An Olive Tree In Palestine

An Olive Tree in Palestine Christopher Haynes Dr Ilan Zvi Baron Poli 349 13/8/09

An Olive Tree in Palestine A Review of Reporting from Ramallah: an Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land, by Amira Hass. 2003, Semiotext(e), Los Angeles and New York. As Jewish settlements in the West Bank grow, their expansion (so-called “natural growth”) necessitates the building of roads and highways, increased security measures and the uprooting of trees. In a land that experienced two intifadas, military occupation and terror, the felling of a few olive trees seems a trite diversion. Yet the trees are more than vegetation. They are a disappearing source of livelihood for Palestinians who work the land. And they are symbols of the hopes of Palestinians for peace in their lifetimes. The growth of settlements is just one of many themes Amira Hass touches on in Reporting from Ramallah: an Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land. Amira Hass is a journalist for Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. Her credentials are unimpeachable. She was born in Jerusalem to Holocaust survivors, and has won several awards for human rights in journalism. (1) Her book is a collection of her articles on life for Palestinians in the West Bank. Her intent is to give Israelis an eyeful of life under Israeli occupation and make them understand its injustices. Ms Hass uses many different examples of specific people, families and communities intended to represent the Palestinian people, in order to paint a full picture of life for average people in the West Bank. In describing the crippling effects of roadblocks, for instance, she reports the reactions of a family to a news report about a man in an ambulance who died because he was detained at a roadblock. (2) Locals, including the sick and elderly, must make exhausting journeys over hills to avoid the ominous roadblocks that bar the straight lines to their destination. (3)

As effective as her use of pathos is in conveying the fear and pain of the occupation, it may also be Ms Hass’s weakness. Her reporting can be very personal, on the reactions of individuals and families, while leaving out the overall effects, numbers, and opposing viewpoints. When Ms Hass writes on more general topics, accounts are usually from a single person’s perspective. She interviews Dr Saleh Abdel Jawad of Bir Zeit University, and he gives his take on the militarisation of the Intifada. He could well be right that Palestinians were shooting with no intent to hit, that the IDF knew this and yet responded disproportionately; (4) but no alternative arguments are presented within the article. Of course, this argument may itself be the alternative that Ms Hass’s readers have not yet heard. Moreover, pathos has its limits. Palestinians from villages near Jerusalem had their land incorporated into a major West Bank settlement called Maaleh Adumim. Ms Hass interviews one resident who says trees were uprooted and Israelis built houses in their place. (5) The residents petitioned the High Court of Justice. In the petitioners’ opinion, the Supreme Planning Council, by taking away ‘the land reserves from the petitioners’ villages created a situation wherein the Palestinian residents live in conditions of overcrowding 25 times greater than those in Maaleh Adumim… any objective criterion would have required that a similar amount of land and planning resouces be allocated to the Palestinian villages. (6)

The Palestinians may have the moral upper hand; though Ms Hass, while not disguising opinion as fact, gives it the same rhetorical weight as the facts. This style of writing is what critics are likely to pounce on as hearsay. Ms Hass is a part of the school of Israelis who have moved away from the self-righteous collectivism (7) of conservative Israel. They are part of the peace camp, critical of Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. (8) The peace camp includes revisionist scholars such as Avi Shlaim and Tom Segev; professors such as Jeff Halper and Ilan Pappé; former politicians such as Uri Avnery and Gideon Levy, the latter also a journalist. Much of their writing overlaps. Although Jeff Halper and Amira Hass both write about the stifling effect of occupation law and administration on the lives of Palestinians, each one’s work complements the other. Dr Halper explains that, in the process of obtaining a driver’s license, a building permit or numerous other official documents, Palestinians must become collaborators, supplying information to the security services. (9) At the same time, Ms Hass talks about those who do not have such permits and have thus become criminals, and the “army of Israeli law enforcers” the occupation authorities use to lock them up. (10) Reading the writing of members of the Israeli peace camp gives one a clear perspective on Israel’s moral failings in the occupied territories. Ms Hass differs from others in the peace camp by focusing on the view from the bottom, the perspectives of common people. Her occasional mentions of Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak feel like segues to conversations with Palestinian professors and activists. Many of her contemporaries, by contrast, attack Israeli decision makers. Gideon Levy, now also a journalist for Haaretz, wrote a devastating critique of his former boss Shimon Peres. (11) Ms Hass rarely refers to history, believing that human rights abuses now are what need to be understood. In

contrast, other activist writers add historical perspective to compare and contrast events. Ilan Pappé, in 2002, writes that the Israeli colonisation that was taking place in the West Bank and Ariel Sharon’s endorsement of it is predicated on precedents that go back to the founding of Israel. (12) “[T]he Israeli government in 1993 [was] content with direct control over only part of the twenty-two percent [that did not become part of Israel in 1948], while allowing for the creation of a bantustan in the rest.” (13) When Ms Hass makes any mention of history, it is only as a reference to expose the illegality of the Civil Administration and IDF’s actions today. (14) But opprobrium rains down hard on those who speak the truth to power. Yonatan Mendel, a contributor to the London Review of Books, argues that, while Israeli journalists are free to expose political scandal and corruption, the same does not hold for security matters. (15) He quotes a director of the Hebrew University: “Journalists and publishers see themselves as actors within the Zionist movement, not as critical outsiders.” (16) So Ms Hass is operating in dangerous territory. Haaretz, though, is not a bastion of ultra-Orthodox or security-obssessed Israelis. One recent article made a compelling case for fairness by claiming refugees from Jerusalem must be allowed to return home. (17) Surely, some of Haaretz’s 100,000 readers support this kind of journalism. However, let us not hastily throw Haaretz in with the peace activists. Another point Mr Mendel makes is that the selective use of facts, figures and words makes Israel look like the good guy. An example of the linguistic double standard is as follows. Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Palestinians. Israeli security forces then arrested 60 members of Hamas. They were taken to their homes late at night to Israeli jails. (18) The irony, of course, is that the same action was committed by both sides and very different language was used. If Haaretz noted and agreed with Mr Mendel, it would not have on its website, www.haaretz.com, a counter for the exact amount of time Gilad Shalit has been “in captivity”. If it were truly interested in fairness and believed Arab lives were equal to Jewish ones, they would be just as concerned with Palestinian political prisoners. Ms Hass may also be selective, but her point of view is starkly opposed to that which Mr Mendel describes as mainstream Israeli journalism. In her writing, killing is killing, arrest is arrest, and justice is elusive. As such, she not only reports IDF or settler injustices, but also those of the Palestinian Authority. It is possible she does so in order to appear objective, to show that Palestinians are guilty too, and fend off critics who could otherwise say she is ignoring Palestinian crimes. She says that there are some 200 political prisoners in Palestinian jails. (19) She unequivocally takes the side of the teachers in a strike of thousands of teachers at government schools in the West Bank, because for the PA, “[i]t is always easier to arrest them and boast that the issue at hand is the war against terror.” (20) However, given the vast majority of her articles are about the crimes of the occupation authority, she is probably far more concerned with exposing human rights abuses by anyone than fending off “pro-Israeli” critics. Ms Hass shows no sign of optimism. She regards her job as exposing injustice, not giving hope. The olive trees continue to fall. And yet, she makes everyone, the Palestinians, the Israelis and in some places even the soldiers, look human. She falls in with the Israeli peace camp but differs with some of them by her desire to report current events, not history. Reporting from Ramallah is designed to give outsiders a basic understand of the pain of life under Israeli occupation. The

tragedy of the uprooting of the olive tree in Palestine, however, shows that not everyone is treated as such. Notes 1. YouTube: Conversations with History: Amira Hass. http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=vEJfmSkIwMo 2. Hass, Amira: Reporting from Ramallah: an Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land, p96. 2003, Semiotext(e), New York and Los Angeles. 3. Ibid., pp97-8 4. Ibid., pp112-3 5. Ibid., p35 6. Ibid., p38 7. Segev, Tom: Foreword, The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent. Eds. Roane Carey and Jonathan Shainin, 2002, The New Press, New York. 8. My designating each as member of the peace camp is based on those of their writings which I have read. 9. Halper, Jeff: The Key to Peace: Dismantling the Matrix of Control, p23, in The Other Israel. 10. Hass, pp25-6 11. Levy, Gideon: Tell the Truth, Shimon, in The Other Israel. 12. Pappé, Ilan: Break the Mirror Now, pp110-1, in The Other Israel. 13. Ibid. 14. eg. Hass, p47 15. Mendel, Yonatan: Diary. March 6, 2008, London Review of Books: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n05/mend01_.html 16. Ibid. 17. Haaretz Editorial: “Israel must allow evicted Arab families to return home”. August 5, 2009, Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1105316.html 18. Mendel, Yonatan, 2008. 19. Hass, pp29-30 20. Ibid., p59