2023-09-24 12:00:00
REPORTAGE – Between the Palestinian enclaves and the territories occupied by the Israeli army and settlers, daily reciprocal violence prevents any reconciliation or political solution. Immerse yourself in this mechanics of chaos.
No one in the West Bank takes Route 60 without apprehension. However, it is one of the busiest arteries in this territory militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967. It crosses it from North to South, from Jenin to Hebron via Jerusalem. In this cramped, fragmented region, where two hermetic and defiant worlds overlap, Route 60 is one of the last places where we cross paths. Israelis from “legal” or “illegal” settlements; Palestinians from the cities, from the farming villages, from the refugee camps – they all have to go through this. Often, fear creeps into cars.
Thirty years after the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993, hope for peace between Israel and Palestine has faded and the prospect of a two-state solution seems illusory. Only the technical aspect of the pact still survives: management of worker flows, tax collection, security collaboration. Isolated, weakened, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is discredited in the eyes of the Palestinian population. At the same time, the influence of Israeli settlers is intensifying. For the young generation of Palestinians, who did not experience the second intifada (uprising) in the 2000s, nor the “Defensive Shield” operation launched by the Israeli army, armed struggle seems the only option. The centers of resistance are no longer confined to Jenin or Nablus, they are spreading thanks to social networks where young fighters publish their exploits and parade, weapons in hand.
Everyone has their own license plate
For the year 2023, the number of victims has already reached proportions similar to those of the second intifada: at least 238 Palestinians and 28 Israelis have been killed. On both sides, violence is daily. They are more or less intense: settlers chasing shepherds from their pastures, teenagers throwing concrete blocks at Israeli cars, attacks on checkpoints with assault rifles or car rams, knife attacks, throwing Molotov cocktails against army posts, settler raids in Palestinian villages, military operations, destruction of houses. Most go unnoticed, in Israel as elsewhere.
Israeli soldiers stand guard in front of the bus stop at the Tapuah intersection, along Route 60. Kobi Wolf for Le Figaro
It is especially in the northern West Bank, in the part to which most Israelis give the biblical name “Samaria”, that violence is most present. There, after leaving behind Jerusalem and Ramallah, the “capital” of the Palestinian Authority, route 60 winds through the hills, towards Nablus and Jenin. The license plates indicate which side each vehicle belongs to: they are yellow and black for Israelis, white and green for Palestinians. Protected by soldiers, the bus stations are the meeting place for young settlers, among whom hitchhiking is very widespread. They give a thumbs up as soon as they see a Palestinian car. From the shelter of their concrete sentry boxes, the Israeli soldiers point their weapons at all the cars. The IDF armored vehicles, for their part, display a black plate. They keep coming and going along Route 60.
For Israelis driving toward the region’s many settlements, Eli’s gas station is a familiar stop. With its myriad of Israeli flags…
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