Anti-Israel Boycott : Tax Man Cometh, but an Arab Town Resists

During almost two years of struggle against Israeli occupation, almost nothing has been sure for Palestinians but death and taxes, although in this town at least, residents are trying to free themselves from the tax man.

In Beit Sahur, which is built around the fields where the Bible says shepherds heard angels herald Jesus’ birth, everyone is refusing to pay income and sales taxes to the Israeli government. In response, Israel has ordered the army to escort tax collectors door-to-door and confiscate furniture, appliances, television, pianos and anything else deemed valuable.

The self-styled Unified Leadership of the Uprising in the Occupied Territories has coalesced around the tax revolt as a means of channeling the frustrations of the intifada, as the uprising is known. They hope that support for civil disobedience expressed in Beit Sahur will spread elsewhere in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and give them a new weapon in fighting the Israelis.

‘Leads Nonviolent Struggle’

“This is the city that leads nonviolent struggle, and we must stop Israel from crushing it,” said Faisal Husseini, a public leader of the intifada.

For the first time in months, Israeli officials appear to be on the defensive in the face of a Palestinian tactic. In answer to charges that they are trying to crack peaceful protest by sacking possessions from family living rooms, officials respond only that the confiscations are legal under Israeli law. Even during the uprising against its rule, Israel insists that it is trying to keep up public services and that residents must pay.

To limit adverse publicity, the army has sealed off Beit Sahur, just a trumpet blast from Bethlehem, for most of the last three weeks and disconnected the town’s telephone service. When Palestinian activists called a press conference last week in Jerusalem to complain about the tax raids, the army closed the streets around a hotel that was hosting the conference and declared the area a “closed military zone.”

Last Friday, soldiers barred a delegation of seven European consuls from entering Beit Sahur to investigate the property seizures. The commander at the roadblock said the town was sealed off for “operational reasons.”

May Not Be Magic Formula

It is far from clear that the Palestinians have hit on a magic formula to force an end to Israeli occupation. For one thing, civil disobedience has failed to gain much support anywhere but in Beit Sahur. Many grass-roots leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are calling for stepped-up violence, not campaigns of folded arms.

Even Beit Sahur is torn over how far to carry the protest. As has become commonplace in the intifada, factional disputes broke out: Communist activists wanted to compromise with the Israelis, while members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called for 100% refusal to pay.

“If one pays, we’ll all have to pay,” said a street organizer and part-time plumber in Beit Sahur. “Do we want to keep paying for the bullets used against us?”

Small-Town Values

Among West Bank cities, Beit Sahur is viewed as a little corner of middle-class propriety: neat, quiet and devoted to small-town values. Ozzie and Harriet could live here.

Householders maintain trim gardens and olive groves, work is considered a prime virtue and the town’s population of 12,000 boasts that its schools are the oldest in the West Bank.

Since the beginning of the intifada, Beit Sahur residents have been the most dedicated of all Palestinians to peaceful protest. They set up victory gardens to wean themselves away from dependence on Israeli foodstuffs. When schools were closed for most of 20 months, they formed underground classes to keep studies going. When Israeli peace activists were looking for Palestinians to meet, Beit Sahur was an eager host.

Violence has been comparatively minor. The only Palestinian killed was hit on the head by a block dropped on him by a soldier. Stone-throwing incidents here are played like games by schoolchildren without much damage to anyone.

Responded to Call

Last May, when the Unified Leadership reiterated a call for Arabs to stop paying taxes, only Beit Sahur responded fully. Residents refused to pay income tax while merchants and craftsmen also withheld value-added taxes on their sales.

Municipal officials issued a statement to explain the philosophical basis for their protest: “To the Israeli people, we say that for 20 years of occupation you thought we were satisfied, and then came the intifada to tell you that we want our freedom and that not paying taxes is a form of nonviolent resistance to your occupation. The intifada tells you that by treating us as a colony of Israel you are practicing taxation without representation.”

So far, tax collectors have taken goods from 60 houses and stores in Beit Sahur and the government announced plans to raid another 250 properties. A public auction of the items has been tentatively scheduled for next week.

“They come in as if they own us,” said Nasser abu Ayta, the owner of a video cassette store and a nationalist activist who has been jailed on several occasions. He said that last week, the tax man took three color televisions, three black-and-white televisions, two video recorders and several appliances.

Washer Taken in Mid-Cycle

“They even took a washer while the rinse cycle was on,” Abu Ayta said. He claimed that goods belonging to his brothers were taken even though only he was wanted for tax evasion.

Raji Qumsiyeh, an upholsterer, said that a tax collector and nine soldiers came and carted away a 12-piece living room set, two carpets, a table and four chairs, a television and video recorder.

“Well, now we have plenty of time to sit and play cards,” Qumsiyeh sighed.

The army has also taken the opportunity of frequent curfews, when everyone must stay indoors, to make about 20 arrests. Among the new detainees are some residents who have been active in meeting peace groups and presenting their case for an independent state.

“Can this be a coincidence?” asked Hana Andoni, whose son Ghassan, a physics teacher and host for Arab-Israeli meetings, was thrown in jail last week. “Ghassan talked peace and they come and take him away.”

Sprits Flagging

The focus on the tax revolt comes at a time when leaders of the uprising are searching for ways to revive flagging spirits in the intifada. The toll of deaths, more than 550 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers, has eroded enthusiasm.