- Title: Settlement tours: a new frontline in Israel's ideological conflict
- Date: 19th June 2017
- Summary: HEBRON, WEST BANK (JUNE 19, 2017) (REUTERS) HEBRON'S OLD CITY AS SEEN FROM THE SIDE ISRAELI FLAG OVER A SETTLEMENT IN THE CENTER OF THE OLD CITY HEBRON, WEST BANK (RECENT - APRIL 2017) (REUTERS) ISRAELI SOLDIERS AT CHECKPOINT EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR OF BREAKING THE SILENCE, NADAV WEIMAN, JOINING VISITORS VARIOUS OF TOURISTS TOURING IN SHUHADA STREET VISITOR FILMING CLOSED SHOP (SOUNDBITE) (English) EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR OF BREAKING THE SILENCE, NADAV WEIMAN, SAYING: "We want people to come here and understand what is the occupation, not to hate the soldiers, not to blame the soldiers of the officers because that is not the problem. We think the problem is the policy that sends the soldiers over here. So we want people to understand what is the policy, how it looks like, what is the mechanism, how the occupation ticks. So, the soldiers over here and the settlers over here, they are part of it, they are a symptom but they are not the problem. The problem is the occupation, is the command given by our government to the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) for the last 50 years." BUS CARRYING VISITORS ARRIVES IN HEBRON'S OLD CITY VARIOUS OF PALESTINIANS WALKING THROUGH SHUHADA STREET SECURITY AND SETTLERS AROUND VISITORS SETTLER DISTURBING GUIDE WHILE EXPLAINING TO VISITORS (SOUNDBITE) (English) EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR OF BREAKING THE SILENCE, NADAV WEIMAN, SAYING: "To understand what is happening over here you have to experience this, you have to walk over here, to see it, to smell it, you have to touch it, you know you have to feel it. So while you are walking in the middle of the Palestinian city that was closed that the main street was closed by...because of the settler violence, because of the Goldstein massacre, I don't think you can have a positive response about it." SECURITY AND SETTLERS AROUND VISITORS SETTLERS PUSHING WEIMAN, FILMING VISITORS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH VISITOR, CHRISTIAN LEVI, SAYING: "I just came to just really see what is happening with my own eyes, I guess you read a lot about it and I hear stories and yeah I just wanted to come and see the reality and I heard good things about the organisation so yeah I just wanted to come and experience it I guess." HEBRON, WEST BANK (JUNE 19, 2017) (REUTERS) IBRAHIMI MOSQUE HEBRON, WEST BANK (JUNE 16, 2017) (REUTERS) VISITORS AND SETTLERS AROUND IBRAHIMI MOSQUE VARIOUS OF VISITORS INTERNATIONAL SPOKESMAN FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF HEBRON, YISHAI FLEISHER, EXPLAINING TO VISITORS FLEISHER WALKING IN HEBRON'S OLD CITY ISRAELI FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL SPOKESMAN FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF HEBRON, YISHAI FLEISHER, SAYING: "This is not just a difference in narrative for us, it's a difference in our truths, the differences is that we have been painted as people who are coming to takeover somebody else's land but the truth of the matter is that there has been a Jewish community in this town for the last 2000 years with small breaks in the middle and all what we are doing here is asserting the rights of our people to live in this town and why not at the end of the day Arabs and Jews are family we are cousins and there is absolutely no reason why we can’t live together." HEBRON, WEST BANK (JUNE 19, 2017) (REUTERS) ROOF TOPS OF BUILDING IN OLD CITY VARIOUS OF CAGED WINDOWS OF PALESTINIAN HOMES EMPTY MARKET AT OLD CITY
- Embargoed: 3rd July 2017 13:02
- Keywords: Hebron West Bank Israeli settlers settlement occupation ideology
- Location: HEBRON, WEST BANK
- City: HEBRON, WEST BANK
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0016LY1HDZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The heart of the old city of Hebron is divided, with Israeli military checkpoints, mechanical turnstiles and closed-circuit cameras controlling the movement of Palestinians in and out of an area inhabited by some 800 Jewish settlers.
Inside the secured zone, standing side-by-side, are two ancient shrines - the Tomb of the Patriarchs revered by Jews, and the Ibrahimi Mosque revered by Muslims - ensuring Hebron's position as a source of religious friction for centuries.
But as well as the conflict over land, settlements, occupation and religion, there is another battle in the largest city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank: an ideological fight between left- and right-wing Israeli NGOs over how to explain Hebron's complexities to outsiders.
On one side stands Breaking the Silence, a leftist group of former Israeli soldiers opposed to the occupation, which for years has led tours of Hebron to highlight the restrictions and frustrations routinely faced by Palestinians.
On the other stands Im Tirtzu, a right-wing NGO that over the last year has run tours denouncing Breaking the Silence, accusing it of deepening ethnic faultlines and fuelling anti-Semitism by providing a critical account of Israeli actions. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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