Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., December 26, 2007 Tevet 17, 5768 | | Israel Time: 04:05 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File Hanukkah
del.icio.us
Digg It!  new
Last update - 14:48 01/09/2007
Let the settlers stay where they are
By Bradley Burston
Tags: IDF, settlers, Israel 

It's taken me all these years to finally realize that the settlers were right.

It came to me while checking the news schedule for this coming week. On Sunday, the IDF Chief of Staff is to award Medals of Valor and decorations, some of them posthumously, for courage in combat during the Second Lebanon War. At the same time, a pro-settler group called the Headquarters for the Salvation of the Nation and the Land plans to hold a parallel ceremony, handing out alternative medals of bravery - and cash prizes donated by U.S. Jews - to Israeli soldiers who refused orders to take part in the eviction of two families squatting in the Hebron souk.

At last, it all fell into logical place - the hardships, stumbling blocks and failures of the peace process, the dismal consequences of the disengagement from Gaza, the commandment to settle all of the Land of Israel and the rabbinical prohibitions against giving back one grain of soil.
Advertisement
The answer is simple. The settlers are right. They should stay right where they are. No matter what. Even if there is an eventual peace. Even if the land they live on is part of a Palestinian state.

For decades, the leaders of the settlement movement have told us that they will not leave their homes for the sake of a decision of the sovereign government of the state of Israel. They vow to make any future substantial evacuation of settlers from the West Bank so gut-wrenchingly difficult as to be functionally impossible.

It is time we took the settlers at their word. They are not out there holding out for monetary compensation. They are out there in the primacy of their faith that a Jewish presence on the land of the Old Testament is a commandment and a sacrament. The settlement movement is firm in its view that no elected government of Israel has the right to uproot the Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria, and the neighborhoods of Jerusalem captured in the 1967 Six Day War.

It is true that the vast majority of settlers reject the idea of soldiers refusing military orders. But it is also true that over the Green Line, Israeli defiance of Israeli law is by no means limited to a radical settler fringe. From its inception, the governing operational principle of the settlement movement has been to take action which is either questionably legal or clearly illegal, and then to force, finesse, or sleaze the way to retroactive ratification.

The ingenuous mantra of the settler movement "We're here because the government of Israel sent us here," is thus doubly dishonest. These people were not expelled to the West Bank, evacuated to the West Bank, ordered to the West Bank, banished to the West Bank.

Every Jewish Israeli living beyond the Green Line is a settler by choice. Many of them went there in defiance of the government. Many went to make it impossible for the government to change the status of the land under a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Every single one of them went there knowing that there was a chance that they'd be uprooted one day under a government decision.

They went there by choice. Not the government's choice. Their choice. Does anyone seriously think that if the government decided against their being there, they would just go ahead and move because the government sent them back?

In fact, after several generations of Israelis have been born on the West Bank, it could be said that Israel has no right at this point to order them back.

Let us, then, take the settlers at their word. If settling the land captured in 1967 is of paramount importance to the Jewish people, settling the land should also take precedence over making sure that land belongs to the Jewish state.

And while we're at it, let us take the Palestinians at theirs. If they are so concerned about the evils of apartheid, then they must accept the idea of Jews living in their midst.

On the scale of racist evils, surely a government - like Saudi Arabia for example, or a potential Palestine - which forbids religious or ethnic or national groups from entering or living within its borders, has much to answer for.

Under a future peace agreement, it is reasonable to expect that settlers from across the West Bank will be invited to resettle in Green Line settlement blocs to be annexed to Israel in a territorial exchange with the Palestinians.

But who could blame settlers in outlying enclaves for refusing to budge, given the government's abysmal track record in resettling less than 10,000 uprooted families since the 2005 disengagement?

Let them stay. Let them stay right where they are. Let them have the courage of their beliefs. It's a test. For the settlers and, especially, for the Palestinians.

And if the Palestinians counter that Israel must allow an equal number of Palestinian refugees into Israel proper, say 200,000 of them, so be it.

We made this mess in the West Bank. We'll have to be creative about how we set it right.


_________________


Recent blogs:

We're not man enough to make peace
Let Arabs tell the truth
Hamas the cripple, Gaza the doomed
The Right of Return of the Jewish People



__________________


The guiding principles of the talkback forum for this article will be mutual respect and openness to dialogue. Participants, even if they rule out, dismiss or oppose coexistence, must, within the confines of this forum, practice it.

Censorship will be unapologetic.

Political orientation will have absolutely no bearing on whether a comment is posted or rejected.

The following will be grounds for deletion:

1. Racist remarks, as well as slurs on the basis of religion, ethnicity and gender.
2. Use of the terms Nazi, Hitler, to describe the actions and policies of Israelis, Palestinians or other parties to the Israel-Arab conflict.
3. Disparaging remarks, personal attacks, vulgarities and profanities directed at other participants in the forum.
4. Advocacy of violence against individuals or religious, ethnic or racial groups, including statements which may be construed as urging attacks on leaders, officials, security forces or civilians.
Bookmark to del.icio.us
Aliyah from Iran
A group of 40 new immigrants from Iran touched down in Israel on Tuesday.
Race to White House
Top Republican candidate Mike Huckabee supports dialogue with Iran.
  1.   BRADLEY IS WRONG FROM START TO FINISH 12:15  |  PAUL HARRIS 31/08/07
  2.   YOU CREATED THIS MESS, MAKE IT RIGHT BY THE LAWS 12:16  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  3.   YOU CREATED THIS MESS, MAKE IT RIGHT BY THE LAWS 12:16  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  4.   WHY NOT? 12:32  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  5.   Soldiers receiving medals 12:38  |  Yedidya Kennard 31/08/07
  6.   BB now you`re talking turkey 12:42  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 31/08/07
  7.   Not Under Israeli Protection 12:43  |  dyinglikeflies 31/08/07
  8.   Does This Include Tel-Aviv? 12:48  |  Ben Israel 31/08/07
  9.   WHY NOT 13:03  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  10.   why? 13:27  |  dullah 31/08/07
  11.   This article has 3 problems,all settlements are illegal,the 13:31  |  lakshmi 31/08/07
  12.   Ben Israel It is true 13:35  |  truth 31/08/07
  13.   A couple of points (3 actually) 13:41  |  Rowan Berkeley 31/08/07
  14.   Mutatis Mutandis 13:44  |  Fairman 31/08/07
  15.   Just so. Those acting in faith... 13:56  |  Giles Martin 31/08/07
  16.   Bradley, HOORAY!!! 14:00  |  Lynn 31/08/07
  17.   long-overdue creativity 14:00  |  Paul 31/08/07
  18.   Burston`s apartment in Gilo is just as `illegal` 14:14  |  Dani 31/08/07
  19.   Emet! 14:33  |  akiva P 31/08/07
  20.   #6 in Tel Aviv, sure its not 6 in the city 14:33  |  Tamir Palestine 31/08/07
  21.   Bradley has stolen my idea... 14:34  |  Maimon 31/08/07
  22.   If settlers are there to stay, what of that 2-state solution? 14:35  |  dana 31/08/07
  23.   I agree Haaretz, don`t sweat it 14:35  |  Sam 31/08/07
  24.   What a good idea! 14:39  |  Leandro 31/08/07
  25.   indrajaya.... 14:41  |  Maimon 31/08/07
  26.   BRADLEY 14:49  |  EFRAIM 31/08/07
  27.   pals cannot counter claim with their pal return 14:54  |  Joseph E . 31/08/07
  28.   Lakshmi, you have to be realistic 14:56  |  Leandro 31/08/07
  29.   lakshmi # 10 15:07  |  Lynn 31/08/07
  30.   # 9 dullah of Beirut 15:09  |  Lynn 31/08/07
  31.   I am surprised it took you that long, Bradley 15:11  |  Tosefta 31/08/07
  32.   Hey Lynn, no15: 99% of earth is separated by culture/nationality 15:18  |  John Ryan 31/08/07
  33.   12# and 8# 15:18  |  A.M. 31/08/07
  34.   A just idea, but 15:19  |  David Hawkins 31/08/07
  35.   Not to forget the Algerian option 15:32  |  Tosefta 31/08/07
  36.   Jews are NATIVES to Judea and Samaria NOT Settlers 15:39  |  David 31/08/07
  37.   Let them stay 15:42  |  Simon the J 31/08/07
  38.   Israel is developing an alternate two state solution? 15:45  |  Natallie Durson 31/08/07
  39.   21Labhras18 is right,this is illegal scum,just like the whites 15:53  |  lakshmi 31/08/07
  40.   # 20 Joseph E 16:03  |  Lynn 31/08/07
  41.   Boker tov eliyahu burston 16:04  |  sh 31/08/07
  42.   Don`t bother me with facts 16:06  |  Evelyn 31/08/07
  43.   Bradley`s grounds for deletion 16:08  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 31/08/07
  44.   lakshmi, fear not 16:10  |  sh 31/08/07
  45.   Jews are the aborigines of Judea 16:12  |  AV 31/08/07
  46.   #23toosofta and extreme stupidity extolled 16:14  |  victor hardman 31/08/07
  47.   FINALLY, Huzza, huzza !! 16:16  |  Joe 31/08/07
  48.   If Muslims are unable to coexist with Jews among them 16:17  |  AV 31/08/07
  49.   #18 labarse the brass has a problem with settlers 16:18  |  victor hardman 31/08/07
  50.   Deluded people. 16:19  |  David 31/08/07
  51.   Good idea and one even better... 16:30  |  bat yam 31/08/07
  52.   FINE WITH ME!! 16:33  |  Omar 31/08/07
  53.   "Settler"? "Inhabitant", or "citizen", even "resident". 16:33  |  AV 31/08/07
  54.   Take a trip to the future 16:35  |  B 31/08/07
  55.   #10LACKEY HAS 3 PROBLEMS HE IS 16:37  |  PAUL HARRIS 31/08/07
  56.   Bradley Burston - THE SETTLERS ARE RIGHT 16:49  |  Dr David I. Gross 31/08/07
  57.   Lynn 16:50  |  Walid 31/08/07
  58.   Judea/Samaria JewsMust be Given Every Means to PROTECT Themselves 16:51  |  Linda Rivera 31/08/07
  59.   Settlers ? 16:53  |  Rachel Simson 31/08/07
  60.   By UN law, Settlemants are Illegal 16:57  |  dan 31/08/07
  61.   It`s fair for the Jews to remain among the Pals 16:58  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 31/08/07
  62.   Lynn #15 16:58  |  EFRAIM 31/08/07
  63.   Sure thing, let them stay - except for one thing... 16:59  |  Danny 31/08/07
  64.   Peacefeul coexistence starts with neighbors 17:00  |  Polybios 31/08/07
  65.   David Hawkins 17:01  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 31/08/07
  66.   Ahavat Yisrael 17:02  |  Choni Davidowitz 31/08/07
  67.   VA Joe 17:08  |  Walid 31/08/07
  68.   Dumping settlers on the palestinians 17:09  |  Susan 31/08/07
  69.   Paul 17:15  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 31/08/07
  70.   Rowan Berkeley - US Recognition will Never Happen 17:22  |  Mark of Lewiston 31/08/07
  71.   Victor Hardman 17:24  |  Walid 31/08/07
  72.   #30 Big-OT Bed_fast 17:30  |  Labhras 31/08/07
  73.   Good idea and one even better... 17:32  |  bat yam 31/08/07
  74.   # 23 John Ryan 17:36  |  Lynn 31/08/07
  75.   # 31 Omar of Ramallah 17:40  |  Lynn 31/08/07
  76.   One Million JEWISH Refugees&Their Descendants Must be COMPENSATED 17:41  |  Linda Rivera 31/08/07
  77.   Not to forget the Algerian option - 2nd try 17:41  |  Tosefta 31/08/07
  78.   Pastrami & Champagne 17:47  |  Fed Up 31/08/07