Those Opposed to Occupation Must Atone for Not Being With Us On the Ground

This blog entry was supposed to be sent in this morning, but we have been dealing all day with precisely the settler violence and a false arrest that wouldn’t have happened if more of those of you who oppose the Occupation and human rights violations were here on the ground with us. That is the topic of this entry: what our camp needs to atone for. Details about today are on my Facebook.
—Arik Ascherman

There is nothing easier than pointing an accusing finger at others. But an individual, a camp, and a society must be able to take stock of themselves, certainly during the High Holy Days. It is true that here I also write about the transgressions of others. But when I am in conversation with God, I also reflect on my own many sins.

I am aware that in the Yom Kippur confessions we speak in the plural. We say, “We have sinned,” and not “I have sinned,” because there is collective responsibility for the sins of our society, our camp, and our country, even if we did not commit those sins personally.

Obviously, we can talk about the sins of our government, the security forces, and the settlers forever—towards Israelis living in poverty, towards the country’s non-Jewish citizens, and even more so regarding the Palestinians. I wrote in my dvar Torah for Rosh HaShana that in Hilkhot Teshuva in the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides writes that even countries are judged, and that there are sins for which there is no atonement:

And those are those for whom there is no portion in the world to come but alienation and loss, and they are judged for the greatness of their wickedness and their sin for all time and for all time.” (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance, Chapter 3)

Later, Maimonides says that a person can also repent for the sins on this list. But I really don’t know how there can be atonement as a society for the mass killing and atrocities in Gaza unless a significant number of Israelis take meaningful nonviolent steps to stop what is being done in our name. And I’m not talking about participating in protests. Protests may ease our consciences and let the families of the kidnapped know that they are not alone, but in the face of such a weak government, not much more than that. They don’t change policy.

We are all responsible for the sins of our country. But now I want to go closer to home. Those who say they oppose the evils of the Occupation are giving the settlers and their supporters—and all other violators of Palestinian human rights—victory on a silver platter by not being with us on the ground to physically protect Palestinians and their communities.

Clearly, some of you have physical or other restrictions that prevent you from engaging in protective presence. For those of you living abroad, it is not a simple matter to leave your lives to join us here. But many, certainly many Israelis, could and don’t. And anyone who can and doesn’t must take stock.

The settlers have enough commitment to give up their livelihood, education, and even their safety for the things they believe in heart and soul. They don’t just talk. They act. Most of those who believe in the sanctity of every human being, or who are religious like me and believe that every person, Jew or non-Jew, is created in God’s image, do not have the same faith and commitment.

“It is not what we say that is most important but what we do” (Avot 1:17). Too many of us talk the talk without walking the walk.

I began writing the Hebrew version of this dvar Torah a few days ago, early in the morning in the village of Mukmas, after one of the settlers who arrives every day with the herd of the illegal outpost “Sade Yonatan” to plant himself among residential houses hit one of the residents and said he would come that night to kill him.

They did not come to kill, but around midnight they cut electrical lines and around 3:00 in the morning they blocked the road between the Bedouin neighborhood and the village with stones. We were forced to remove them in the dark lest we could not pass if necessary.

I finished writing as we barricaded ourselves in a residential compound in the village of Duma next to a huge outpost that was built in broad daylight. After much effort, a Haaretz reporter obtained a statement from the IDF Spokesperson’s Office that implies this illegal outpost is also legal in the eyes of the State of Israel, despite the soldiers from the Samaria Brigade who told us several times that the location is legal and even that the nearby Palestinian homes belong to the settlers.

We are the only ones here to defend the residents when settlers break through the protective fence and run through the gate, invade the compound, and demand that the residents leave. We have provided barbed wire, spikes, and additional protective measures. Literally, thanks to the determination of the Palestinians and thanks to our presence, there are several points where the police finally told the army and the settlers that they were on lands they are forbidden to be on.

But one night it was a police officer who busted down the gate and said it was illegal for us to rebuild it. If there has been a modicum of change, it is only we who change the dynamics because of our presence, or stand in the way out of necessity. Even these paltry achievements come about because of Palestinian determination and our presence.

It is certainly not for me to judge those who fled in the face of violence, threats, and economic pressure created when shepherds are denied access to grazing lands. But in the two places I have already mentioned, and many more places, the residents look at the lives that are not lives of uprooted communities and are determined that they will not suffer the same fate.

They tell us that without our close to 24/7 presence, they would have left long ago. Because we are too few, we are not always 24/7, and sometimes bad things happen.

Of course, we always hear from the security forces that we are the problem. If we did not create the “provocation” of protecting human beings that the security forces do not protect, there would be quiet here. They are right. Not just peace but deathly silence—because there would be many more abandoned communities in addition to the many dozens that have disappeared since the establishment of the current government, especially since settlers have cynically exploited the post–October 7th lack of concern for the human rights of Palestinians.

There would be many more places where we would no longer hear the sound of sheep or the laughter of children playing, or see any sign of life, unless settlers established an outpost in the same location.

And in full knowledge that the many who don’t see beyond the Jewish people and do not respect the Image of God in non-Jews would do everything to block any initiative, were those who respect the sanctity of human beings and human rights to demonstrate a fighting spirit—a fighting spirit on behalf of what many say are their values—it would truly change the situation.

When I see what happens when a handful of us fight tooth and nail with extreme lack of sufficient people on the ground, I know what we would be able to do if only a small percentage of all those who say they oppose what is happening here did more than vote every few years and maybe go to ineffective demonstrations, and would come to the field to engage in protective presence even once a month.

What would have happened if instead of us desperately searching for at least two people to fill shifts, we had 20 human rights defenders 24/7 in every community in danger? How different would the situation look if we had the numbers to return home with the communities who have fled or been violently expelled by settlers with the power of the State behind them?

I can’t say that we would succeed in every situation, or that the State wouldn’t support the settlers by taking additional steps to prevent us from protecting what the International Court of Justice correctly defined as the defenseless. But in the face of despair, helplessness, or simply the feeling that it isn’t important enough, your presence on the ground would make an impact.

What would happen if more lawyers were willing to specialize in human rights, and even more so if they were willing to work for nonprofits? What if instead of going to a demonstration with the convinced, we held parlor meetings with those who think differently from us?

I know very well what happens when we are not present at all, or in too small numbers. Families end up fleeing. On Monday in Duma, we were not enough. I was alone—something that should not have happened—along with a resident. We went through four difficult hours with several settlers, one armed, and also a settler in uniform.

In addition to minor violence, a herd broke through the fence and wandered between the buildings in the residential compound. We eventually had to close ourselves in one of the houses. The settlers cut down the protective fences around the compound, and we called the police time after time and sent messages to the army in vain.

Immediately after the settlers left, the army arrived. Then a policeman arrested me based on the settlers’ claims that I attacked them. He arrested me before even asking me what had happened, without looking at videos, without seeing the damage and vandalism that the settlers caused. Of course, there were all our recorded calls to the police all morning.

The dynamic would have been different if I hadn’t been alone, and it might not have ended in a false arrest while the police did not arrest any of the aggressive invaders.

As always, I quote Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: “In a free society some are guilty, but all are responsible.” The guilt of the supporters of the Occupation and those who trample human rights. But responsibility is also a type of guilt.

And there is also the necessary soul-searching on the part of those of us who think we are OK because we are on the ground, in the courts, and trying to speak to our people. Have we done enough? Have we been smart? Have we adopted the best strategies? Or have we patted ourselves on the back simply because we are fighting the good fight?

Based on Tractate Yoma, Maimonides says:

Sins committed against a fellow human being—for example, someone who injures a colleague, curses a colleague, steals from him/her, or the like—will never be forgiven until s/he gives his/her colleague what he owes him/her and obtains his/her forgiveness.” (Hilkhot Teshuva 2)

The beginning of atonement is to act on our values through deeds. And there will be no complete atonement for any of us until we stop, and undo as much as possible, the evils of the Occupation, and obtain forgiveness from those we have hurt so badly.