settlers...

Settlers..

Barack (president of Israel, basically as powerless as a monarch) has just said that he's getting rid of 22 'illegal outposts' of settlers with or without their consent.

This is a good step forward, but Obama needed to push a hell of a lot more than this when he had his meeting with Netanyahu on the 18th - it was pretty much the last ray of hope for many Palestinians, and it turned out to be a success for both politicians, but not at all a step forward for peace and justice in the region. They just babbled on about Iran and how scary it was and then talked a little bit about the settlements and the war on Gaza.

nothing about the disposession of Palestinians, nothing about the constant theft of resources and the coming water crisis, nothing about the injustice, nothing about building a lasting peace, nothing about the right of return for refugees...

So, pretty much the only thing Obama stood firm on (with words anyway, he still increased the military support to Israel from 3 billion to 3.275 billion USD) was that the settlements need to go.

This is great!

But 22? Is that it? there are 14,000 more settlers every year piling into the West Bank and they're talking about knocking down 22 of the most extreme settler's 'outposts' which are usually a handful of families pushing the frontier.

Settlers.....
Hold up the peace process, break the international law that it is illegal to transfer a civilian population into an occupied territory, cut off freedom of movement through their web of connecting roads only used for Jews throughout the West Bank, frequently go and attack villagers, never leave without an M16 or Uzi and handgun by their sides, encourage their kids to beat 'the Arabs', preach racism to visitors, put a lot of energy into distorting the truth, believe they can do what they want and that the land is rightfully theirs because God said so, which includes:
-poisoning Palestinian crops and livestock
-letting herds of pigs through Palestinian fields (if they can't eat bacon how are they going to feel when they see a stampeed of pigs run through the crops that they were relying on to feed their kids?)
-stealing olive trees that are up to 1500 years old to plant in settlements, giving them a more permanent feel
-threatening kids with death on the way to and from school
-going on rallies to block off Palestinian roads (I think the message is 'what a niusance these pesky Arabs are living in our Holy Land, we're going to kick them off no matter what anyone else thinks about it')
-going to the Jewish diaspora and recruiting people to 'return now' and preferably to a settlement
-committing the occasional pogrom and massacre
-warp the facts of history and select periods from the last 2000 years to justify their claim to the land


For example they say that there were only 100,000 Palestinians in Palestine in 1948, if fact many of the settlers' families were involved in terror groups like Hagana, Ida Stern and the Alexandrioni Brigade that ethnically cleansed 750,000 Palestinians 61 years ago between February and July 1948. There are now up to 4 million refugees officially registered with UNWRA that have a claim to return, descendants from these families, they are living in abject conditions but obviously better than most refugees because they've been able to build up the camps for 60 years, but they are still waiting, people are dying that have done nothing more than wait for what is theirs since birth, it isn't uncommon for the older generation to still have their keys from the houses that they were expelled from or were blown up by Zionist militia.

Uf...

Settlers...

I've got to hand it to them, they are determined, they are quite selfless and don't live for money, they really care about this and are dead set of having the whole of Palestine. But that doesn't make it right, they're greedy in another way, greedy for the group.

When I just used the word 'settler' then, I meant the extremist settlers.

Most settlers are 'economic settlers' - the government subsadises the water at agricultural rates, the schools and social services are much better in the settlements, the place is painted really nicely and the religious zionist settlers make a real effort to try and create this other-worldy rightous and internaly loving community that draws people in, painting the water and electricity boxes by hand with animals and bright pastel pinks and blues, their roads are immaculate, you can do car-pools or hitch spontaniously... there really is a lot going for how these places live.

Many settlers find cushy religious teaching jobs or are involved in the running of the state or the settlements themselves and have time to honour every single religious holiday, everyone with a strong cultural significance bringing the community together through a mixture of pride and guilt and victimisation....

It's a nice way to live (apart from the hatred fear insecurity and violence).

But, as I said before, they are very problematic, some of them are exceptionally cruel and it's like they're living pre 1900's, in terms of ideology and what's acceptable anyway.



What's most scary about these people is that they are so sure of themselves, or at least make out like they are so sure of themselves.

How do you argue with God?

Although I rile him, I'd hate to be Netanyahu, just observing international law would probably be a suicide note in terms of assassination from a settler, like Rabin was assassinated from a right wind extremist not so long ago - and he wasn't that much of a force for peace!

AIPAC, the settlers, the politicians and the torture are probably the most depressing aspects of this conflict to me so far in terms of preventing a way out in the future.

How do we transcend this if we've only got closed minds to work with?

"minds are like parachutes, the work best when open"
I'm afraid it's more than that; unless our minds open we're going to crash hard into the ground.

Awareness is revolutionary, but I don't think it's possible to force it.