Haaretz Article Ignores Bil’in
What stands out most for me in this Haaretz article on the extraordinary growth rate of ultra-orthodox West Bank settlers is that, despite the primary focus on Modi’in Ilit and Beitar Ilit, there is no mention at all of Bil’in and Saffa, the Palestinian villages that have now lost much of their land to the growing Modi’in complex.
Modi’in Ilit, also called Qiryat Sefer, now has more than 40,000 ultra-orthodox residents and appears well on its way to the planned 150,000. The article includes a photo of kids playing in Modi’in Ilit’s modern facilities:
There’s no mention of the Palestinian kids who used to play among the orchards in this photo I took in 2005. They’re neighbors of sorts, if occupiers and victims can justly be called neighbors, just a ten-minute walk away on the other side of the new Separation Fence that keeps Bil’in villagers from reaching their own land.
Here Bil’in children played on New Years Day 2005 on land they no can longer reach:
Fo the best maps I’ve seen showing the growing Jewish settlements in relation to Bil’in and nearby Saffa, see this project of the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem and the Land Research Center. There is also an excellent brief history and analysis up to 2005.
On the other side of Modi’in Ilit, construction continues on more Bil’in land up to the Separation Fence, as in this 2006 photo:
The Haaretz’s article’s matter-of-fact tone no doubt matches that of Modi’in Ilit’s residents, for whom the Palestinians whose land they now live on are simply invisible.
My web galleries include many more photos of Bil’in and of the weekly nonviolent protests against the theft of village land.
