Unauthorized Israeli Settlement Looks to Expand

AVIGAYIL, West Bank (March 13) -- As Maor Wiener tells the story, the settlement of Avigayil started in 2001 when the head of the regional council pointed to the top of the hill south of Mount Hebron and suggested it would be a good strategic location.

Today, some eight years later, the settlement in the southern part of the contested West Bank is little more than a ramshackle collection of trailers and modular housing on what is officially known as Hilltop 850. But its presence is a reminder of Israel's continuing refusal to scale back settlements it acknowledges are unauthorized -- and its tacit support for new settlements that were established after an agreed freeze.

Israel's settlement policy again captured international headlines this week when the Interior Ministry announced plans to construct 1,600 new homes for Jewish residents in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope to have as the capital of an independent state. The announcement severely undermined U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden's visit to Israel.

Avigayil, established by Israeli soldiers finishing their military service, is home today to 17 families. Wiener, 25, moved here a year ago precisely because he wanted to help expand West Bank settlements. He says Avigayil's specific location was selected to prevent attacks by Palestinians on the road below.

But the broader priority, Wiener says, was to create a buffer between the Bedouins, an originally nomadic Arab community, and the Palestinian Arabs by creating a "line of settlements" that includes Carmel, Ma'on, Susya and Yatir. A brochure made available at Avigayil explains the settlement's crucial role in cutting off contiguous Arab settlements and provides visitors with instructions for making donations through the Central Fund for Israel.

Israel argues that larger, more established settlements have to expand to accommodate natural population growth. But the residents of Avigayil make it clear they are there specifically to assert land claims for the Israeli state. A trailer like the one Wiener rents goes for a modest 1,000 shekels a month -- about $300 -- but it was politics rather than cheap rent that brought Wiener and other residents to Avigayil.

The 2003 road map agreement, which is supposed to lead to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, obliges Israel to halt new settlements and outposts and dismantle those settlements erected after March 2001. Twenty-two such settlements, including Avigayil, are supposed to be evacuated.

But Avigayil is emblematic of the problem with many of these settlements. Supporters see them as part of a security barrier, while opponents view them as evidence of a state-sanctioned land grab that will doom any hopes of achieving a viable two-state solution. The Israeli government itself takes an ambiguous stance: It will not extend most services, such as electricity, to the area, but it has paved the road leading up to the settlement, and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces guard the residents, sharing patrol duty with the men of the settlement.

Today Avigayil is home to about 50 people, primarily young couples recently out of the army; the oldest couple are in their 40s. They complain that the settlement freeze means they cannot expand the nursery or get access to municipal services from the state. But they are nonetheless looking to attract new residents and grow.

Though Avigayil was established to prevent terrorist attacks on the main road, there has never been an attack on the settlement itself. Wiener claims that initially relations with Arab neighbors were good but have since gone downhill, a deterioration he blames on the Israeli left-wing movement, which has protested the settlement.

Looming over the settlement, however, is the reality that any substantive negotiations with the Palestinians would likely require the Israeli government to make good on its promise to evacuate Avigayil and the other settlements that violate the road map agreement. "We don't want to fight with the Army or the police," Wiener says when asked about that eventuality.

Asked what he would do if that day comes that the government forces them to evacuate, he replies: "I don't know."