DEIR DIBWAN, WEST BANK ¨C The Jewish settler outpost of Or Meir is small. A handful of prefabricated white shelters, it sits at the end of a short dirt track on a hill leading up from Road 60, a major route that dissects the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Over time, similar modest dwellings have turned into sprawling Israeli housing developments, part of a plan that members of Israel¡¯s Cabinet acknowledge they have implemented to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state.
The process can be violent. A Bedouin family said attackers who descended from Or Meir hurling Molotov cocktails drove them off Palestinian-owned land nearby last year. They fear they won¡¯t ever be able to return.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.