Latest on Settlements
Israel OKs Expansion of Jewish Settlements
JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense ministry has approved in recent weeks the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a settlement watchdog group said Sunday.
The expansions of the settlements were the first in years, the group said. The United States opposes such settlement activity on lands that Israel captured in 1967 and the Palestinians want for a future state.
The Israeli army signed last week an order for the expansion of the Beitar Ilit settlement near Jerusalem by 100 acres, said the leader of the Peace Now group, Yariv Oppenheimer. The expansion of the legal boundaries of the settlement will connect it to Israel proper, Oppenheimer said.
He said other settlements have been expanded but did not have full details.
Israel Radio reported Sunday that, in addition to Beitar Ilit, the settlements of Givat Zeev, Oranit and Maskiot have been expanded by order of the defense ministry, the radio said. The orders were signed by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, the radio said.
Settlement by definition and by wikipedia
Full story
I don’t know where Masciot is, but the other settlements listed in the AP item all fit quite clearly in the “blocks of settlement” that even Olmie says he will retain. Oranim, Givat Ze’ev, and Beitar Ilit are already suburbs in everything in name, both by location and population.
So what’s the big news here?
I agree with Ben-David–determining the borders of the Palestinian State due to the failures of the Jordanian Army in 1947-8 and then again in 1967 is ridiculous. Defining the state by population concentration makes more sense–so the more Jews in Israel, and the more Palestinians in Palestine, the more viable both states will be in the long-run, and, therefore, the more possible there will actually be peace.
Ariel, do you mean seriously to move the border to remove some hundreds of thousands of Israeli Arabs from the state of Israel? That’s kind of worrisome… some of those people are friends of mine, and the thought of somehow exiling them from our shared state sounds less appealing that working towards true equality….
I’d prefer to keep the border where it is, let those settlers know that their postal code is no longer in Israel…. since, in fact, they drove out of Israel and into the West Bank.
In other words, I’d prefer to build my Israeli democracy with my good friends the Israeli Arabs but withuot my bitter rivals the settlers. One camp clings to Israel proper and demands full Democracy; the other endangers Israel and supports the dimishment of Democratic rights for all.
In other words, I’d prefer to build my Israeli democracy with my good friends the Israeli Arabs but withuot my bitter rivals the settlers. One camp clings to Israel proper and demands full Democracy; the other endangers Israel and supports the dimishment of Democratic rights for all.
Charles:
Nice job of painting every circumcised resident over the green line with a pretty damn broad brush.
How is what you said any better than a Jew saying that all Palestinians are terrorists?
We’ve got to avoid these labels and begin seeing people as individual humans if we’re going to get anywhere in this conflict.
Brother Yaakov,
It was wrong of me to demonize all settlers the way I did. It’s also wrong to make the case that ‘all’ Israeli Arabs are worthy of my friendship and support.
My point is still relevant, but the door should be more open for nuance and compassion for all.
Sigh.
Amen.
Yaakov: Other than the Christians, a small minority, the Palestinians are all circumcised too.
“In other words, I’d prefer to build my Israeli democracy with my good friends the Israeli Arabs but withuot my bitter rivals the settlers. One camp clings to Israel proper and demands full Democracy; the other endangers Israel and supports the dimishment of Democratic rights for all. ”
Thanks for that summary. I could spend years talking till I’m blue in the face about the danger that the Left poses to Jews and Israel; Charles accomplishes this in one paragraph.
heh. we’re all friends here, so let’s be honest: I feel very loyal to the Jewish people, and wish only the best for the people living in my state of Israel. But no loyalty at all for an ethno-religious state of Israel. Call me an Israeli patriot who supports full equality (in language, state symbols, rights and responsibilities) for all Israelis living inside the state of Israel, bar none.
Anyone wanna parse out how that’s dangerous? It’s sort of what American Jews take for granted…. can’t we allow our brethren in Israel enjoy the freedoms we have?
Yaakov: Other than the Christians, a small minority, the Palestinians are all circumcised too. Erm, that was his point. Natch.
Ariel, do you mean seriously to move the border to remove some hundreds of thousands of Israeli Arabs from the state of Israel? At the very least, they should be given the option via referendum. Many “Israeli Arabs” in fact identify as Palestinians. With the creation of a Palestinian state, they should certainly have the right to elect membership in the Palestinian polity.
Charles: You can visit your Pali friends – just like Lisa Goldman visits her friends in Ramallah, and hosts Lebanese and other bloggers.
They just don’t have to be citizens of Israel.
Why exactly can’t we eat “hummus in Damascus” like the peaceniks promised during Oslo?
Why exactly don’t most Israelis feel comfortable shopping and lunching in Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarm, and other places they used to go to?
Settler intransigence? Sure, that’s it…. nothing to do with all those buses blowing up… nahhh, it’s Those Darn Settlers….
Pathetic… but far be it from me to hold you back – if you’ve got Israeli citizenship, turn in your passport and become a Pali.
I can’t believe I photoshopped Amir Peretz’s face onto the Lubavich moshiach poster 🙁
Ben David,
I’ll be using my Israeli citizenship strategically, in the following ways:
– to enhance my credibility when undermining Israel’s ability to maintain the occupation
– to argue against theocracy in Israel and for the American pluralistic model of Judaism
– to help Palestinians in the West Bank – maybe by joining Anarchists Against the Wall, maybe the Sabeel Center, who knows..
– to support the right of Israel to self determine its own future, inclusive of Palestinian Israelis and exclusive of Jews who aren’t citizens.
My Israeli citizenship (and identity) isn’t a gift, to be taken away over a political argument. And what I assert is true for all Israelis, goes double for Palestinians who must live with the ghosts and remnents of recent disposession.
Enjoy!
(BTW, the main reason Israelis can’t, and shouldn’t enjoy hummus in Jenin is that our army is fighting a bloody counter-insurgency war against the Palestinian people, with a heavy cost in lives and property. During the Oslo period, it was sometimes different. Jenin has wonderful knafeh!)
Wow, not one person on this thread, or reading this story, is critiquing the expansion of settlments??? how interesting, and well, honestly, disturbing.
Cole,
it’s cuz deep down, we all are sick of having goyim (and other Jews) tell us where to live. Look at the Jews in the states, most don’t want to be relegated to the traditional Jewish neighbourhoods and move out to new areas.
The bluff is over. We now know that the settlements have little to do with the current ‘counter-insurgency’ war. More people can now identify with the Gush Katif refugees who were kicked out of their homes and told to live where everyone else was living. Many people also now see the utter uselessness of the disengagement and how the terrorist attacks have not stopped, and the missles are still raining on Sderot and Ashkelon.
Here ya go, John Brown:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/16/150251
JONATHAN POLLAK: Well, I think that Amir Peretz definitely has different rhetorics, but it should be clear that the Israeli left has been using rhetorics with complete – with absolutely no connection to their practices on the ground, and I have no hope that this will actually change the political situation in Israel. People should remember that the left was in control in 1948 with the expulsions. It was in control in 1967 when Israel occupied the Occupied Territories. It was in control when the settlement project, the illegal settlement project in the West Bank began in the 1970s. The left, the Zionist left, is the one that took the so-called peace process in Oslo and used it to cantonize the Occupied Territories and to maintain control over the Palestinians using less military might, but just as much control. And this is what we see from the Zionist left throughout history. And I don’t see any reason why Amir Peretz will be different. And his rhetoric is still racist. It’s maybe more progressive, but it is still racist. So, I don’t see a big change. It may affect the Israeli political map, but that doesn’t mean there will be a real change on the ground. There’s a very strong consolidation of Israeli politics around the center, and Amir Peretz isn’t a variation to that.
Israel is a European colony.
Europe has stolen or destroyed:
1) North America
2) South America
3) Africa
4) Austrailia
5) India, almost
Whatever you put on the left hand of the equation, on the right you find White people taking land of darker skinned people.
That’s fine, might may make right for you. But, you cannot have the land and then demand the moral highground as well.
Isreal’s entire strategy rests on making impossible an honest public discourse on the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. Eventually, more and more credible figures will examin this issue and advance thier ideas. The harvard article was a good beginning. It won’t end there basically because you cannot require American intellectuals to supress thier ideas for as long as you need them to.