords.

   Criticism   

The fence roughly follows Israel's border from before 1967 (the so-called "Green Line"). But in some places the fence goes around Israeli settlements, to protect the residents. You can see this clearly on the map below.

Of course there are many objections to the barrier, especially from the Palestinians. They do not really believe the fence is meant for Israel's security. They think it is rather a trick to take land away from the Palestinians. On top of that, it brings all kinds of problems for the people who live there. A farmer has a harder time reaching his field, and it is difficult for traffic and for people who work in Israel. There is some truth in that. South of Jerusalem, the barrier runs close to Bethlehem for about ten kilometres (see the map). That is a nuisance for the Palestinians, who constantly have to deal with Israeli army checkpoints.

Many countries, such as the United States, also criticize Israel for this barrier. But people forget that barriers like this exist in many places in the world. The United States itself has built fences along its border with Mexico to keep out migrants. And the island of Cyprus is made up of two parts that are separated by a zone 180 km long. Complete with barbed wire, minefields, and watchtowers...