Weekend in the Settlements

yosi

Just thought I'd share this. I spent last weekend in Efrat (a settlement south of Jerusalem, near Bethlehem). I found the experience to be extremely tragic. The entire time that I was there I couldn't help but think that my hosts (who were really lovely people) knowingly made their home in a place that contributes to the Palestinians' tragedy. At the same time, and despite my politics, which are left-of-center (in Israeli terms, I support a two state solution), I couldn't help but think that if a peace treaty someday requires the people of Efrat to leave their homes that their lives will instantly go from suburban normality to complete tragedy. Any way you cut it somebody is getting hurt.

yosi

Not really related, but yesterday I was speaking with the Imam of the village of Ein Rafa (just outside Jerusalem) in his mosque, and he said something I liked a lot (although it is obviously too simple for reality). He said that God cares more about souls than about land, and that both sides in the Israel/Palestine conflict need to do the same.

polaris_x

i had an interesting conversation with someone about settlers in general ... whether it be in palestine or the america west ... if you are a settler - chances are you are leaving some place shitty and that you often feel like this is what you need to survive or provide for your family and that whoever it is you might be imposing upon really doesn't matter ...

the sad part about many of these israeli settlers is that they keep claiming that the land actually belongs to them and that god wanted them to have it ... sometimes honesty would just go that much further ... i'd have much more respect for someone who just said ... "look, i need to have a home for my family and some land - it sucks to be palestinian but right now i'm on the side with all the guns" ... at least with that - we can work something out as opposed to this bullshit rhetoric of terrorism and the like ...

fuck

well if Zionists would drop the whole "jewish state" nonsensical rhetoric which essentially imposes an apartheid-like policy of discrimination then one state can be created for all to live in, democratically.

redrock

yosi wrote:

... knowingly made their home in a place that contributes to the Palestinians' tragedy.

.......if a peace treaty someday requires the people of Efrat to leave their homes that their lives will instantly go from suburban normality to complete tragedy. Any way you cut it somebody is getting hurt.

The Palestinians are already getting hurt. Knowingly... key word. They could have had their home elsewhere which was not an illegal settlement in occupied land. Yes, you may say tax incentives, couldn't afford elsewhere, etc.... If I squat someone else's home and decide to call it my own, I must be ready to leave when the owner comes back - whether I was raising a family there or not. Maybe a bit of a simplistic example, but gives the general gist of things.

Byrnzie

yosi wrote:

Just thought I'd share this. I spent last weekend in Efrat (a settlement south of Jerusalem, near Bethlehem). I found the experience to be extremely tragic. The entire time that I was there I couldn't help but think that my hosts (who were really lovely people) knowingly made their home in a place that contributes to the Palestinians' tragedy. At the same time, and despite my politics, which are left-of-center (in Israeli terms, I support a two state solution), I couldn't help but think that if a peace treaty someday requires the people of Efrat to leave their homes that their lives will instantly go from suburban normality to complete tragedy. Any way you cut it somebody is getting hurt.

They could have avoided this so-called 'tragedy' by not moving there in the first place.