Israel has made settlers of all its citizens
Would there be any settlers in the West Bank had the governments of Israel not lured them there?
By Amira Hass Tags: Israel settlements Israel news West BankWould any of the settlers who opposed the Civil Administration inspectors this week be living in the territories had the governments of Israel not established and encouraged them? Would the Gush Katif evacuees have moved to mobile homes in Ariel in the expectation of spacious permanent housing had the government clearly declared that this was forbidden - because the settlements will be evacuated in the near future for a peace agreement - and that evacuation-compensation money would not be paid to anyone who moves to the West Bank?
Do the settlers clashing with the forces of law and order not know that those who have committed crimes - from racist threats and blocking roads, to wholesale cutting down of trees, arson and beating and murdering Palestinians - have not been investigated or have been forgiven and forgotten with a wink?
The settlers' feeling of betrayal is natural. Haven't the state and its institutions taught us that the settler is superior to everyone else?
Yes. The settler, in fact, is us.
The freeze orders will not change what exists now: an elite state for Jews and a sub-space for Palestinians - truncated, cut up, asphyxiated.
The distinction in the mind nowadays between the state of Israel and the settlers is artificial.
So is the distinction between the bad and the good, the violent and the law-abiding, the residents of the Migron outpost and the residents of Etzion Bloc settlements and the territories that have been annexed to Jerusalem, or those who live to the West of the separation fence.
Those who laud the freeze orders are thinking about relations with the United States.
The subordinated and occupied do not factor into their calculations. And indeed the land that was stolen from them in Beit Jala (for the benefit of Gilo) is like the land of Qalqilyah that Alfei Menashe coveted and is coveting.
The legitimacy of the settlement blocs exists only in the Israeli consensus. In reality, it is these blocs and Ma'aleh Adumim that are destroying the chance of a fair peace, because they and their separated roads are laying the groundwork for a crippled Palestinian political entity.
There is a lot of ingratitude in the media assault on the settlers, who have been manning barricades for the sake of a reality from which many Israelis are benefiting and accept as natural.
Had the governments of Israel been interested in containing the Golem they had created on time, they would not have cynically exploited the Oslo agreement to accelerate building and lure more and more Israelis with settlers' benefits.
Former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin would have evacuated the Hebron and Kiryat Arba settlers after the massacre Baruch Goldstein committed in the Tomb of the Patriarchs / Ibrahimi Mosque.
His government and subsequent governments would not have strangled Bethlehem with the Tunnels Road and with the "moderate" settlement of Efrat that snakes and twists along the hills.
They would have prepared the public for a just scenario by which to bring all the settlers back home and would have apologized for having lured them to transgression.
However, in 1993 we missed a one-time opportunity to develop as an entity, the aim of which is not territorial expansion at the expense of another people - who were prepared for very painful concessions for the sake of its independence and for the sake of peace.
We missed an opportunity to expel the deed of disposession from our state's institutional and mental chromosomes.
It is no wonder the setters are saying there is no difference between Kibbutz Baram and Psagot, between Givat Shaul and Alon Moreh.
Precisely in the shadow of diplomatic negotiations, Israel chose a policy of accelerated settlement in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
It is expelling Palestinian inhabitants from their homes there by various methods.
In this way, Israel is drawing a straight line between Kiryat Shmona and Beit El, between Tel Aviv and Givat Ze'ev. It has made settlers of us all.
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This posting did not address #25. Nevertheless, you are absolutely wrong saying "Israel never existed in what would have been borders chosen by the UN under 181," and that Israel has never declared any borders. On 14 May 1948, when Israel declared statehood under UN 181 it declared that sovereignty within precisely delineated borders as spelled out in meticulous detail in Part II of the resolution. UN 181 was activated when Israel declared statehood. The resolution said Jews living in Palestine and Arabs living in Israel could become citizens of the country in which they reside. UN 181 did not mention percentages of territory each state would hold. If you think international law doesn't matter, perhaps you can get a job with the Israeli delegation when it goes to the Hague to defend itself against charges of war crimes for violating the 4th Geneva Convention.
The truth always has a way of coming full circle and hitting one on the face. How wrong you all have been accepting your government's scapegoating of the Palestinian people. It's all been so unjust.... Israelis have a lot to answer for.....Dutch
Israelis should treasure her--she's a link with truth and justice.
Resolution 181 has never truly been enacted unless you consider the fact that it led to Israels creation. The arabs rejected partition in 1947 181 offered the jewish state 51% of Palestine minus Jerusalem & the arabs 49% minus Jerusalem After the war of independence Israel was left with 78% of Palestine and west Jerusalem and Jordan took the east and expelled its jewish population. 181 said that all the arabs in Israel would be made full Israeli citizens and although they were not expelled by force we didn't want them back & were glad to be rid of them. Israel has never declared any borders, they have always been based on ceasefire lines. In 1949 Israel took the land the UN offered in 1947 & then annexed the extra 27% it had captured & west Jerusalem In 1981 Israel annexed the Golan and in 1982 annexed east Jerusalem. So Israel has never existed in what would have the borders chosen by the UN under 181 International law doesn't matter only the reality of the situation.
You must be the only Jew in the world that doesn't know Judea and Samaria are not Israeli territory. Where have you been? The UN passed Security Council resolution 181 which created the legal authority for declaration of a Jewish and Arab state. On 14 May 1948, under UN 181, Israel declared itself to be the State of Israel. That declaration did not include Palestinian territory. In 1967 Israel occupied the rest of Palestine. It refused to withdraw from the occupied territory (which included Judea and Samaria) and thus became in violation of international law. How many times, and in how many ways must the nations of the world tell you Israelis that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the annexation of Jerusalem are in violation of UN resolutions 242,452 and 465 and thus in violation of articles 49,53 and 147 of the 4th Geneva Convention, and therefore Israel could be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court in the Hague for commission of a war crime.
But leave the Arab settlers in their Arab settlement If anyone over the so-called green line is a settler, then Jews living in the Jewish quarter where they have lived once again for 3000 years are settlers. The Palestinians have a state. It's called Jordan. If you want to fight for them, Amira, fight against the Saudi monarch who rules there and denies them full democratic rights. Or is your fight not for them, but rather against Jewish rights?
You posted: "Every single Amira Hass article is anti-Israel. That`s it. That`s what she does. That`s her mission in life. TO bash Israel by any means necessary. Every Amira Hass article should be considered a work of fiction and anti-Israel hate propaganda. Pathetic." One only needs to look at the daily news to see and know how Israel is committing crimes againt the Palestinians. Amira just brings this forward to those who can not see it first hand, and to people like yourself who live in a fantasy world and deny the truth. Have a nice day. :)
If she is pathetic you are hysterical. Who named you the representant of the israeli people? Amira is israeli so she can't be anti israeli. She can disagree with the goverment and as a journalist she has not only the right but the duty to say it. If you disagree with the opinion of another israeli, explain why but dont call him names.
You have no loyalty to your own country. Criticism is needed but what you do is more incitement. Warping reality for your own means. I am sure you are aware that your words are used by anti Semites throughout the world to justify their hatred off ALL JEWS. I am not saying you should not be writing but think first or declare your disloyalty straight up. This is on your general POINT OF VIEW.
What a nonsense dear Amira to claim we all are settlers!?! Besides do you still hold an Israeli passport or not because if so you are also a settler or if not you are a traitor and prefer your Muslim family above your own people. To claim we are all settlers means actually that it is fine by the international world to boycot us and by Arabs to murder us or is this not what you mean dear Amira? If so write that at least next time crystal clear!!!
not necessarily the way you would like to believe,careful what you wish for. Pals telling their children ALL Israel belongs to them does not encourage peace any more than Hamas firing missiles straight after they declare a hudna. Ask yourself why the Pals have not got a state? Whats lucid about ignoring that very significant numbers of settlers are ideologically driven and raise their own funds. The only lucid fact is that you chose to ignore what the Pals say in Arabic about what their government really wants.
...seems to elude you. Repeating propaganda statements that have for many years been shown for what they are - pure propaganda, will never turn them into truth. As Shiva #10 says - some will never want to hear the truth, and obviously prefer to brew their own. Excellent article.
... or dirt-cheap real estate from the disenfranchised... when that's declared "legal", there's no holding back... that's the sorry story of our insiduous settlement-industry...
Thank you, Amira Hass, for asking the right questions even if they are painful to our ears. Yes, we have missed opportunities and double-dealt. Yes, it is time for us to wake up from our collective slumber and try to correct those policies which have made settlers of us all.
Amira, I think I'm in love with you. You speak nothing but truth, and your words during this time bring hope to the Palestinian people. keep up the good work. You write very well, and show amazing bravery during this time. Thank you.
What Amira sees, and so many others don't, is that the settlers and Israeli support for them is gradually eating away at the international consensus on Israel. This was that Israel within its 1967 borders was as legitimate as France or Russia and that the settlements were temporary aberrations that would shortly be swept away. However, Israel's insistence that the main settlements are legitimate and permanent, then focuses attention on the creation of Israel itself, and when people look at that, they see that pre-1967 Israel is also just one big settlement, built in the same way, by immigrants expelling the locals, by establishing facts on the ground and ultimately by conquest. Israel should settle for it's pre-1967 borders before the Pals get clever and start chipping away at western support for Israel itself.
this settlement project is casting a worst shadow on the trade mark of Jews worldwide, and disrupting realistic chances for peace. I am saying it as a person with Jewish roots, fighting for years for Israeli case on Polish forums (now in Germany).
I would like to know Amira Hess' point of view about the concessions of the previous Israeli government which offered a compromise of 98% of the West Bank. This offer was NOT accepted by the Palestinian negociators. So my question is very simple: when one side offers 98% and the other side is not willing to give up 2%, who is guilty of the fact that there is no peace yet? The settlers? It would help if you could be a little more objective for a change.
Oh Amira you're soooooo riiiight....Israel is soooo badddd! You of the recent "Prize" you don't speak with forked tongue....Israel is such a terrible scary place...Oh, why don't you move to Saudi Arabia? Things there are very well defined and no manipulations, just death if you cross them. I love the leftist loons..it's so easy for them to attack the countries where they live because they live in benign countries that afford them the safety to spill their drivel. But do they go to the offending countries and criticize there....nope, because there the price is sometimes finality. Oooops, better play it safe. Amira gets the PRIZE! Brave soul.
Excellent article - no comment is necessary!
... even if I rarely agree with them. This article, however, is unintelligible.
Thank you Ms. Hass for so lucidly expressing what so many of us in the world feel. Through their intransigence and wilful blindness to the gross mistreatment and dispossession of the Palestinians, the Israeli people may yet regret what they have wrought. The winds of change are blowing in Europe.
I asked many Europeans about Israelis. They really don't understand why do you live in Israel. It is not natural for them, that you are there. Not because of Bet El, but because of Betlehem, if you know, what I mean.
... that Jewish People own all of the Land of Israel. Judea & Samaria is Jewish heartland. Let arabs run to Aravia & leftists - to France!
Every single Amira Hass article is anti-Israel. That's it. That's what she does. That's her mission in life. TO bash Israel by any means necessary. Every Amira Hass article should be considered a work of fiction and anti-Israel hate propaganda. Pathetic.
and raised their own funds. If finance was the only issue why are these people fighting to stay?
These people on the stupid left and the sweaty right will go on and on and on. For myself, I am now going to play a little turnament poker. And tomorrow, I'll take a run on beach.
A few weeks ago I have met Amira on CNN (with Amanpour as an anchor). Amira, you was pathetically shallow and boring and you continue this tradition on the pages of newspaper. Please,please, please stop worrying that Israel is a political episode and her destiny is in the hands of mighty Arabs
A "Schmotz" kibbutz, the last holdout of communal living in the entire kibbutz movement and perhaps one of the many leftist locations is well within the green line. Yet, it too was founded on Bir Am, an Arab village. The kibbutz tried for years to help the former villagers reclaim part of the land but aside from their cemetary, the land is now Moshav Dovev. All of Israel is built where Arabs once lived. It's the difficult reality we all face daily. As a people we must recognize Palestinian rights while guarding our own. I am not sure how that's possible but perhaps our imaginations can be used to come up with new solutions without destroying Israel in the process. Do you agree Amira?