Re: West Bank settlements are good for peace (Israeli Professor)
- From: moshes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 05:39:07 +0000 (UTC)
sheldonlg <sheldonlg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
For the most part, a reasoned piece. See my one in-line comment and my
summary at the end.
I was almost going to say (Look at this, Shelly) in the Header,
but it's not Nettiquette to use names of posters there.
moshes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
West Bank settlements are good for peace
By Prof. Raphael Israeli
Ha'aretz, 9/6/09
One of the axioms of the "peace process" is that the settlements are "an
obstacle to peace," as if removing them would instantly bring peace on
earth.
The second part of this statement is wrong. No one in his right mind
believes that.
Of course not. he said "as if". I think his point is that it's a
waste of diplomatic "effort" to keep harping on the "settlement
issue".
It's well known, however, that before 1967 there were no settlements,
and no peace - unless, of course, you consider the communities within Israel
"settlements," since the Arabs considered them occupied territory. The
greatest contribution of the settlements, then, is that they took the place
of Israeli towns as occupied territory, except perhaps for Hamas and
considerable parts of the Arab world. Therefore, the formula that removing
settlements equals peace is laughable and baseless.
The Arabs' total-denial approach to Israel never depended on settlement on a
particular parcel of land. They are bothered by Jewish settlement in Israel
in general. It's enough to browse through the books of the "moderate"
Palestinian Authority to see that Haifa, Jaffa and even Tel Aviv are
considered Palestinian cities, while Hamas believes the Wakf land of all
Palestine should be expropriated from the Jewish state, which doesn't have
the right to land on either side of the Green Line.
In 2000, Yasser Arafat was offered an Israeli withdrawal from 95% of the
territories in exchange for agreeing to end the conflict. He refused,
because he didn't consider this a full withdrawal from Palestinian land.
Although Israel made yet another step in leaving the Gaza Strip, not only
freezing construction there but evicting the settlers, all it got in return
was more war and destruction, a far cry from the peace that removing this
"obstacle" was supposed to create. In other words, not only did the Arabs
not consider Israel's older settlements different from the new ones that
"endanger peace," but the eviction of the latter drove them to begin
attacking the former.
We know now that one thing that motivated Anwar Sadat to come to Jerusalem
was his fear that unless settlements in the Rafah area and Sinai were
uprooted, they would grow into large cities that no peace agreement could
remove.
The Syrians and Palestinians, on the other hand, believed they had nothing
to lose if they maintained their refusal to negotiate, since their land
would wait for them, frozen in time, until they could graciously take it
back from Israel and then attack again from these positions. They can't
comprehend that they have lost their lands because of their aggression, and
that it is immoral to return to an aggressor the positions from which he
might renew his aggression, since letting him escape without harm only
encourages him to attack again. There can be deterrence only once the
aggressor has paid a price that dissuades him from attacking at whim. This
is what happened to Germany.
So until there is a permanent status agreement, only Jewish settlement
activity can be enough of an incentive to make the Arabs, like Sadat, hurry
up and seek peace, because their losses will multiply the longer they wait.
We know from the Gaza example that the Arabs' goal was not to remove Israel
from precious land, but to uproot Jews and fight them from the land they
left. It is better, then, to keep with the peace-building construction in
communities beyond our borders, and only when we see genuine signs of a
culture of peace and good neighborliness next door to talk about evacuation
- with due consideration to the new reality on the ground, which will change
all the more if the Arabs don't rush toward an agreement.
My position:
There should not be a freeze on settlements (surprise, surprise). Are
they an impediment to the peace process? Yes. However, since the issue
of settlements is really the principal bargaining chip that Israel has,
it should not surrender it before negotiations.
That said, any future settlement activity should be in places that are
contiguous to existing ones and that would promote defensible borders
when (hopefully) a peace settlement is reached. IOW, building a outpost
further into the area will make its defense harder later and would
hamper the negotiations towards a treaty. Settlements should only be
placed so as to logically extend the green line.
Then you should be happy to hear that the Government just authorized
450 housing units ( a very small amount) in precisely such locations.
All of this being considered, a two state solution is not only
inevitable (if there ever is to be peace), it is in Israel's best
interest for simultaneously maintaining a democracy and its Jewish
identity.
But it's the Palestinians who totally reject that idea. And get
away with it. _Israel_ is portrayed as "intransigent"! :-(
--
Moshe Schorr
It is a tremendous Mitzvah to always be happy! - Reb Nachman of Breslov
The home and family are the center of Judaism, *not* the synagogue.
May Eliezer Mordichai b. Chaya Sheina Rochel have a refuah shlaimah
btoch sha'ar cholei Yisroel.
Disclaimer: Nothing here necessarily reflects the opinion of Hebrew University
.
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