Israelis end tax siege at Beit Sahur

Palestinians jubilant as barricades tumble

Associated Press

Israelis end tax siege at Beit Sahur — The Baltimore Sun, 1 November 1989 — The Baltimore Sun · 1 November 1989

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BEIT SAHUR, Occupied West Bank (AP) — The Israeli army took down the barricades around this Palestinian town yesterday, ending 42 days of seizing cars, furniture and other goods to crush a tax boycott.

But as hundreds of jubilant townspeople waved “V” signs and sang, military authorities said they had succeeded in breaking the revolt, seizing the equivalent of more than $1.5 million to make up for unpaid taxes. “We are always collecting taxes. We have always collected taxes. We are the authorities,” said Brig. Gen.

Shaike Erez, head of the West Bank military government. Hanan Banura, 25, a mother of two whose husband is in jail for refusing to pay taxes, said the town’s defiance strengthened the 22-month-old Palestinian uprising against occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “We won something here,” she said.

“We did what we wanted to do, not what they wanted.” The bulldozers that pushed away the earthen mound blocking off the Christian Arab town of 10,000 people ended Beit Sahur’s unlikely role as a symbol of the revolt against occupation. It is a town of large, prosperous-looking homes of sun-bleached stone located down steep, winding roads from Bethlehem.

Until recently, its middle-class residents were derided as “rich revolutionaries” by poor Palestinians in refugee camps who fought Israelis with stones and firebombs. Of the more than 600 Palestinians killed in clashes with soldiers or civilians in the uprising, only one died in Beit Sahur.

But Beit Sahur, known mostly for the fields where shepherds first learned of Christ’s birth, kept up the boycott of Israeli taxes ordered by the PLO-backed leaders of the uprising long after most other Palestinians gave in to Israeli pressure. Much to Israel’s consternation, the tax revolt has gotten as much publicity as the uprising’s persistent violence.

Journalists who sneaked into Beit Sahur described refrigerators, rugs, cars, televisions and all manner of goods being hauled away. On one side, townspeople complained against “taxation without representation.” On the other, Israel claimed it was seizing goods only to collect taxes to support schools, roads and other services.

Israeli officials said that debts from 398 major tax debtors were “handled” in the six-week campaign and that confiscated goods included 33 cars, bank accounts and cash. A statement by military officials said soldiers also arrested 40 tax debtors. Thirty-five have been indicted.

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"Israelis end tax siege at Beit Sahur," The Baltimore Sun, 1 November 1989. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1989-040. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1989-040