Original subtitles

Do you want to show where we are right now? Because I think we're quite deep

inside what are called the Palestinian territories.

What you call the Palestinian territories, I call it the heart of

If you say the Palestinian territories, you're essentially already saying that

this right here, right here is going to be a jihadist Palestinian.

states right in the heart of israel not only in the heart of israel we're

talking about like but why do you say jihadist why not why couldn't it just be

palestinian state okay to understand the arab way of thinking that they

understand there's a war they win the war if they get territory they lose the

war if they lose territory you could flip that and say well that's what in a

sense you're doing that's what i aspire to do that's what i aspire to do

Beyond the eastern edge of Israel is the Palestinian territory of the West Bank.

It was occupied in war by Israel in 1967.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers have moved here

under international law.

Among them, the group of religious nationalists who see it as their divine

to build a greater Israel.

and drive out the Palestinians who've been here for generations.

I made a film about them in 2011.

But now, since the attack of October 7th, I'd heard that they were

the settlement process.

Why are you filming me?

While being protected by the Israeli military.

I'd come to try to understand their mindset.

and to see the consequences of their ultra -nationalist vision up close.

They don't see us as equal human beings who deserve the same rights they do.

I was close to Israel's southern border.

At a viewpoint, tourists were surveying the ruins of Gaza.

The Palestinian death toll at this point was more than 43 ,000 and rising.

In a war that had commenced a year earlier, after Hamas gunmen attacked

communities, killing more than a thousand and taking hundreds more

Now with bombs falling nearby, settlers from across the West Bank were holding a

jamboree to promote the idea of putting new Jewish outposts in Gaza, with

workshops offering practical advice while a vanguard made their case in

the world's media.

How are you doing, Louis?

Nice to meet you, Orvit.

Orvit, and why are you here today?

To show support.

and that I believe that Gaza is ours and that we need to be living there.

To those Palestinians who say, well, we'd like to live in a Palestinian

what do you say?

The Bible says this place was given to the Jews.

This place is ours.

Ours meaning?

It's a Jewish name.

What's your name?

Aaron. Aaron, nice to meet you. Louis.

Where are you from? I'm from Hebron. Before that, until I was nine years old,

lived in New York. And then my parents made a riyah to Israel.

We're here.

Call our government to go and settle Gaza.

We're here because we have a right to be here. Our right to be in this land is

the Torah, is the godly promise.

Where we don't settle, terror grows.

Among the attendees were many senior political figures.

including Israel's Minister of National Security.

In

his

youth, Itamar Ben -Gavir had been convicted of incitement of racism.

He is himself a settler, but in a sign of the changing times, he now sits in

government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Presiding over the event was the godmother of the settler movement,

Weiss.

Daniela, this is your event, isn't it? Tell me about what this is. No, no, no,

not now, not now.

Ten words.

No, no, no, not now, not now.

We, the settlement movement, organized this event

in order to enhance the practical idea

of establishing Jewish settlements in the entire

Gaza Strip.

We very much encourage and enable the population in Gaza to go to

other countries.

You will witness how Jews go to Gaza and Arabs disappear

from Gaza. They lost their right to stay in this holy place.

Please go.

Thank you very much.

From up on a nearby hill, there came the sound of protesting.

An Israeli group demonstrating for a thief fire and the return of hostages

by Hamas.

What are you doing here?

I think the idea of resettling Gaza is absolutely ridiculous.

The question is, what kind of country do we want to be? Do we want to be a

colonising country?

Or do we want to be a country that at least...

who offers peace and wants to live in peace with the Palestinians.

That has to be what we strive for.

I'd been hoping for a moment with Daniela, but then came a warning of a

rocket attack and the event was quickly evacuated.

Let's grab the cameras and let's go.

For Jewish settlers, Gaza is the latest frontier in a process that's been

unfolding for decades across the West Bank.

A region of not much more than 5 ,000 square kilometers, the West Bank is home

to around 3 million Palestinians, most of them living in large cities with

limited autonomy under the Palestinian Authority.

The Israeli military occupied the area in the Six -Day War in 1967.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have moved in to form

hoping to expand Jewish presence in the region or simply looking for cheap

housing.

Often they start out as a few tents or caravans pitched by ultra -ideological

settlers on hilltops next to Palestinian towns.

These are known as outposts.

They are illegal under Israeli law until they are authorized as settlements.

But both settlements and outposts are illegal under international law.

The army nevertheless protects them.

Hello. How are you?

Everything's great. Where are you from?

London, England.

Oh, nice.

Where are you from?

Russia. Russia.

Most settlements tend to be suspicious of media.

But I'd managed to get an appointment at one called Eviatar.

It had started out as an outpost on the edge of the Palestinian town of Beitar.

It was only recognised as a settlement by the Israeli state a few months

earlier.

Hi there, good morning. Good morning, how are you?

I'm fine, how are you doing? You must be Malkiel. Yes, I am. I'm Louis, how do

you do? I'm fine, thank you. Thank you for having us. Thank you for coming.

One of its founders is horse wrangler Malkiel Barhai.

All right, so let me show you a bit about Viet Thao.

I'm just going to have to ask you not to take any films of the army base.

That's where they're sitting.

So there's an army base there?

This is an army base. That's where the dormitories are.

And this is a house for people living here.

The army base is for your security? For all the region's security.

The story about Viet Thao, this was Hilltop.

We started from day one living in tents. And by the end of the month, we were 50

families living here in these houses.

All of these houses were built back then.

Coming from where?

All over the country.

Should we go inside?

All right.

It is a little untidy.

So this is where you're living at the moment?

Yes.

This is our humble home.

This is our living room, our kitchen.

How many children do you have? Eight.

Four boys and four girls.

Wow. Behind here we have another kid's room.

This is a girl's bedroom.

Two older girls, 13 and 11, they sleep here.

And over there is the laundry, bathroom and the shower.

So where do you stay, mum and dad?

This is me and my wife. You and your wife are in there.

If it rains? Yeah, if it does rain, so we'll go into the small caravan.

Hopefully we'll finish building the house before winter is here.

Do you enjoy being out on the frontier, where it's a bit more rough and ready,

where there's more uncertainty?

Our mission is to settle Israel, new settlements all over the country.

So most of the world sees this as the West Bank?

As occupied territory, it's under a military occupation, correct? Like it's

part of the state of Israel as most nations recognize it.

The ancient name of this area is called Judea.

The meaning of Judea is it belongs to the Jews.

So you can't take all the history, put it in the garbage and say, OK, it does

not belong to the Jews.

The history says it belongs to Israel.

with a selective reading of history that ignores the Palestinians who've lived

in the land for generations.

The aim for settlements like Eviatar is to become full -fledged town, guarded

round the clock by soldiers, walled off from the millions around them.

The godmother of the settler project, going back more than 50 years, is the

woman I'd seen at the Gaza border event, Daniela Weiss.

I want to see big cities here, like a city of two million people.

So it's not a settlement. Settlement is caravans, trailers, a home here and a

home there. This is not what my dream is about.

The trailers in that video of Daniela have now grown into the settlement of

Kedumim, where she still lives.

Supported by some in the Israeli government, Daniela's viewed by others

as a dangerous extremist.

She'd agreed to talk to me at home.

Nice to see you.

So we've got pictures of you as a young woman.

Is the one of you getting married, is that the oldest one?

This is when we got together. I was then 15 or something.

Your parents were from?

My mother was born in Warsaw.

My parents came here and invested fortune, believing that

someday there will be a Jewish state.

With their vision and their faith, I continue to expand

Israel and to be as close as possible to the promised land.

This is your map.

So this is what most of the world knows as the West Bank, which you call Judea

and Samaria.

This is what you call occupied West Bank.

And what the Palestinians would like to see is a future state of their own.

Oh, they are not satisfied with this, but complicated issue.

These little pink wedges, what do they represent?

The Jewish communities that were established.

since in 1967.

I'm curious to know roughly how many settlements and outposts you've been,

say, in some way involved in.

Almost everyone.

For real? It's 50 years.

You know what it means, 50 years, that I do what I do today?

Because it's territory that was won in the 1967 war, that under the Geneva

Convention, transferring a civilian population into a conquered terrain.

that that's considered a war crime.

What I do here is a war crime.

According to the UN.

And you're cooperating with the person who committed the war crime? Well, I'm

interviewing you.

It's a light felony.

I've read a couple of things suggesting that you were viewed as an extremist and

possibly sympathizing with Jewish or Israeli terror.

The confrontation...

It's not over terror.

The confrontation is just on whether yes or no.

The quote, so alarming is the situation.

It's talking about the situation of settlers and what they describe as

extremism and violence.

Last week, Ronan Barr, the head of Israel's security service, wrote to

Netanyahu, the prime minister and the defense minister, warning that what he

called Jewish terror.

by violent settlers was doing indescribable damage to Israel.

The reason Ronen Bar says that I'm extremist has nothing to do with terror.

Whatever I represent threatens his peaceful, secular life.

I have nothing to do with terror. He knows I have nothing to do with terror.

And he insists on saying it.

It's a lie.

And he knows that it's a lie.

Does that really explain it? He doesn't like me.

Because I have a lot of influence, much more than he is.

Influence over who?

The young generation that is growing in Israel.

And government too?

And government what? Do you have influence over government?

No question. Who did all this?

Can you call Netanyahu?

What do you mean? Like this?

No, I call Israel.

So the idea is to force the government by putting people, starts with small

settlements, then they get bigger, then they get recognized by the state of

Israel and basically creating a new demographic reality.

We do not force the government. We do for governments what they cannot do for

themselves.

Even if you take Netanyahu now, he's very happy with what we do here and also

about our plans.

to build Jewish communities in Gaza. He's happy about it, but he cannot say

He says the opposite.

It's not realistic.

Good!

We will make it realistic.

It's not forcing the government.

It's helping the government.

It's step number one in politics.

You don't force the government, you give the government the courage, the

ability, the public support, the political support.

I think you understand what I said, even if you disagree.

There was something unsettling about hearing Daniela's ethno -nationalist

being laid out so plainly.

especially when I considered the support she claimed to have from some in power.

With their backing, the settlement project has accelerated, with many of

going to live in West Bank settlements coming from other countries.

Anyone from anywhere in the world with Jewish heritage, since they qualify for

Israeli citizenship, can live in a settlement.

Well, consider this an invitation, because I could try to describe it to

words, but it'd just be impossible.

Ari Abramovitz was born and raised in Texas.

He now helps run Arugot Farm, a small retreat hosting birthdays, weddings, and

corporate events, often catering to tourists.

The farm was established as an outpost in 2014, illegally, according to

international law, on land deep inside the occupied West Bank.

Hi. We're going to Aragot Farm.

Thank you.

Are you Ari? I am.

There you are.

How are you doing? Good to meet you. Welcome, welcome.

Nice to meet you. Louis.

Louis. Louis. Yes. Louis.

Louis. Louis. Yes.

Or Louis. I don't mind too much. Welcome to Judea. How are you doing? You've

come armed.

But we're so friendly. I know how it looks. I know it's not true.

So this is our synagogue.

And I remember when I first came here, I wanted to build my house here.

And then I learned that according to Jewish law, you build the synagogue in

highest place, which makes sense.

Well, my home is going to be lording over the synagogue. That wouldn't be

These are the Torah scrolls.

Is it weird to have your guns on in here?

No. My gun is here to protect the nation of Israel

from those that seek to harm us. And during a service?

Would you typically wear them?

Yes. Is it that dangerous?

It is until it's not.

Thank God never had any issues of infiltrations here.

And I think it's because they know that we're ready for it.

How old were you when you came to Israel?

I think I was 16. When you moved here?

I came here after high school to study Torah. It was supposed to be a few

months. It's called the gap year program.

When you breathe the air, when you taste that, when you feel mission and passion

and life, you can't go back.

This is where I choose to come and pray with the creator of heaven and earth.

I think this is the most beautiful place in the world, right here.

Where's the nearest Palestinian town?

I'm so uncomfortable using the word Palestinian because I don't think that

exists. You don't think they really exist?

I don't think that they exist as a real nation with a real claim to this land.

What are they then?

They are, they're Arabs.

With a connection to this land?

Yes, they have a connection to it. It's nowhere near the depth and, I mean, we

were in this land planting vineyards before Mohammed was in the third grade.

Is that a settlement there? That is a Jewish settlement called Pnei Kedem.

Kedem. Which means facing the east, face to the east.

Would that be considered legal under Israeli law?

I don't know.

You don't really care. I don't. I don't care at all.

At all. I don't care at all.

Why don't you care?

This land here in the heart of Judea, there's some things that transcend the

whims of legislation.

This is one of those things.

For millions of Palestinians up and down the West Bank, the presence of settlers

makes life precarious.

They live under Israeli military law, restricted from most Israeli roads,

subject to frequent run -ins with the authorities and detention without trial.

in a legal system that is opaque and arbitrary.

Israel says the measures are necessary for security.

I was in the south Hebron hill during the olive harvest, a time when tensions

run high, with Palestinians prevented from getting to trees they say they've

harvested for years.

How are you doing?

I was curious to see the interactions for myself.

I'd heard from an Israeli activist group.

They were trying to help a farmer named Ishak Jabarin.

Louis, Salam. What's happening here today?

The army arrived.

A nearby settlement had allegedly called them to report the olive picking.

. . . . .

One of those on the scene was a long -time Israeli activist, mathematician

Sneed. Kobi, do you know what they're doing right now? The army has said,

got to leave in five minutes.

And now the landowner has to make a choice if to try to insist

on staying here and taking a risk.

They're liable to do anything. They can arrest the Palestinians, they can arrest

us, who knows what they might do.

Have you been arrested before?

Do you think he would have been arrested?

40 % of all Palestinian men have been arrested, so probably.

British television.

Passport.

Can I ask why you're taking my passport?

I need to check.

Check what?

Check what?

Nothing. They don't need to check nothing. They just want to scare us.

If he kept picking, he would have been arrested?

No, it's not to arrest.

It's just to evacuate the area.

Meaning what, though, if he says, I'm not leaving?

I'm grateful we didn't get to die apart.

Because what would happen?

I actually don't... As a soldier, you would have to, what, detain him?

I'd rather not speaking it.

Alongside their interactions with the army, Palestinians throughout the West

Bank also suffer attacks by settlers.

These videos come from the South Hebron Hills, where I'd seen the olive picking.

In the town of Tawani, a settler was caught on camera shooting and severely

injuring a Palestinian man.

The shooter had his gun license revoked.

But he was never arrested.

I'd heard of other similar incidents.

In the same town of Tawani, I'd made contact with a 20 -year -old Palestinian

student and local activist named Mohamed Hourani.

He'd offered to take me to the top of the hill to meet his neighbor who lives

a spot closest to a settlement.

Louis,

it's nice to meet you.

Thank you for having us.

Most of Roubaix's house still bears the scars of what he says were settler

attacks.

You can see, like, from the window, the bullets.

So there's bullets that have come through here?

Yeah. From this window and that window.

This is the pattern.

This and this one.

Where that bright light is?

Yes. So what is that?

Is that an outpost or what is that? Is there anyone in there?

Hang on, something's happening.

What is it?

Are they coming in?

They are screaming to us.

I don't know. It's

happening

every day.

What do we do? Just stay in here?

Yeah, we are inside.

Matan, what do you think?

It's not safe at the moment.

There's obviously multiple guns pointing at her.

Yeah, let's wait.

What can we do? Can we call the police?

Which police?

I mean,

they are one regime.

It doesn't worry you?

No, because, I mean, we're raised in this situation, so it became a normal

reality for us.

When you are a kid, you just see this army invading your home in the day, on

night. You grow up on this unjust reality that it became normal for you as

human, but it's not normal for anybody, and no one should accept it.

After more than an hour, the soldiers appeared to lose interest, and the crew

and I slipped away.

The violence committed by some settlers is often justified by them as a response

to violence they experience from Palestinians, which is much less

Nevertheless, it's hard to disentangle it from an ideology of the superiority

one group and their rights over another, promoted by leaders like Daniela Weiss.

Hiya, how are you?

I'm coming.

Hoping for more insight into her and her work, I was back.

I have a meeting, but do have a seat.

Thank you.

So we'll just

wait.

OK,

from now on, follow me if you want to know.

Are we leaving?

So we're going to meet you there? All right.

I was joining Daniela and some friends of hers in a convoy heading towards

Mission unclear.

Two hours later, we were one kilometre from the Gaza border in the Israeli town

of Sderot.

arriving at a yeshiva, a religious school, where Daniela took part in an

assembly alongside two prominent rabbis.

What's happening next, Daniela?

Shall we follow you?

We'll follow her.

The stop was a memorial for the victims of October 7th.

Starot had seen heavy fighting during the Hamas attack and suffered many

As the sun passes by, Daniela held a degree of celebrity status.

Then the settler convoy arrived at what seemed to be its destination.

a viewpoint overlooking the war zone.

Daniela had told me she'd signed up 800 families who were ready to move into

Gaza. One of her team explained how it would work.

The idea seemed to be to get spiritual buy -in from the two rabbis.

One of them was next to speak, Rabbi Dov Lior.

There is no peace and there will be no peace. Not that I don't want peace.

I also want peace.

A country that has only one brother, the Jewish people, and all of Gaza and all

of Lebanon, all of this needs to be cleaned, to clean the country from the

people.

Whoever will be saved, will be saved. Whoever will not be saved, I thank him

clean language, that he will be saved there. Even if he will be saved, it will

cost him money. It will cost him less money than to buy the raw materials.

No,

no. That's the end.

That's the end.

That's the end.

As the day ended, we were following Daniela's car, driving on what seemed to

army -controlled land.

approaching ever closer to the Gaza border.

It had previously been reported that Daniela had been illegally

escorted into Gaza by soldiers who supported her to recce locations for

settlement.

Suddenly her vehicle broke away.

On this occasion, she was intercepted.

So basically, she had a military escort and then she just peeled away and made a

sprint for the border.

Of Gaza?

Yeah.

She just tried to run away from the army, huh? Yeah.

Did you try and make a dash for the Gaza border? What was happening down there?

I enjoyed it so much.

Our two jeeps drew too much attention.

But what's the idea? Why do you want to go down to the Gaza?

You want to enter Gaza? No.

What I wanted to do, I wanted to show the rabbis that Gaza

is not...

Something beyond reach.

Would you say October 7th made people more receptive to your message and to

point of view?

No doubt.

The October 7th naturally made people more receptive to

the idea of the great Israel.

But the next step, Jewish settlements in Gaza, is very difficult.

that demands a lot of work. You have to influence the leftists, the government,

the nations of the world using the magic system, Zionism.

You redeem the land, you establish communities, you bring

Jewish families, you live Jewish life, and this

will bring light.

Instead of darkness.

And this is how the state of Israel was established.

And this is what we want to do in Gaza.

This process of making the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Jewish, do

you feel like it's moving more quickly?

As far as Judea and Samaria is concerned, we want to move from one

two million.

So this is the next step.

This is my vision.

I'm so complicated.

Daniela's vision has been made possible by the Israeli occupation.

But it in turn has led to the creation of a vast military infrastructure which

impacts every aspect of Palestinian life.

Nowhere is it more evident than in Hebron.

Hebron is an ancient biblical city, home to some 200 ,000 Paladinians, a place

holy to three major religions.

Hi, how are you?

We're from the British TV crew.

In 1968, the year after it was occupied by Israel, a community of Jewish

settlers moved in illegally.

They now number around 700, existing in a cordon of military protection.

I visited in 2010 when I'd spent time with a settler leader.

Now, 14 years on, I was curious about life within the Palestinian community.

I'm Louis.

Hi, Louis. Nice to meet you. Welcome.

Thank you for having us.

Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist, was born here in the settler -occupied area.

You've got fences all around?

All around.

Fences from here? Yeah.

Who lives on the other side? Israeli settlers.

We've got army there. What are they doing?

Have they come for a reason?

No, they come for intimidation.

How are you?

They're not speaking, but I think what they would say is, well, we're here to

provide security for the settlers who live here and want to live in

peace and experience animosity from the Palestinians.

So they want to live in peace in the expense of my basic human rights.

I didn't choose to live in Hebron. I was born in Hebron. It's my land. It's my

homeland. The settlers chose to come here.

And if it's not safe for them, why do they continue building more and more

settlements in my own city?

By international law, the settlements are illegal.

They don't see us as equal human beings who deserve the same rights they do.

Lead the way.

Yeah.

For nearly 20 years, Issa has been an advocate for non -violent resistance

against the occupation.

He is one of around 30 ,000 Palestinians living inside the high -security area

of Hebron, the so -called sterile zone.

For them, just doing their shopping, going to work or going to school means

passing through military checkpoints.

Let's see how it works.

Hi. Hi.

How are you guys doing? Good, how are you?

Fine. Everything OK?

I need your passport, please.

All of you, OK?

Sure. What for? Why?

Check.

Hi, Issa. How are you doing, mate? How are you doing?

Hi. Why are you covering your faces?

Because of the cold.

No, no, it's not cold. Come on, guys.

Don't hide. Only gangs hide their faces.

You are a military. You should have your faces, you know, obvious to everybody.

Do you know Issa?

Yeah, he lives here.

He says it's making life very difficult to have this military presence here.

What are you all doing here? What am I doing here? I'm making a documentary.

Documentary? For British television.

Of what?

About settlers.

In the West Bank.

Settlers in the West Bank? Yes.

Okay, and what do you tell to the television about the settlement?

It's not about what I'm telling them. It's about what I'm hearing from the

people who I speak to. Where do you live?

I don't want to tell you. Okay.

I told you where I was staying.

What does that mean?

Enjoy from the trip in Hebron here.

Thank you. Wish you all the best, guys.

How is life here?

You're very well armed.

Is there a situation here that needs careful control?

Of course.

What is it? Tell me about it.

What was he saying about

Arabic?

No, he wanted to see if you are an Arab. He asked you, do you speak Arabic?

Hello, how are you doing? What's up? Hey, how are you doing?

I'm doing excellent. American?

What do I look, Chinese?

Yeah, from Brooklyn?

You bet.

Let me just pull over to the side. Okay.

Do you know him? No, he doesn't live here.

You okay?

Do you need help?

You okay?

No. Are you stuck? Are you in a rut?

Why are you filming me?

It's not good. Don't worry. We can't even see your face. Look, you're

No one can even see who you are.

Don't worry.

I don't know what to do with you. I have work to do. Get on with your work.

You're fine.

You stay here in the checkpost and filming everything. You can't do this.

Here. Okay?

Come with me. Wait, no, you can't do that. Come with me. No, no, no, no, no,

no, no. Don't touch me. You just touch me. Don't touch me. No violence. Listen

to me. Yeah? I'm listening.

Come, come. No.

I'm... From the military, okay?

IDF, Israel Defense Forces.

I'm above the police here in the West Bank.

I'm the highest responsibility of law.

We'll tell you like this, okay?

And this man, IDF, I need to tell you, not staying here. Okay, we'll move

along. That's fine.

Okay, leave.

Leave this place. Leave this area, okay?

Right now.

Let's go. Okay. Let's go.

So who lives here?

Palestinian families.

And where are they?

They are hiding behind the indoors.

What would stop these shops from being open?

It's closed by military orders and marked as

closed shops.

It's marked.

From this shop would be five families at least live and earn their living.

Look, this is something new.

This not to hire Arab workers.

In Israel, two faces, a face of an Arab and a face of a terrorist.

And this is how they stereotype us.

Middle finger.

He gave you the middle finger? Yes, to you too.

You think it was to me? To you. I think it was to you. To you. To both of us.

Because you deserve the middle finger if you report about Palestinians.

For what reason?

But

I know that

I'm allowed to be here until here.

Jay, you are not allowed to go there.

Why can't he be with us?

Because there are limits for Palestinians.

So he can't... If he lives here, he can't reach.

Here, no.

Give me your ID, please.

How come Palestinians can't come down here?

It's not work like that.

Which camera? We're not talking to you.

It seems ironic that that's the visitor centre.

Right for tourists and whatnot and he can't actually visit in his own in his

busy You knew that

was gonna happen No, it's new that they asked me to come back to here He told

me that I'm allowed only to hear so they expanded the closed area for me. What's

it all about?

Taking more and more land. It's about fragmented Life, restricted life for

Palestinians, no quality life. You live with the basics, even with less than

basics of family needs to make you live.

And they are doing well. The majority of the houses are empty.

The families are leaving.

You could flip it and say, well, if they really wanted to occupy the whole of

Hebron, or at least this area, they could literally deport.

Palestinians. They do it slowly, but now they are speeding up. They want

approval from their allies and their partners in the world.

Is it worth going through to see the other side? Yes, I can see what it looks

like.

This gives you a little flavor of what it was like in there before.

Yes. The market was much more busy inside.

It was our Oxford Street inside. So busy. My father used to hold my arm not

lose me. Not anymore.

It's closed completely.

Restricted. In order to get back in, we can't go through there now because

they've closed it. It's closed. So how do we get back in?

You try from another checkpoint.

Through here?

Yeah.

So now we're on the other side of the area where you couldn't walk before,

right? Where they stopped you from walking in front of the visitor center.

But you need to get home.

Yes. So what will you do?

I will go around again.

I will go outside this checkpoint, go around to enter from another checkpoint,

and wait till the checkpoint opens to get into my house with my son.

You definitely can't come this way?

I can't come this way.

Okay. They won't let you through? No, they will not.

I'm not allowed. I was happy to meet you. Thank you so much. Take care. Bye

-bye.

On the drive back from Hebron, I reflected on the separate lives lived by

Israelis and Palestinians and the unequal system of rights and justice.

We ran into a traffic jam caused by a bomb scare.

The road, the main artery in the West Bank, is one of the few shared by

and Palestinians.

For once, all were subject to delay.

It was a sobering experience visiting Hebron again.

Isa had told me he believed life was being made intolerable for Palestinians

deliberately, to make them leave, and that the process was speeding up since

October 7th.

And it was true that some settlers I'd met supported the deportation of

Palestinians who won't submit to Jewish authority.

One of them was Ari, a Texan born and raised in Houston.

now resident deep inside the occupied West Bank.

Good to see you. Good to see you. How are you?

A little under the weather. I'm sorry to hear that.

Thank you for having us back.

Hoping to understand a little better, I'd return to see him again.

OK, we're ready for the coffee. I really hope I do well.

I never know if you wear those guns just for effect.

I don't know what effect I'm looking for. Do I want to look more militant?

no, I'm not wearing it just for effect.

Do you want to sit down?

We've talked a lot about how you see the importance of Jewish presence in

what's termed the biblical land of Israel.

Are you saying that you see Israel as playing a role for modeling a new kind

nationalism?

Is that right?

I think that all of what's happening in the world right now is leading us as a

nation to open our eyes to who we are. We are the tip of the spear fighting the

battles of America and defending the entire Western world, and not just the

Western world, anyone who wants any semblance of liberty and freedom in

lives. Nevertheless, there are millions of people up and down the area, Arabs,

Muslims, who...

aren't living free, right? They're enclosed without the same rights,

national self -determination, and in many respects, feeling besieged. And I

wonder, do you see that?

I don't have tremendous compassion for a society that has an

unquenchable, genocidal, theological...

bloodlust. It's like a death cult.

It seems to me there's a danger with that characterization of Palestinians.

You define them as eliminationist and hateful and genocidal.

I use the word death cult. That then permits you to almost create a

mirror image of that. That you say, well, if they want to do that to us,

need to do that to them.

I think that when you're living amongst people who have perpetually proven, not

only by word but by deed, that they want your blood spilled in the streets, that

they want to murder your children, that they want to slay all of you, kill all

of you in the most horrific, genocidal way, that all of the polls showed after

October 7th that these people who you continuously call the Palestinian

that I reject the very premise, that they are actually...

a real nation for a lot of reasons, I mean... But the millions of people who

have nothing to do with October 7th, right? Who actually just would like to

free, full lives.

If that's really what they wanted, they would have had it a long time ago. They

want to wipe Israel off the map. They want every last Jew dead. So what's the

answer?

The answer is for us to declare sovereignty over all of Judea and

and all of the land of Israel and Gaza and to settle Gaza and all of Judea and

Samaria with Jews in the land of Israel.

Did the question annoy you?

Annoying me? I just, I hear it so often.

and it feels like it's being addressed again and again and again. Even if the

entire world is pointing, accusing fingers and gnashing their teeth in rage

anger, we know the righteousness and the truth of our cause, even if we stand

alone. That's what it means to be a Hebrew. That's what it means to be a

we know the truth of our cause, that's all we need.

And that word had led him to believe that it was the divine right of the

people to settle and rule this land.

See you later.

God bless and protect you.

Amen.

The Bible was, as he saw it, a land deed to the West Bank.

With an afternoon free, I stopped for coffee in the Palestinian city of

surrounded by the

ancient architecture of the old city and the undeniable fact of the hundreds of

thousands of people living there and their aspirations for statehood.

At the edge of the city, we were held up at one of the many checkpoints that

control the people entering and leaving.

Can you put the gun down?

Where are you from?

From London.

You've been in the market?

Yes.

You also?

Yes. She works with you? She's American, yes. Can you show me ID?

Me?

Everyone? Yes, sure.

It's very slow going. We've been in that queue for an hour or more.

How much time are we going to stay in Israel?

Hang on, but I don't think we're in Israel.

Huh? Are we in Israel?

You're in Israel now. Are we? Yeah.

In the West Bank?

No?

In the north of the West Bank, I was heading back to the settlement of

where I'd been hosted by Malkiel, the horse wrangler.

Since my visit, I'd learned a little more about the settlement's relations

its neighbouring Palestinian town of Beitar, how Beitar had been subject to

settler attacks, and how it, in turn, had organised regular protests of the

settlement.

Demonstrators had been killed, and others wounded during the clashes.

One of the deaths of a Turkish -American volunteer, Ayşenur Ezgi Egi, made

headlines.

Now the settlement was holding a festival to celebrate its recent

the Israeli state.

Entertainments had been laid on, and families from settlements from around

West Bank had converged for a day of music and activities.

One of those speaking was Daniela.

How are you?

Yeah, it's a bit quieter.

As the festivities wound down, I had a moment to speak to Daniela on a hilltop

overlooking the Palestinian town of Beit Ha.

So you've been talking about settling, you've talked about displacing, wanting

the Palestinians to go, you said, to Africa, to Canada, to England, you don't

care where.

What would be wrong with either a two -state solution or a one -state solution

where everyone has the same rights?

We want to have a Jewish state based on Jewish rules, on Jewish

values. It's not relationship of neighbors. Why not?

Because we are two different nations.

Different. I just wonder whether you feel or you're aware that, you know,

they're really suffering and there's been settlers rampaging through the area

the West Bank. So there's all this... Agitation.

Death.

Tragedy, right? Tragedy. When a people is invaded, right, and then put under a

military occupation, deprived of their rights, that anger seems to be...

An understandable response, an appropriate response.

There is no such thing as deadly violence.

Did I speak, I don't know if I spoke, I don't mind saying it again.

And I don't mind, I will be glad to explain it. You don't believe it's real?

There are videos, you can see them.

You see what?

Okay, let's say, we have a camera right here. Yes.

And I do this.

Yeah.

Do something.

You don't mind what I did to you?

Well, I won't do that to you.

And then the camera takes just part.

You don't have the full picture.

Then I say you're violent.

You're violent against a woman.

This is exactly what is going on all the time with what you call...

Settler violence.

Settler violence.

Settlers do not...

Wake up in the morning or do not go wait for sundown to attack. No,

no, no, no. Why should we wake up in the morning and think about violence? Why?

Our life is good.

Because you want the Palestinians to leave.

No, no, no, no.

You said so. I said that what is on my mind all the time is how

to bring...

More people to settle the land.

This is a new development by Jews.

This is Har Bracha.

This is Itza.

Here we can develop. Here we cannot develop.

I never think in terms of... I know this is beta.

I don't think about beta.

Why not?

Because I think about I'm a Jew. I'm a settler.

I'm a...

A human being. Yes, you are. So I do not think about this. You're thinking about

tribalism, thinking of your own people to the exclusion. It would be

understandable to think of your own people or your own children first, but

think about other people, other children, not at all, that seems

I can... Doesn't it?

No, not at all. This is normal.

To my children, I give everything because I...

The normal thing for me is to pray for my own people.

That's it. So now I continue.

I hope you push me back.

And so I said goodbye to Daniela and her extreme ideology delivered with a

smile.

14 years on from my first visit, with the horror of October 7th in the interim

and the ongoing devastation of Gaza,

the settled dream shows no sign of abating, along with the dislocation,

displacement and death that follows inevitably in its train, advanced by

ideologues, backed up by those in power and accountable only to God.