Israel’s settlers are winning unprecedented power from the war in Gaza
They are gaining land—and sway over the army, police and politics
他们正在占领土地，并对军队、警察和政治产生影响。
2024年8月29日 04:50 上午 |耶路撒冷
DRIVE ALONG Highway 60, which traverses the West Bank from north to south, and it feels like a real-estate road trip. It is festooned with signs in Hebrew offering “Two Last Apartments in Mitzpe Levona” and promising that “Your Grass Can be Greener” seen from a villa in Tzofim. These are boom times for Israel’s settlers, who are gaining land, military influence and political power.
沿着60号公路开车穿越约旦河西岸，感觉就像在进行一次房地产之旅。路边挂满了用希伯来语写的广告牌，上面写着“米茨佩·莱沃纳还剩最后两套公寓”，并承诺“你的草坪可以更绿”——这是从佐宁别墅看到的景象。对以色列定居者来说，现在正是繁荣时期，他们正在占领土地、影响军队，并获取政治权力。
The war in Gaza has emboldened them. Binyamin Netanyahu’s government depends on settler-backed parties for its majority, giving them huge sway over the prosecution of the conflict and, some fear, a veto-power over any truce. Meanwhile the fighting has boosted the influence of settlers over the army, and provided a smokescreen for more land grabs in the West Bank. As a member of the government puts it: “With everyone distracted, last year by the protests over the legal reform and now by the war, we’ve done unprecedented things for the settlements.”
加沙的战争让他们变得更有底气。本雅明·内塔尼亚胡政府依赖定居者支持的政党来获得多数席位，这使他们在处理冲突方面拥有巨大的影响力，有些人担心，他们还能否决任何停火协议。与此同时，这场战争提高了定居者对军队的影响力，并为在约旦河西岸进行更多土地掠夺提供了幌子。就像一名政府成员所说：“由于每个人都被其他事情分散了注意力，去年是因为法律改革引发的抗议活动，现在是因为战争，我们在定居点方面做了前所未有的事情。”
“It’s like a period of a miracle,” said Orit Strock, the minister in charge of settlements and a member of the hard-right Religious Zionism Party, talking to settlers. “I feel like someone who has been waiting at the traffic-lights and then the green light comes on.” In June the government authorised new settlements with 5,295 houses over 2,965 acres (1,200 hectares). Since 2022 it has also “legalised” planning for outposts that it had not previously recognised. Peace Now, an Israeli NGO which monitors settlement- building, said this was the largest appropriation of land in the West Bank since the Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993.
“这就像是奇迹一般的时刻，”负责定居点事务的宗教犹太复国主义党议员奥里特·斯托克（Orit Strock）对定居者说。“我感觉自己就像在等红绿灯，然后终于亮起了绿灯。” 今年6月，政府批准新建5295套住房，占地2965英亩（1200公顷）的新定居点。自2022年以来，它还“合法化”了此前未获承认的定居点的规划。以色列非政府组织“和平现在”表示，这是自1993年以色列与巴勒斯坦签署奥斯陆协议以来，在约旦河西岸划拨最大一块土地。
The consensus among international-law experts is that all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids countries to transfer population into occupied areas. The International Court of Justice underlined this view in July. Israel disagrees, claiming that the status of the land is contested and has Jewish associations going back millennia. Today around half a million settlers occupy parts of the West Bank. Another 200,000 live in neighbourhoods of Jerusalem east of the 1967 borders, which Israel has formally annexed.
国际法专家们一致认为，根据《第四次日内瓦公约》，以色列在约旦河西岸的所有定居点都是违法的，因为这个公约禁止国家向被占领地区转移人口。今年7月，国际法院也强调了这一观点。不过以色列持有不同看法，声称该地区的地位存在争议，并且有着数千年的犹太历史渊源。目前，在约旦河西岸部分地区居住着大约50万名定居者。此外，还有20万人生活在1967年边界以东耶路撒冷的社区中，而这些社区已被以色列正式吞并。
Some of those settlements were built with the approval or encouragement of the government of the day. Others have sprung up in defiance of the country’s leaders. But there is no mistaking the current government’s stance. In addition to Ms Strock’s ministry, which funnels state funds to the settlements, her party’s leader, Bezalel Smotrich, a settler, is Israel’s finance minister and also has responsibility for much of the non-military administration of the West Bank within the ministry of defence.
一些定居点是在当时政府的批准或鼓励下建造的，而其他一些则是无视国家领导人的反对而兴起的。但当前政府的立场毫无疑问。除了斯托克女士负责向定居点提供国家资金外，她所在政党的领袖、也是定居者的贝扎雷尔·斯莫特里奇（Bezalel Smotrich）还担任以色列财政部长，并且在国防部内主管西岸大部分非军事行政事务。
Not all settlers belong to the ideological national-religious community that sees living in the West Bank as part of a sacred mission to occupy the Jewish biblical heartland. Plenty are secular or ultra-Orthodox Israelis who have taken advantage of lower house prices in big settlements close to the 1967 border. But the smaller outposts deep in the West Bank, whose members clash with neighbouring Palestinian villagers, are nearly all religious (see map). They see their presence there as part of their duty to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Holy Land.
并不是所有的定居者都来自那种意识形态上认为在约旦河西岸生活是神圣使命的国家宗教社区。很多人其实是世俗派或极端正统派以色列人，他们之所以选择住在靠近1967年边界的大型定居点，主要是因为那里的房价更便宜。但深入约旦河西岸的一些小型定居点几乎全部由信仰虔诚的成员组成（见地图）。他们认为自己在这里存在的目的之一就是阻止巴勒斯坦在圣地建立一个国家。
That mission is becoming increasingly bloody. Settler violence in the West Bank has increased sharply since October 7th. On August 26th armed settlers attacked a tiny Palestinian village just south of Bethlehem. Israeli soldiers followed. A Palestinian man was killed. On August 15th settlers set homes and cars alight in the Palestinian village of Jit and killed a 22-year- old man. Mr Netanyahu condemned them. But locals said Israeli soldiers were present during the attack and did not intervene for some time. The UN says this was the 11th murder of a Palestinian by settlers since the Gaza war began.
这项任务变得越来越暴力。自10月7日以来，西岸的定居者暴力事件急剧增加。8月26日，武装定居者袭击了伯利恒以南的一个小型巴勒斯坦村庄。随后以色列士兵赶到，一名巴勒斯坦男子丧生。8月15日，定居者在巴勒斯坦村庄杰特纵火焚烧房屋和汽车，并杀害了一名22岁的男子。内塔尼亚胡总理谴责了他们的行为，但当地人表示，在袭击发生时有以色列士兵在场，并且没有立即进行干预。联合国称这是自加沙战争开始以来第11起由定居者对巴勒斯坦人的谋杀案件。
There have been only a handful of arrests. According to Israeli officials, since the appointment of Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party (and a settler too), as minister of national security, the Israeli police have been reluctant to conduct investigations into settler violence. The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal-security agency, was asked to investigate the murder in Jit. Israel’s law-enforcement and security agencies are working at cross- purposes. The police, under the control of Mr Ben-Gvir, are standing aside. Meanwhile the Shin Bet is dedicating substantial resources to preventing what its director, Ronen Bar, in a recent letter to ministers, called “Jewish terror”. Israel’s prosecution services have started investigating attacks on Palestinians properly only because the government is worried that Western allies may impose sanctions on settlers.
只有少数人被抓捕。据以色列官员说，自从任命了犹太力量党领导人伊塔马尔·本-吉维尔为国家安全部长以来，以色列警方不愿调查定居者暴力事件。辛贝特（Shin Bet）被要求调查基特的谋杀案。以色列的执法和安全机构工作相互矛盾。在本-吉维尔的控制下，警方却选择了置身事外。与此同时，辛贝特正在投入大量资源防止其负责人罗南·巴尔在写给部长们的一封信中所说的“犹太恐怖主义”。由于担心西方盟友可能对定居者实施制裁，以色列检察机构才开始认真调查针对巴勒斯坦人的袭击事件。
Continuing operations against Palestinian militants by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) make it harder to keep a lid on settler violence in the West Bank. On August 27th Israel embarked on its largest operation there since October 7th, with incursions into the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm.
以色列国防军(IDF)对巴勒斯坦武装分子的持续打击使得在约旦河西岸遏制定居者暴力行为变得更加困难。8月27日，以色列在杰宁和图尔卡姆两座城市展开了自10月7日以来规模最大的行动。
The secular old guard laments
老一辈世俗派人士感到遗憾
Israel’s generals seem worried. Major-General Yehuda Fuchs left his post in July as head of the IDF Central Command, in effect the military governor of the West Bank, with a blistering speech accusing the settlers of allowing a “minority” to engage in “ultranationalist criminal activity”. “Under the cover of the war and the lust for revenge” they were, he said, “terrorising Palestinian civilians who posed no threat”. But even amid such warnings, many soldiers have taken part in this violence while in uniform, using their IDF-issued weapons.
以色列的将军们似乎很担心。今年7月，耶胡达·福克斯中将辞去了以色列国防军（IDF）中央司令部指挥官的职务，实际上是西岸地区的军事总督，他在离职时发表了一篇措辞激烈的演讲，指责定居者允许“少数人”从事“极端民族主义犯罪活动”。他表示，这些人“打着战争和复仇的旗号”，“恐吓那些没有构成威胁的巴勒斯坦平民”。尽管发出了这样的警告，但许多士兵在穿着制服、使用以色列国防军配发的武器的情况下参与了这些暴力活动。
Settlers are an increasingly big part of the IDF. Bnei David was Israel’s first pre-military academy. It was established in the settlement of Eli in 1988 and offers religious and military training. Thousands of its students have joined Israel’s armed forces. One graduate was a military secretary to Mr Netanyahu. West Bank settlers are only 5% of Israel’s population, but they are heavily represented in the IDF’s combat units and are climbing the promotion ladder. The new general of Central Command lived as a child on a settlement and studied at the Eli academy. Ron Shapsberg is an army officer who tracks religious Zionists’ grip on the army. “They’re well educated, ideologically driven and mentally strong. They’re engineering a quiet revolution.”
定居者正成为以色列国防军（IDF）中越来越重要的一部分。大卫之子是以色列第一所预备役学院。它成立于埃利定居点，于1988年成立，提供宗教和军事培训。数千名学生加入了以色列武装部队。一名毕业生曾担任内塔尼亚胡总理的军事秘书。西岸定居者只占以色列人口的5%，但他们在IDF的作战单位中占有相当大的比例，并且在晋升方面也表现突出。新任中央司令部总司令在孩提时代就住在定居点，并在埃利学院学习。罗恩·沙普斯伯格是一名追踪宗教犹太人对军队影响力的军官。“他们受教育程度高，思想上坚定，心理上强大。他们正在悄然改变军队。”
They are changing the character of the Middle East’s most powerful army, once mostly secular. This can be seen in the war in Gaza, where many units hold prayers before going into battle and soldiers adorn their combat fatigues with patches depicting the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem or the word “Messiah”.
他们正在改变中东最强大的军队的性质，这个军队过去主要是世俗化的。在加沙战争中就能看到这一点，很多部队出发前会集体祈祷，士兵们还会在作战服上贴上描绘古代耶路撒冷犹太圣殿或“弥赛亚”字样的标志。
The settler movement has experienced setbacks since 1967. Settlements in Sinai were dismantled when Israel made peace with Egypt in the early 1980s. The Oslo accords gave the Palestinian Authority limited control in Gaza and parts of the West Bank. But the settlers’ worst trauma was the “disengagement” of 2005, when Israel withdrew entirely from the Gaza Strip and evicted over 8,000 settlers living there. The settlers’ pain for what they still call “the banishment” persists. Today, soldiers in Gaza have erected “We Have Returned!” banners on the sites of former outposts.
自1967年以来，定居者运动经历了不少挫折。80年代初，以色列和埃及达成和平协议后，西奈半岛上的定居点被拆除。《奥斯陆协议》让巴勒斯坦当局在加沙和约旦河西岸部分地区有了一些限制性控制权。但对定居者来说，最大的打击是2005年的“撤离”，那时以色列完全从加沙地带撤出，并驱逐了8000多名住在那里的定居者。他们至今仍然痛苦不堪于心这一被称为“流放”的事件。如今，在加沙，士兵们在前哨基地遗址上竖起了标语牌，“我们已回归！”
For most Israelis the war in Gaza is a tragedy. But many settlers see it differently. “For this movement, which historically saw secular Zionism as just a prelude to a much wider process of divine redemption, the war has come at a serendipitous moment, when they are at an unexpected peak of their political power,” says Tomer Persico, an expert on modern Jewish thought at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. “For them it is a heavenly sign, a miracle.”
对于大多数以色列人来说，加沙战争是一场悲剧。但许多定居者却有不同的看法。“对于这个运动来说，历史上他们认为世俗犹太复国主义只是神圣救赎更广泛过程的一个序幕，这场战争恰逢其时，因为他们正处在政治权力意外巅峰。”耶路撒冷沙龙哈特曼研究所（Shalom Hartman Institute）现代犹太思想专家托默·佩里西科（Tomer Persico）表示。“对他们而言，这是天赐的征兆，是奇迹。”
Mr Netanyahu insists that his government does not intend to rebuild the settlements in Gaza and that Israel’s presence is strictly for security purposes. But ministers in his government have been at rallies calling for Gaza’s Palestinian population to be deported and Jewish towns to be built instead. Daniella Weiss is a veteran settler who backs such policies. She recalls half a century ago in the West Bank: “First there were IDF bases. Then we came along and settled the land”.
内塔尼亚胡坚称他的政府没有打算在加沙重新建立定居点，以色列的存在完全是出于安全目的。但他政府中的一些部长却参加了要求将加沙的巴勒斯坦人口驱逐出境并代之以犹太人定居点的集会。丹妮拉·魏斯(Daniella Weiss)是支持这类政策的老牌定居者。她回忆起半个世纪前在约旦河西岸发生过的事情：“首先，那里有以色列国防军(IDF)基地。然后我们来了，在这片土地上安家落户。”
