One
of Israel’s proud boasts has been that there are no signs saying ‘Jews only’ or
‘Arabs only’.  As we saw with the recent
proposal to segregate Palestinians on buses into the West Bank, there is an
inexorable movement to extend the Apartheid division of the West Bank, with its
2 different legal systems, into social or ‘petty’ apartheid.  Indeed this is a natural progression.

We
should not therefore be surprised by the story below where the Israeli army
forced 200 Palestinians to make way for a group of settlers intent on bathing
in a natural pool.

On 7 April 2015, during Passover holidays, a group of
hundreds of settlers accompanied by Israeli security forces came to Birkat
al-Karmil – a natural pool close to the village of al-Karmil, which lies in the
southern Hebron Hills within Area A. In 2011, Yatta Municipality renovated the
site, creating a park there and restoring an ancient pool at its center.

B’Tselem’s investigation found that at about 2:00 P.M.,
hundreds of settlers arrived at the pool accompanied by dozens of soldiers,
Border Police, and representatives of the Civil Administration (CA). The
security forces ordered the Palestinian bathers to leave the pool and remain on
the edge of the park. They allowed the settlers, however, free and exclusive
use of the rest of the park. At about 5:30 P.M., the settlers and the security
forces left the area.

“According to media reports, reveal that the
settlers came to the pool on the initiative of the Susiya Tour and Study
Center. In its publications, the center described the pool as the historical
site of the Biblical settlement of Carmel and emphasized that the visit was
authorized and accompanied by the military. The center reported that some 1,000
people had taken part in the tour, including Chief Military Rabbi Rafi Peretz,
and that similar events have been held at the site for several years,
particularly during the festivals of Sukkot and Passover.

According to testimonies collected by B’Tselem, when the
settlers arrived at the pool there were almost 200 Palestinians there. Some
were bathing in the pool, while others were relaxing in the park. Muhammad
Mahaniyah, 20, a resident of Yatta, told B’Tselem field researcher Musa Abu
Hashhash that when the settlers arrived, accompanied by the security forces, he
was bathing in the pool with friends:

A Border Police officer ordered me to get out of the
water quickly. At first I refused and told him that I wanted to be in the pool
and had a right to be there. I said that I had no problem with the settlers
swimming along with me. He threatened to use force if I didn’t get out of the
water quickly, so my friends and I had no choice but to get out. The soldiers
ordered the Palestinians who were around the pool to move back to the edge of
the park, to stay there, and not to approach the settlers.

Ibrahim Abu Tabikh, 15, from
the village of al-Karmil, told Abu Hashhash:

At about two o’clock I went to swim in the pool, which
is about 500 meters from my home. When I got there, I saw groups of settlers
moving towards the pool. There were dozens of soldiers and Border Police
officers with them. The settlers began to undress and jump into the water. I
also jumped in with my brother Muhammad, 16, and we began to swim. The settlers
complained about our being in the pool and three young settlers started
swimming towards us. Some soldiers intervened and asked them to move away from
us. After they swam away, one of the soldiers ordered us to get out of the
water. I refused and stood by the edge of the pool. Another soldier came up to
me, pointed his gun at me, and shouted at me to get out of the water quickly.
Muhammad and I got out of the water because I was afraid of the soldiers. As I
got out, dozens of Palestinian residents around the pool shouted slogans
against the settlers being there. The soldiers moved the residents away from
the pool to the northern section of the park and prevented them from wandering around
the park. In the meantime the settlers continued to swim while the soldiers
guarded them. I stayed in the park until the settlers left at about half past
five.

During the incident, the mayor of Yatta came to the pool
and protested to the CA representatives who were with the settlers. One
representative informed him that the visit had been coordinated with the
Palestinian DCO. B’Tselem contacted representatives of the Palestinian DCO, who
denied any coordination and claimed they had submitted an official complaint to
the Israeli DCO. In fact, whether the visit was coordinated is immaterial, as
the Palestinian DCO is not free to refuse such requests by Israeli security
forces.

This incident is yet another example of how Israeli
authorities operate in the West Bank. Almost any desire expressed by settlers,
however capricious, is automatically facilitated at the expense of the
Palestinian population. In this case, the military used its force and authority
solely in order to allow settlers the pleasure of bathing at that particular
location. This purpose is unjustified in its own right, and certainly cannot
justify the entry of soldiers into Area A or any disruption to Palestinians’
lives.

B’Tselem wrote to the
IDF Spokesperson requesting a response to the incident, including a series of
detailed questions. The IDF Spokesperson replied with a laconic response
that offers no explanation for the authorities’ conduct in the incident.