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Breaking an Israeli taboo: The religious settler who became a peace activist

Ben Lynfield
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Published: 21 September 2021

Last updated: 4 March 2024

Shabtay Bendet used to throw stones at Palestinian cars; now he monitors illegal outposts. He tells Ben Lynfield why he changed paths and how to persuade the public to do the same

REIHAN SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK – It took more than a half hour of searching the rocky hillsides of the northern West Bank and a little luck, but Shabtay Bendet, the highly motivated monitor of settler activity for Peace Now, found what he was looking for.

The settlers were away, but the tin cylinder, Israeli flag, penned in sheep, six structures and a tent all are part of one of the latest illegal and formally unauthorised settler outposts in the occupied West Bank. The settlers call it al-Naveh farm, a few kilometres away from the established Reihan settlement.

They see it as "redemption" of the land and a step towards the coming of the messiah that justifies breaking both Israeli and international law. Bendet, however, views the outpost as a manifestation of the occupation's disregard of Palestinian rights and humanity, something which, he worries, could one day lead to their expulsion

"If we continue to roll along with this conflict as it is, there is a possibility there will be an attempt to expel them," he says, agreeing with such predictions by other peace activists.

"But I have a more positive goal: ending the occupation and conflict. That is where I am trying to get."

More than anyone else on the Israeli left, Bendet, 48, knows what he is talking about when it comes to the belief system of the hard core of messianic settlers, one of the most powerful groups in the country that often sways both the government and army.

In an earlier phase of his life, he used to be one of them, a true believer in Greater Israel. The softly spoken, casually dressed activist who smokes rolled cigarettes as he steers his black Subaru through the dirt paths on the outer perimeter of settlements, recording all visible new construction, was something of a pioneer and local leader in the old days. In 1996, he helped consolidate the West Bank's first settlement outpost, Rachelim, south of Nablus.

While all settlements built on land captured by Israel during the 1967 war contravene the Fourth Geneva Convention's ban on countries moving their nationals into occupied territory, unauthorised outposts also violate Israeli law, although successive governments have looked the other way.

Reihan settlement
Reihan settlement

Bendet's journey from ideological settler to anti-settlement activist, that began in 2005, is a path rarely taken that so upsets settler leaders that they do not want to talk about it. Looking back on his Rechalim years, Bendet seems to feel very remorseful, even guilty about what he did.

Illegally, he smuggled construction materials into Rachelim and even violated a Supreme Court order. "I threw stones at Palestinian cars, poisoned olive trees so that we could take over the land and forced away Palestinian farmers who tried to reach their plots close to Rachelim," he recalls.

"It's awful and terrible, very grave with a lot of evil and blindness towards a population under occupation. I thought of them as all being terrorists. At the time I saw things as black and white."

He says he  believed in the national-religious ideology of the messianic settlers that the establishment of Israel was the start of a "redemption process" that would culminate in the coming of messiah.

"Along the way, we have to cling to the territory even if the state doesn't, as part of the process of redemption. This is the flag of the national-religious public.

I wanted to guard the territories. The thinking is that the more settlers there are the less chance they will be returned.

"I wanted to guard the territories so that they won't be returned. The thinking is that the more settlers there are the less chance they will be returned," he explains.

What started Bendet on the path that eventually led him to become a Peace Now staffer in 2017, fighting the occupation, was a crisis in religious faith and an independent cast of minded that led him to question the national-religious beliefs and lifestyle he grew up with.

"The process of questioning, of leaving the religion did not in the beginning revolve around the question of whether there is a god or not," he explains. "I reached the conclusion that I don't believe in the religious pathway of life. Only at a later stage did I deal with it and come to the conclusion that there is no God."

"I can't say there was any one single point that caused me to turn around," he adds.

Continuing his quest, Bendet decided he needed to gain an understanding of Palestinians. After he left Rachelim in 2009, Bendet worked in a journalism job that enabled him to find out about life in Palestinian villages. He reached some tough conclusions about his country.

You begin to develop doubt and you understand that the country doesn't allow Palestinians any opportunity to develop in any realm.

"We continue to rule and to increase the friction. The ends don't justify the means because there are people suffering. You begin to develop doubt and criticism and you understand that the country doesn't allow Palestinians any opportunity to develop in any realm be it water, construction, anything. 

“You understand that there is a population of millions who are invisible and not allowed anything and you reach the conclusion that you must fight this."

He says he tries to stop settlements for Peace Now mainly because he loves the state of Israel. "I care very much and as a citizen it's important to me to do things that will influence the situation for the better. I want to give what I can.

"I want to go to the territory and do things that will make a change."

He is undeterred that at the moment it seems that few Israelis care about the occupation and that the government is fully behind it. There are 140 illegal outposts the state has de facto backed, seven of them established this year, he says.

Bendet believes change will come from within. The settlers are highly motivated and the Left needs to try harder, he says. "I believe that we can convince people and that we have work to deal with the right-wing public.

“There's truth to the accusation that the Left is elitist and we have to connect with new circles such as Ethiopians and Russians and even convince Rightists. The Left is small and it has to get bigger. So we have to talk to everyone possible."

“There's truth to the accusation that the Left is elitist; we have to connect with new circles such as Ethiopians and Russians and even convince Rightists.

Asked about Bendet's transformation, veteran settler leader Daniella Weiss, who lives in Kedumim in the northern West Bank, told Plus 61J Media: "I don't get involved with this. I am busy with young people and I focus on the positive."

As for the view that some settlers steal land from Palestinians and behave illegally, Weiss said "this is a claim of the enemies of Israel who view anything connected to Jews as not good, whether it is in Israel or the Diaspora."

Photo: Shabtay Bendet (supplied)

About the author

Ben Lynfield

Ben Lynfield covered Israeli and Palestinian politics for The Independent and served as Middle Eastern affairs correspondent at the Jerusalem Post. He writes for publications in the region and has contributed to the Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy and the New Statesman.

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