A village tells the occupation story

Susiya is an example of how Israel maintains its control over the Palestinian West Bank

A Palestinian man sits outside his tent in the southern West Bank village of Khirbet Susiya. Hazem Bader / AFP Photo

Khirbet Susiya is little more than a collection of tents perched on a dusty hill overlooking the southern reaches of the West Bank. From their modest perch, the 300 Palestinians of Susiya have watched the neighbouring Israeli settlement of the same name grow into one of the largest in the area. Israel has constantly attempted to steal Khirbet Susiya’s land through violence and intimidation such as the killing of the village’s sheep. And now, it is trying to do it through the Israeli court system. The Israeli military claims that Susiya was constructed “illegally” despite having been there long before Israel conquered the West Bank.

Sometimes, it takes a village – just one village – to reveal the complexity of Israel’s West Bank settlement enterprise. As western diplomats have learnt in the past decade, Susiya’s plight embodies all the ills of the occupation. European Union representatives have become increasingly familiar with Susiya over the years and ever more frustrated with Israeli intransigence in peace efforts. The EU has released statement after statement calling on Israel not to demolish the village, but these have largely fallen on deaf ears. With demolition imminent once again, the time for effective EU action is now.

As The National has reported, the European Council on Foreign Relations released a new brief this week that calls on the EU to label Israeli settlement products accordingly, as well as to place curbs on Israeli banks that deal with the settlements. Coming from one of the most influential think tanks in Brussels, this report is clear evidence that boycott calls have permeated EU foreign policy debates. Given the Palestinian push to prosecute Israel in the International Criminal Court for war crimes, the question is which Israeli action will finally push EU leaders to adopt one of the many boycott schemes currently under review.

Though the demolition of Susiya would be just one of countless such acts that Israel has carried out in the West Bank, might it become the trigger event that pushes the EU into real action? No one can say for sure, but it should be. It might take a village like Susiya to force the world to heed its conscience.