>One thing that I am sure about is absolutely no more settlements. NO MORE!!!. If Israel wants to accept all Jewish immigrants unconditionally, it needs to find a way to live more densely. There should be no more expansion. Israel has continued to accept immigration and in order to accommodate them just bulldozed a few Palestinians houses and kick them out. And of course some people just believe in expansion of Israel at all cost. This must stop.
It has nothing to do with immigration. The large settlements were established as outposts where soldiers could live and try to keep the conflict out of Israel proper (like Ma'aleh Adumim, really a protective extension of Jerusalem). I'm not so sure those should be dismantled. The smaller ones (and some really are just like, ten people) are zealots who really do advocate expansionism... those people should be pulled back, and would be in a peace agreement.
Of course, settlers are not Israeli citizens, and the government is not building settlements anymore; they're just allowing people who wish to do so to do so at their own risk...
One thing to note is that Palestinian homes have not been destroyed to create settlements... the settlers merely find uninhabited areas. When you see homes destroyed, it's either because (A) they were built on public property without a permit, (B) they were used as places for gunmen to shoot from, or (C) they had tunnels underneath them.
Now, the reason I asked how you felt about them, is that I find the juxtaposition of the Palestinian insistence on a right of return alongside the instistence on the dismantling of settlements... it's stating that the Palestinians MUST be able to return to Israel, yet no Jews would be allowed to live in a Palestinian state. Even Sari Nusseibeh, the PLO chief in Jerusalem, who is considered a real dove, says that Jews should not be allowed to live in a Palestinian state at all. That's racism to me.
Now, back to the Israeli/Arab towns issue... as I said, back in British times, those town were established as a realistic way to keep the two "pugilists" in different corners... Definitely not racist. Now, the problem is that the fighting just isn't over, and putting a couple of Arabs among lots of Jews just wouldn't be a good idea for the Arabs and putting a couple of Jews where there are lots of Arabs wouldn't be so good for those Jews... of course, as I said, the Israeli Supreme Court has declared these policies unconstitutional, but from a realistic more than racist perspective, these towns aren't jumping to open their doors to people that potentially could be abused. A peace agreement would go a long way here.
-Z |
