Tax strike for justice
Martin, George & Manney, James
REPORT FROM BEIT SAHOUR TAX STRIKE FOR JUSTICE BUILDING AUTONOMY All was not calm and bright in the shepherds' fields of Bethlehem this Christmas. The fields surround Beit Sahour, a Palestinian...
...These gardens were found threatening by the military authorities: they closed down a small business which sold seedlings and put an agricultural expert in six months' "administrative detention" in what has been called "the battle of the vegetables...
...But their fundamental challenge is to the occupation itself: Palestinians want their own democratically elected government...
...Christmas was therefore a bit somber this year in the shepherds' fields...
...The main export of the West Bank and Gaza seems to be cheap day labor...
...Two slogans express the spirit and rationale of the tax revolt: "no taxation without representation" and "no taxation without services...
...There are limits and regulations on what Palestinians are able to import and export...
...Palestinians do not feel they receive services commensurate with the taxes they pay...
...The U.S...
...sometimes their relatives were summoned to appear before authorities...
...The blockade of Beit Sahour prevented food supplies from reaching the village...
...The country of Israel is a democracy, but democracy stops at the "Green Line" separating Israel from the occupied territories, which are under the rule of the Israeli army...
...An army leaflet signed by the military commander warned that the people of Beit Sahour "will go hungry" if they do not end their tax revolt...
...They prayed for justice, and prayed as well that the rest of the world will not ignore them in their struggle...
...Telephone service was cut off...
...Palestinians charge that the occupation has been highly profitable for Israel, with millions of dollars more collected annually in taxes than are expended in services...
...The Christians of Beit Sahour and Bethlehem celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace into a land which knows little peace...
...Those in Beit Sahour say that the property taken bore no relation to the taxes owed...
...This Christmas, Beit Sahour and Bethlehem were in the eye of the intifada...
...Palestinians have been reluctant taxpayers throughout the years of occupation...
...Israeli occupation since 1967 has not been any more conducive to the West Bank developing its own economy...
...The military administration of the occupied territories is supported by taxes paid by Palestinians, chiefly an income tax paid by individuals and a value added tax paid by businesses...
...From September 22 to October 31 the town was declared a "closed military zone," and no nonresident was permitted to enter...
...Israel protects its own agriculture from Palestinian competition, while making the occupied territories something of a captive market for its products...
...Palestinians are refused permits to dig new wells for crop irrigation while Jewish settlers in the West Bank are granted permits or receive water from the national water system at reduced rates...
...Some were arrested with the threat of being held until their taxes were paid...
...Before the intifada, over 100,000 Palestinians crossed the "Green Line" each day...
...The siege of Beit Sahour was lifted on October 31, but reim-posed again on November 2. Since then the Israeli military has opened and closed the town on almost a day-by-day basis...
...A military spokesman denied that any property was seized in excess of the amount of taxes owed, but allowed that second-hand goods would have limited value when sold at auction-implying that a great deal was seized to assure that taxes were covered...
...Soldiers went from house to house to seize the property of those who had not paid their taxes...
...Neither under Jordanian nor Israeli rule has the West Bank been able to develop an industrial base...
...Bank accounts of tax protesters were frozen...
...Israeli Defense Minister Yitzak Rabin reportedly told a Knesset committee that he was resolved "to teach a lesson" to the residents of Beit Sahour and that the civil disobedience campaign could not be allowed to succeed...
...estimates range from $ 1.5 to $5 million...
...some of the olive wood manger sets and mother-of-pearl crosses sold in the tourist shops of Bethlehem are made by the craftsmen of Beit Sahour...
...It is difficult to put a value on the confiscated property...
...The town has been relatively peaceful during the intifada, though two of its young people have been killed by Israeli soldiers...
...What makes Beit Sahour distinctive is the tax revolt its citizens have undertaken as an act of civil disobedience in protest of the Israeli occupation...
...A pharmacist saw his stock of medicine hauled away...
...The fields surround Beit Sahour, a Palestinian town of twelve thousand just east of Bethlehem...
...Rather, they seem firmly resolved to continue their civil disobedience until the occupation ends...
...The people of Beit Sahour have refused to pay these taxes-refusing, in effect, to finance their own occupation...
...The intent of Israel seems to go beyond merely collecting taxes due and to carrying out a determined effort to suppress any organized dissent to the occupation, however nonviolently may be carried out...
...There are reports of houses and workshops being stripped down to the bare walls...
...Palestinians travel into Israel as low-paid manual laborers in agriculture and construction, returning home each night because they are forbidden to remain without a special permit...
...Their tax revolt has in fact spread to Bethlehem, resulting in similar confiscations of property...
...Beit Sahour's tax strike took on a life of its own in the summer of 1989 and the Israeli military responded with harsh measures...
...They say that their taxes have gone to build new prisons in which they are made prisoners...
...There is another important economic factor: Israel runs a sizable trade surplus with the West Bank and Gaza...
...A continuing dialogue between the Palestinians of Beit Sahour and Jewish peace activists attempts to bridge the chasm that separates their people...
...Schools are grossly inadequate, with overcrowded classrooms...
...An Israeli military spokesman denied that the occupation turns a profit for Israel, claiming that taxes collected and expenditures made were not diverted to Israel but kept in a revolving account...
...Nor is there an independent judiciary...
...There have been no municipal elections since 1976 and many of the officials elected then have been removed from office or deported...
...justice is in the hands of the Israeli military...
...Some of the people of Beit Sahour planted gardens in 1988 with the idea of creating a "home economy...
...In 1989 what was previously a matter of sporadic individual noncompliance became a concerted community effort in Beit Sahour...
...Their convoy was turned back...
...Dusk-to-dawn curfews were imposed on Beit Sahour, confining people to their houses...
...This kept the Israeli and foreign press from witnessing the seizure of goods, and the harassment which allegedly accompanied it...
...Mayor Elias Freij of Bethlehem, one of the few Palestinian mayors remaining in office, reported that Palestinians pay $ 1.00 per cubic meter of water while Jewish settlers pay $. 10 per cubic meter for irrigation and $. 15 for household use...
...consul general in Jerusalem canceled a scheduled visit on October 11 after being told he would not be allowed to enter...
...This perceived economic exploitation forms a part of the background of the intifada and the tax revolt of Beit Sahour...
...Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah denounced the closure of the village and confiscation of property: "What is going on in Beit Sahour is unjust-it is not acceptable to any churchman or any spiritual man who has a human conscience...
...Many in Beit Sahour have become impoverished because of their stand, but they show little sign of giving in...
...For its part, Israel seems to have recognized that the chief threat posed by the intifada lies not in stone throwing and tire burning, but in the development of an autonomous Palestinian economic and social fabric...
...About 80 percent of the inhabitants of Beit Sahour are Christian, mainly Greek Orthodox and Latin (Roman) Catholic...
...On October 6, the consuls of Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Spain, and Sweden attempted to visit Beit Sahour on a fact-finding mission and were turned back at a military roadblock...
...During its rule from 1948 to 1967 Jordan wanted Palestinian money invested east of the Jordan River...
...The military responded by declaring the hotel and its adjoining streets another "closed military zone" and barricading it against journalists...
...GEORGE MARTIN & JAMES MANNEY George Martin, editor of God's Word Today, and James Manney, editor of New Covenant, recently visited Jordan, Israel, and the occupied territories on a fact-finding trip sponsored by Mercy Corps International.ercy Corps International...
...a woodworking shop's equipment was confiscated...
...Any possessions were fair game: furniture, automobiles, a craftman's tools, even a clothes washer emptied out and taken in midcycle...
...On October 27, the Latin (Roman Catholic), Greek Orthodox, and Armenian patriarchs of Jerusalem, accompanied by their bishops, attempted to bring three trucks of food into Beit Sahour...
...So too is the tactic employed by the leaders of the intifada in Gaza: to destroy the special identity cards required for day laborers to enter into Israel...
...So too is the Palestinian boycott of goods made in Israel-a boycott that has resulted in a drastic reduction of exports from Israel to the occupied territories...
...It is difficult to know how consciously Israel hampered agricultural and economic development in the occupied territories in order to insure economic dependence and a pool of cheap labor, but that is the apparent result after twenty-two years of occupation...
...Since no one could enter Beit Sahour, representatives of Beit Sahour scheduled a press conference on October 3 in a Jerusalem hotel...
...The number of hospital beds has declined during the twenty-two years of occupation, even as the population has greatly increased...
...So too is planting one's own vegetable garden in order to become more self-sufficient...
...It is a relatively prosperous town with many small businesses and cottage industries...
...Nonpayment of taxes is a way of protesting the economic consequences of occupation...
...Some headlines in the Israeli press would lead one to believe that the matter is settled and everything has returned to normal, but the tax raids continue and the conflict is far from over...
Vol. 117 • January 1990 • No. 2
