Jewish Settlers Living on the Edge--of Security

As Palestinians celebrated the transfer of occupied lands to areas under their control Friday, another group of West Bank residents woke up to an uncertain future.

By midday, after Israeli troops withdrew from a swath of the northern West Bank, Jewish settlers in two small communities east of the Palestinian city of Janin found themselves living in outposts on the edge of Palestinian-held territory. Although a few expressed relative nonchalance at the change, others said they are deeply apprehensive.

“We love this place, and we have never thought about leaving,” said Ovadia Yaakov, a retired army officer who helped found this tree-lined, mostly secular community in 1983. “But now we are afraid we won’t be able to live here comfortably anymore. Nobody knows what will happen.”

Under the first phase of the new land-for-security agreement, Israel on Friday handed over an additional 9% of the West Bank to full or partial Palestinian control. Afterward, Ganim, with 51 families, and neighboring Kadim, with about 40, were suddenly bordered by Palestinian-ruled areas on three sides.

Perhaps most disconcerting, the settlers said, no officials of the Israeli government or army met with them before the pullback began to tell them how--or if--it would affect them.

“They really haven’t told us anything,” said Aaron Yarden, a Canadian immigrant who bought a two-bedroom home in Ganim 18 months ago. “We’re all just worried about how we’re supposed to conduct our daily lives.”

He and others said that, for example, they did not know if the road they use to travel between the settlement and the town of Afula, in Israel proper, remained under Israeli authority after the transfer. (It did, although it now borders areas of Palestinian rule.) Or whether Palestinian police officers have the right to stop and question Israelis in the newly ceded territory. (They do, although not to arrest them.) Or whether they will have to wait for a military escort each time they want to leave the settlement. (No one seemed sure.)

The residents also said they did not know why the army has started fortifying other settlements now considered more vulnerable to terrorist attack but has not yet begun digging trenches or stringing additional razor wire around their community. At the same time, others said the promised fortifications probably would do little good.

“It’s not really protection if they just dig trenches or set up concrete blocks outside,” said Alan Bronstein, 49, who grew up in Van Nuys and, with his wife, Michal, has lived in Ganim for 13 years. “Real protection would be an electronic fence, but we didn’t move here to live in the middle of an army base.”

This week, after a delegation of Ganim and Kadim residents traveled to Jerusalem and met briefly with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader assured them that he will visit the settlements next week to try to address their concerns.

About 161,000 Jews live in 144 communities in the West Bank, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Palestinians view the settlements as illegal and any expansion of them as an attempt to predetermine the outcome of “final status” negotiations.

But in contrast to the thousands of Israelis who moved to the West Bank for religious or ideological reasons, many in Ganim say they settled here for the affordable housing, the sweeping hilltop views and the pleasant, rural lifestyle.

And unlike those who vow to remain in the territories no matter how difficult their lives become, many here say they would consider leaving if the situation becomes too perilous or if the government offers them adequate compensation to move.

They say they are convinced that if the government decides to evacuate any settlements in a final agreement with the Palestinians, small, isolated communities like theirs would be among the first.

Still, they don’t want to leave.

“As long as it is possible to live quietly, and as long as our children can come and go safely, then there is a chance we can continue living here,” Yaakov said.

But a few, believing that the settlement’s fate is now determined, wish they had the money to move immediately.

“We know now that eventually, for sure, we will have to go,” a longtime resident said. “It’s like a fatal illness--you know the time between this and the end will not be nice. I would like to have it over now.”