Photo Friday (Vol. XLVI) ['1000 words' edition]

Modern photojournalism has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that pictures can, and often do, lie. 

For many years now, the American and European public have been treated to a very careful selection of images from my part of the world.  These images have completely swayed a large part of the world into thinking that we are land-grabbing, militaristic monsters.

For instance, the overwhelming majority of Israelis pictured in the western media have been soldiers in full battle gear.  These images are usually juxtaposed against those of Palestinian women, children and elderly.  The kinds of pictures that almost guarantee a photographer's work prominent placement are those containing both of these misleading demographic cues (e.g. soldiers in a tank near a boy on a donkey, Soldier holding M16 near a Palestinian woman, etc.)

If one were to think about this trend, it would strike the critical mind as odd that Israel seems to be populated almost entirely by active duty soldiers, and that there seem to be almost no adult Palestinian men.  Unfortunately, when perusing newspapers and magazines, few of us have our critical minds engaged.  Rather, we tend to let headlines, photographs and captions wash over us... leaving behind the ideas and messages that the photographers and editors intend.

This isn't to say that photos are an enitirely untrustworthy medium.  On the contrary, there is an important aspect to actually seeing something (as opposed to just reading about it) that helps people internalize a message. 

Today's Photo Friday will (hopefully) provide a view of a 'settlement' (mine) that many in the press would prefer you not see.

Efrat (the town where I live) is not some windswept outpost with a rag-tag collection of caravans on a hilltop.  It is a large town of almost 10,000 people with two large shopping centers, several fully subscribed schools, apartment buildings, town houses and private homes. 

The land on which Efrat sits is a combination of 'national land' (land for which there was no documented owner that was claimed by the State of Israel) and privately purchased land that was acquired from the original owners in legally binding transactions.

The town itself is shaped like a long string of sausages stretched across a number of hills.  The reason for this odd shape is that this was the way the land grant/purchase was shaped.  Here is a look at one small section of the town (perhaps 1/8th of the total area:

The cultivated area you see in the foreground is all Arab land.  This isn't to say that it was cultivated before Efrat came into existence (I have seen photographic proof that it wasn't), but here in the middle east, one can claim and maintain ownership of unclaimed land (land that has no deed and which has not been cultivated for three years) simply by using it. 

The pattern that has invariably occurred around each settlement is that the Palestinians wait to see where the fence/border is for the settlement and then they start plowing the fields right up to that line.

Efrat has always sought to maintain good relations with the neighboring villages, so whenever someone has come with a claim (documented or otherwise) to unused land on the periphery of the town, they have been allowed to cultivate it.

To demonstrate how our municipality has bent over backwards to accommodate the Arabs, the following is a picture of the largest park that sits right in the center of our town:

At the top of the park is a rectangle of land that a local Arab claims (even though he waited until well after Efrat was several years into development to do so) and he has refused  to sell (which is his right).  Therefore each year he and his donkey come into town... he plows his field (he doesn't plant anything) and he leaves.  This is enough for him to retain ownership.

My question to all the people who claim that the settlers stole the land from the Palestinians is as follows:  If we were going to steal the land, wouldn't we steal a nice convenient chunk of it and not have Arab fields in the middle of our town parks?

Also, there are several sections of the town that have large tracts of Arab land that cut right through our neighborhoods.  Here are some pictures:

So again, If we were the land-grabbers everyone says we are... why wouldn't we make our lives easier and make our town borders a nice safe, secure oval? 

The reason is that we aren't the ones grabbing land.

It is also worth pointing out that a week or two ago there were a bunch of teens who went out to begin settling a neighboring hill that is owned by Efrat and which has been part of the municipal plan since the town was founded 22 years ago.   The police and the army came and threw them off the hill quite roughly and even took a few people to jail. 

There is not one settlement in Judea or Samaria (the west bank) that was built on land stolen from the Arabs.  There is not one settlement built on the ruins of an abandoned Arab village.  However, there are countless Israei towns and cities inside the green line that can not make this claim (including large parts of Tel Aviv). 

So I guess what I'm asking when I post these pictures is for you to think critically about what you are reading in the press about Jewish settlers stealing Arab land and making land grabs for more.  If there is any expansion of settlements going on, it is on land that is either state owned or privately owned by Jews. 

There is only one party in the present conflict grabbing land... and it isn't us.

Shabbat Shalom.