[MUSIC PLAYING]
SIMON OSTROVSKY: We headed out in the morning to see if we
could find some Jewish outposts in the West Bank,
ones that were small, unestablished, and
unauthorized.
We decided to drive to Havat Gilad, which is known for
having clashed with both its Palestinian neighbors as well
as the Israeli Police force and the Army.
Israel has a love/hate
relationship with the settlers.
Nearly 40% of Israelis think the settlers shouldn't be in
the West Bank, but their views have never translated into
government policy.
And many blame this on the influence of extremist
religious parties who believe that the Palestinian
territories were promised to them by God.
Israel's prime minister says he wants a two-state solution,
but he's never actually said he wants to evacuate the
settlements.
And although he recently broke free of a coalition with the
religious parties, he's still a strong supporter of the
settlement enterprise.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: [SPEAKING HEBREW]
TRANSLATOR: There is no government that supports or
will support settlements more than the government I lead.
SIMON OSTROVSKY: This means Palestinians can expect more
settler expansion and more attention with the Israelis
and their army.
And on our way to the settlement, we noticed a bit
of a commotion involving a bunch of Palestinians and some
Israeli soldiers.
We saw off to the side of the road this group of
Palestinians, but they're being watched over by Israeli
security forces.
So we're wondering what's going on here.
MALE SPEAKER: [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
SIMON OSTROVSKY: It turns out Israel had mobilized its army
to allow an Israeli archaeological
team to dig up a field.
The Palestinian villagers weren't happy because they saw
it as the first step in the expansion of a nearby
settlement.
This is totally crazy because this is an archaeological dig
being carried out by the Israeli
authorities in the West Bank.
And this is how many soldiers you need in order to protect
this archaeological excavation.
But what's even more nuts is that Palestinians are doing
the manual labor.
So the Israelis have hired Palestinians to do an illegal
excavation in the Palestinian territories.
MALE SPEAKER:
SIMON OSTROVSKY: What is this place?
What is the significance of this site?
But they're on the wrong side of the green line for doing
archaeological digs.
No?
I mean I'm just asking if that's correct.
MALE SPEAKER:
SIMON OSTROVSKY: I don't know.
I don't know.
MALE SPEAKER: No picture today.
SIMON OSTROVSKY: So the soldiers really didn't want me
to talk to the Palestinians who are apparently upset about
this archaeological dig taking place here.
And the reason they're upset is because a lot of times when
the Israelis do an archaeological dig, they then
build a sort of memorial around any Jewish artifacts
that they find.
And it becomes a place of pilgrimage for the settlers
who come here.
And then, bit by bit, the Palestinians feel that they're
losing even more land.
It turns out the guy who was leading the excavation, and
who casually shrugged us off, was Michael Ben-Ari, an
ultra-right member of Israel's parliament who lived in the
settlement across the road.
And Ben-Ari had a history of questionable behavior.
Besides openly advocating for the departure of Palestinians
from the West Bank, the US refused to grant him a
visitor's visa because he'd been included on the State
Department's Terrorist Watch List.
Oh, and he's also been known to post heartwarming photos on
his Facebook page, like this one, which shows him and a
buddy relaxing on a couch confiscated from an Arab
family that had just been evicted from their home.
Unfortunately, the soldiers were pressuring us
to leave the site.
So we got back on the road and continued our trek to Havat
Gilad, which is known for attracting
its own set of problems.
Besides it being a hot spot for violence, Israel is known
to come in and routinely bulldoze
these illegal outposts.
But the settlers are always more than happy to rebuild.
So we were curious to see what shape the place was in.
When we arrived, we came upon two teenagers who were
building a house from the ground up.
MALE SPEAKER: [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]