User's manual
Illegal outpost to death zone in 15 easy steps Excerpt from a piece by Uri Avnery (1) On a hilltop, an "outpost" consisting of one or two mobile homes is set up without government permission. (2) The government declares that it will not tolerate such illegal actions and talks about removing it. (3) The army sends soldiers to defend the outpost, saying that it cannot leave Jews in a hostile region without protection as long as they are there, even illegally. (4) For the same reason, the outpost is connected to the water, electricity and telephone networks. (5) The discussion in the cabinet is postponed, and in the meantime the settlement expands. (6) The cabinet decides to accept the accomplished fact and the outpost becomes a legal settlement. (7) The Military Governor expropriates large stretches of cultivated land for the development of the settlement. (8) A bypass road is build to allow for the safe movement of the settlers and soldiers. For this purpose, the army expropriates more stretches of cultivated land from the neighboring Palestinian villages. The road with its "security area" is 60-80 meters wide. (9) Palestinians try to attack the settlement that stands on their land. (10) To prevent attacks on the settlement, an area 400 meters wide around the settlement is declared a "security zone" closed to Palestinians. The olive groves and fields in this area are lost to their owners. (11) This provides the motivation for more attacks. (12) For security reasons, the army uproots all trees that might afford cover for an attack on the settlement or the road leading to it. The army has even invented a new Hebrew word for it, something like "exposuring". (13) The army destroys all buildings from which the settlement or the road could be attacked. (14) For good measure, all buildings from which the settlement can be observed are demolished, too. (15) Anyone who comes near the settlement is shot, on suspicion that he has come to spy or attack.