THE SHILO CASE
Nick Denes  

Israel's illegal settlement policy has been the subject of numerous analytical approaches. It has been established that settlement strategy has - from the earliest period - been an arena of energetic, often competitive, interplay between the official state-sanctioned bodies and several radical extra-parliamentary groups. Lines of divergence or coincidence in policy and action have variously seen the two groupings either at loggerheads or in open connivance. Often, the formulations of one camp have conflicted with that of the other, only to converge at a later date and in a new political environment. Thus, yesterday's unplanned outpost becomes tomorrow's development strategy cornerstone, and so an uneasy but ultimately mutually beneficial relationship is perpetuated.

The settlement of Shilo today epitomises that relationship and provides an insight into the convergence of Israel's mainstream political complex with the extremist fringe messianism of the largest pro-active settlement movement - Gush Emunim [Bloc of the Faithful].1

Trouble in the Valley
Israel's initial West Bank (Allon) plan limited civilian settlement to the Jordan valley and the sparsely populated eastern Bethlehem and Hebron districts. In addition a belt of settlements was planned on either side of the 'Jerusalem corridor,' running west-east from the territories held before 1967, meeting the Jordan Valley settlement zone east of Jerusalem. The plan took Jerusalem as its center, dividing the northern and southern sections of the West Bank, while turning the eastern border with Jordan into a settled 'buffer'. It ruled out settlement near the West Bank population centers - except East Jerusalem.

Keeping settlement within the Allon plan was expedient in terms of regional security and also practical. Jordan Valley land seized during the war was settled with a string of small agricultural sites in the late 60s and early 70s. Meanwhile, settlement in East Jerusalem and the 'corridor’ was pursued on a more urban scale. But throughout the early 1970s, the valley's infrastructure remained unable to support large centers - with the Jerusalem axis remaining the sole east-west link with Israel's economic hub on the coast. Devoid of biblical 'resonance', the Jordan Valley drew only a small number of 'quality-of-life' settlers, seeking the valley's scenery and the government's grants2.

Following the 1973 war, ideological settlement increased and 'Allon's lines' were challenged. The war had highlighted the fragility of the Jordan Valley settlements, whose 1000 members were leaving in significant numbers - some settlements were nearly abandoned. The government responded with free housing, increased tax-breaks and promises of infrastructure. Meanwhile, plans were drawn up to penetrate beyond the Allon lines and settle 'Western Samaria' [Salfit and Qalqiliya districts] from the other side of the West Bank.

Peres and Rabin endorsed the post-Alton settlement plan, but lost the 1977 elections and left Begin's Likud government to implement it. A west-east settlement strip was established between 1976-78. Under pressure from Gush Emunim, the locations were now in densely populated areas of the West Bank and had little to do with the any declared military strategy. Having broken the Allon line at the settlement of Elqana (6 miles east of the Green Line), the Trans-Samarian settlements reached the Nablus-Ramallah highway at the site of Kfar Tapuach (at the heart of Allon's "no-settlement" zone), with the large anchoring site of Ariel between these two. This lateral penetration of the West Bank put the Jordan Valley's failing settlements nearly within reach, but the government feared risking emerging negotiations with Egypt by pushing further too hastily. Their friends in Gush Emunim had no such qualms.3

Digging-in at Shilo
In early 1978, Gush persuaded the government to award a permit for "archaeological digs" at the presumed site of biblical Shiloh, knowing well that the Likud settlement map called for sites in that area, which separated the new Western Samaria zone and the isolated Jordan Valley. The government, for its part, knew the Gush had no real interest in archaeology.

Biblical Shiloh, where the Tabernacle supposedly rested for '369 years' in the 12th-10th centuries BCE [sic.], was where Moses’ scion, Joshua Ben Nun declared his conquest of the land and distributed it between the tribal leaders. Passages recounting these episodes, while of minimal focus in traditional Jewish liturgy, are replete with the kind of prophecies that guide the spiritual outlook of the messianic Gush. At Shiloh Joshua Ben Nun asked the Israelites; "How long will you be slack about going and taking possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has assigned you?"

Digs at Tel Shiloh were conducted in the 1920s, unearthing Hellenic, Byzantine and early Islamic artifacts of little significance. No trace of a Tabernacle was found. But the Gush was not looking for a Tabernacle. Gush Emunim set about expanding the 'site accommodation,' placing cabins and water cisterns along the ridge running east from the 'dig', drawing on their network of 'core' settlers to populate the area. Later, in 1981, the evocatively named Rabbi Yoel Ben Nun, a Gush Emunim founder, 'discovered' the "presumed" site of the Tabernacle.

By 1979, Gush had 15 sites in Allon's "no-settlement" zone, while the government walked a line between implementing their settlement strategy - by then coincident with that of Gush -and keeping up appearances for the Camp David talks. Permission to dig at Tel Shiloh was limited to an existing archaeological site and did not sanction full civilian settlement or expropriation. The 'dig' lies on the foothills of a ridge separating the Ramallah and Nablus districts and is surrounded by agricultural land belonging to 4 large Palestinian villages: Qaryut and Jalud to the north, Sinjil and Turmus'ayya to the south. In Shilo, as elsewhere, Gush exploited the legal fiction of 'state lands' to gain a foothold on the rocky ridge above the dig-site. Already experienced in the mechanics of government strategy, Gush occupied as much uncultivated village land as possible along the ridge, knowing that Begin would prefer to later legitimize a de facto presence than order one created.

As Shilo grew in the early 80s, outposts were established on surrounding hills and the first expropriations were made. Land was confiscated - for 'security' and/or 'zoning' reasons -from 6 villages: Al Lubban Ash-Sharqiyyah, Sinjil, Turmus'ayya, AI-Mughayyir, Jalud and Qaryut. as Shilo was joined with the new sites of Eli and Ma'ale Levona. The most significant land seizure was made to allow for a road and corridor running east from Shilo. over the olive fields of Jalud, Turmus'ayya and AI-Mughayyir. The corridor reached the Jordan Valley and completed the lateral bisecting the West Bank. Throughout the 80s, Gush leaders exploited the government's desire to develop this corridor to secure their own expansion and infrastructure. By 1990, the Shilo 'bloc' represented the largest territorial concentration of exclusively Gush Emunim settlements in the occupied territories and stood at the forefront of the government's national development strategy. Both parties were happy.

Messianism and Mint Brownies
Central to Shilo's incongruously developed horizon, is the "Synagogue of the Dome of the Divine Presence", built according to biblical descriptions of the ‘Tent of the Assembly', where the Tabernacle supposedly rested before the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The ‘reconstruction’ of the temple at Shilo is of monumental significance to messianic Judaism, which advocates the construction of the ‘Third Temple' on the site of Islam's AI-Harem Ash-Sharif in Jerusalem - something they believe will precipitate the messianic epoch. The biblical 'continuity' Shilo's founders aspired for goes further - Shilo's head Rabbi is named EIchanan Ben Nun. Shilo's latest Ben Nun is also head of a Gush-affiliated academy in Jerusalem, overlooking AI-Harem Ash-Sharif from Palestinian land expropriated in the 90s4.

The community is, clearly, aligned with the national religious political parties and from its founding has played a role in the promotion of Gush ideals. Settler news-bulletins, training centers' and a Hesder Yeshiva (academy combining military service with religious instruction) reflect an enthusiasm for 'outreach’ and 'propaganda.’ With the exception of some young Hesder Yeshiva graduates who are encouraged to stay on in Shilo, immigration represents Shilo's only real absorption pool. The majority of settlers arrive from the US, though Shilo drew Russian immigrants in the 90s and 'boasts' European, South American and North African members. Shilo itself is home to merely 1,580 settlers, but with the other 3 sites and half-dozen outposts of the Shilo bloc the population reaches 4,200.

Shilo's 'elders,' include a "who's-who" of the radical settler movement. There's American, Era Rappaport, convicted in the 1986 for his role in 'Jewish Underground’ murders and bombing attacks. Rappaport now advertises tours of the Land of Israel ($250 per day - more with a bullet-proof vehicle). Yisrael Medad. one-time Shilo mayor, founded the main settler newspaper in the West Bank, is the Education Director of the Begin Heritage Center and a leader of the fundamentalist Temple Mount Faithful movement. Jacques Blomhoef, from France, once managed the computer department of the Jewish Agency and now operates 'for hire' at home... There are also a number of career soldiers and leading figures in the occupation's Civil Administration. At the center of the Shilo bloc, the settlement provides medical and educational services to the surrounding settlements. These include a number of therapeutic centers, several kindergartens and a college for training young men "with little or no awareness of their Jewish ancestral identity" (courses in English).

Current government plans include an industrial complex on seized Turmus'ayya land. Work is ongoing at the site, from which an arterial route runs east to the Jordan Valley. However, Shilo already boasts a few cottage industries; there's a small publishing house and a medium-size aluminum factory. The search for an imagined sense of 'ancestral return' can be detected in a lot of the smaller industries; there's a workshop making Jewish tefillln from animal hide; Dudu Druck cultivates cherries and nectarines; there's an organic poultry farm, and the small HaShiloni organic vineyard run by Nadav Nitzan.5

The settlement's promotional material reveals a distinctly American 'Judeo-kitsch' preoccupation with Shilo's ‘homely' identity. Presenting itself as the quintessential modern Jewish community, it is posited that Gush settlements fill the place once occupied by the communal kibbutz. The prospective settler is invited to sample New Yorker, Yehudit Wells' "famous mint brownies" and "get a taste of what Israel once was from border to border - an intimate supportive community... which is concerned about you, about each other, and about creating a better future."

Shilo over Palestine
But Ms Welis' brownies don't taste the same on Fathi Shabani's terrace in Sinjil. From here the view is a panoramic monument to the achievements of Gush and successive Israeli governments, as well as to the enormous losses inflicted upon the indigenous population. The entire ridge has been settled and outposts, developing neighborhoods, industrial zones and road construction spill over the hillsides and the land which once sustained the local rural community. Government expropriation continues - an entire hill belonging to Sinjil was expropriated for 'military purposes' in early 2001. Settlers are already erecting caravans on the site. Unauthorized settlement, engrained in the 'pioneer-rebel' ethos of the younger Gush members, continues - 5 unofficial sites were established on Palestinian land in 2001, its owners intimidated, assaulted and (in two instances) murdered by Gush radicals from Shilo. Fathi's nephew was shot in the leg by settlers while gathering olives on the family's land last year... that land is now occupied by a paramilitary settler unit.

Creating Shilo's "better future" has had a devastating effect. Not only have land losses shattered the agricultural economy and eliminated the villages' development potential, the Shilo bloc has thrown some 16,000 Palestinians into the front line of a wild, unpredictable military campaign. The settlers operate a militia, known as Matte Binyamin Bitahon, armed and sometimes uniformed by the IDF. In effect the militia are responsible for all territory in the settlers' grasp - including outposts. Meanwhile, the IDF are responsible for 'protecting’ the areas surrounding the sites and the roads leading to or from them6.

Over the last 18 months, the settlers and the government have accelerated expansion in the area. The connection to the Jordan Valley is near completion, as is the industrial zone, and the sixth new outpost was established on Palestinian land in early 2002. All surrounding villages have been subjected to curfews and each remain sealed off from the other. While the Shilo bloc grows, the 6 'neighboring' Palestinian villages remain without a sewage network and only two have piped water. By November 2001 the Palestinian Ministry of Health was warning of an imminent sanitation crisis in the area, as solid waste collection, water delivery and cess-pit pumping was made impossible by closure. The military, militia and vigilante settlers have all been charged by human rights groups with acts of vandalism, intimidation and violence. In 2001 the 6 villages reported over 30 incidents involving armed settler assaults, many of which were serious and led to hospitalisation or worse. The Israeli police have received numerous complaints but insist there is nothing they can do'7.

The reason is simple. The Shilo bloc is useful. It plays a central role in a long-term plan Israeli governments have been unable to pursue without their quiet partner - Gush Emunim. With its imminent completion, these messianic radicals will have finally forged the vital infrastructure through the "no-settlement" zone and built the lifeline the agricultural settlements of the Jordan Valley have lacked. An unlikely, but essentially Israeli merger of interests. In the long-term, every new outpost and road tightens their grip over the land and Gush Emunim know the likelihood of any future Israeli government pursuing a withdrawal-for-peace plan calling for the abandonment of their ''Dome of the Divine Presence9 is small and will be easily countered....