The Tax Resistance at Bayt Sahur

Abstract

On Tuesday, 31 October, 1989, the 42-day curfew on the West Bank village of Bayt Sahur was lifted. This village of 12,000 had been under military closure and curfew since the afternoon of 20 September. During those six weeks, property and money valued between 1.5 and 7.5 million dollars belonging to 350 of the village's 1,000 families had been confiscated by Israeli tax authorities protected by troops of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). As part of the Palestinian popular uprising-the intifada-the residents (the Sahuris) have chosen as a form of non-violent resistance to the occupation neither to pay taxes to the occupying Israeli authorities nor to file tax returns during the course of the uprising. Israeli tax notifications have been ignored and warnings unheeded. The Israeli retribution, when it came, was severe collective punishment. The confiscation of property and freezing of financial assets have all but wiped out the productive base of the village. The people of Bayt Sahur do not know what will follow, but for the moment the raids, closure, and curfew have ceased. Remarkably, the first impression for one visiting Bayt Sahur in the days immediately following the lifting of the military closure is one of a community celebrating a victory. Entering the all-but-empty homes, there is no question of the