By Shimon Z. Klein
There seems to be a certain inconsistency in what the Israeli government tells the world about settlements in the occupied territories and what occurs on the ground.
While PM Binyamin Netanyahu reacted to President Obama’s Cairo Speech by giving ambiguous support to the two-state solution, we all know that he does not intend to do anything to remove illegal settlements. His Bar Ilan University speech was so full of conditions for a two-state solution that would render it an impossible goal. It is obvious that the Palestinian leadership would never accept these conditions.
Meanwhile the demolitions of Palestinian buildings continue. On 13th July 2009, bulldozers entered Bet Hanina next to the community centre. Demolitions of homes have occurred in Ras Elamud and Isawia. A home was destroyed. This has resulted in seven family members now being rendered homeless. Has the Israeli government frozen settlements and ceased demolition of homes? Facts on the ground seem to verify that the demolitions of Palestinian homes are continuing. The excuse given is that these homes were built illegally (or without permits). What about illegal settlements built in the occupied territories? These settlements are illegal according to international law, but Israeli law has declared them legal.
There is also strong evidence that freezing of settlements is not the order of the day. It is business as usual in the occupied territories. The construction of new homes and settlements expansion continue unabated. What the Israeli government tells the US and what they do in practice are two different things altogether. Many settlements built in the occupied territories are on stolen Palestinian lands.
The basis of the right wing government is to create a new situation on the ground. It is obvious that the expansion of existing settlements and the creation of new settlements on stolen Palestinian lands will ensure that a Palestinian state alongside Israel will never be attained.
The arrogance of the Israeli government of not recognizing the Palestinian right to an independent state is a fact because of the settlement activity compounded by demolitions of Palestinian homes.
The scenarios are all the same. Zionist right wing extremists start the ball rolling by causing damage to Palestinian agricultural lands. This is done by uprooting Palestinian owned olive trees. As if this is not enough, they continue to cause damage to Palestinian property. They are a cancer in Israeli society that has tacit support from the right wing coalition partners. The Israeli authorities are very lenient and many of those responsible for the damage are not even punished.
Israel occupied Palestinian territories because of the Six Day War in June 1967. The Israeli government ruling at the time and successive governments after that legalized the establishment of settlements in the occupied territories. After encouraging Israelis to settle on usurped Palestinian lands they tell the world that they do not wish to rule another people. De facto, this is what they are doing! One does not settle occupied territory if the intention is to return this territory to the Palestinians.
If one were to look at a map of the West Bank (which is the area of the possible Palestinian State), there are areas of Palestinian population with Israeli settlements in between. How can a Palestinian state be established while hostile Israeli settlements traverse their agricultural lands, many of which were occupied illegally. It is obvious that the establishment of a Palestinian state under these conditions is impossible without serious removal of illegal settlements.
Contrary to the thinking of most Israelis, President Obama is good for Israel. He is mending US relations with the Arab states and adopting a more even handed policy in the Middle East. His attitude towards Israeli settlements in the occupied territories is against the policies of the Netanyahu coalition of right wingers with the wimpish Labour Party part of it. It remains to be seen how the Israeli government will avoid a collision with the US. President Obama is taking a more active stand in his attitude towards achieving peace between Israel and its neighbors. His predecessor, President Bush did very little to achieve peace.
One thing is certain, if there is no withdrawal from the occupied territories including dismantling of settlements, there will never be peace. Of course there will be Israelis who will say that there was unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and the result was rocket fire into Israeli towns such as Sderot, Ashkelon and neighboring towns. The problem is that the moment there are unilateral actions there are no peace agreements. Had there been an orderly transfer of power to a responsible Palestinian government committed to peace, law and order, the situation would be different.
Israel must share the blame for the creation of Hamas which is an extension of the extremist Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood. Prior to the Oslo Accords, Israel adopted a “divide and rule” policy towards Hamas. The government in the late 1980s supported Hamas in order to weaken the PLO. It boomeranged in the end.
According to United Press International,
Israel and Hamas may currently be locked in deadly combat, but, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials, beginning in the late 1970s, Tel Aviv gave direct and indirect financial aid to Hamas over a period of years.
Israel wanted to radicalize the dispute by molding Hamas into a fundamentalist militant crusade to ape the Khomeini revolution in Iran. So much so that Israel groomed potential Hamas leaders, pressuring Israeli authorities to give them licenses to set up food kitchens, clinics, schools, and day-care centers, to create a governing structure alternative to Arafat’s Fatah. These were known as Village Leagues - and provided future Hamas operatives with a political and governmental foothold. This began in 1978 when Prime Minister Menachem Begin, himself a former terrorist leader, approved an application from Sheik Ahmad Yassin to license the Islamic Association, which would later produce a military wing, Hamas, in 1987. The Israeli Likud party propped up Yassin because they both had the same agenda, to destabilize Arafat’s Fatah.
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7 users commented in " Inconsistency in Israel’s Settlement Policy "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThank-you for blogging on this important issue that effects all Americans, as the occupation of Palestine is the lens in which all Arabs view us.
Shimon, I could argue some points with you, including the matter of the settlements’ legality, but I fundamentally agree with you about their impropriety and have always opposed them. A question, though: why do you use the expression “‘Zionist’ right wing extremists”? According to your bio, you moved to Israel from South Africa. Presumably, you are a Zionist, then, which you can be, as I am, even without moving to Israel. Why not simply “right wing extremists”?
A. Jay Adler, thank you very much for your reply which I appreciate very much.
I moved from South Africa to Israel because I was against the apartheid policies of South Africa at the time. I did not have strong Zionist feelings as many in the diaspora have.
Today I classify myself as a non-Zionist or post-Zionist. Zionism means the belief in a national home for the Jewish People - nothing more and nothing less. Now that the Jewish People have their national home, Zionism has become dated, redundant and has become very right wing as well as religiously oriented in many cases. Those who live in the occupied territories consider themselves Zionists and believe in the colonization of greater Israel which is the way they view the West Bank. This is the reason why I use the term right wing Zionist extremists. Right wing extremists are usually fascists or Nazis and I do wish to make that difference by adding the term Zionist in my description of these Zealots. Left wing Zionism has weakened and its influence is hardly felt today. I do hope that I have answered your question.
Shimon, thanks for your reply to my questions. I understand what you say about the weakness of your Zionist feelings. Still, I note that you chose to move to Israel instead of so many other possible choices, such as the U.S., where I know many South Africans.
I think your point that “Now that the Jewish People have their national home, Zionism has become dated” misconstrues the nature of Zionism. It wasn’t an idea simply to create a Jewish state, but, of course, to sustain one, in the manner of other states. If one believes in the justice of a Jewish state, one believes in it not merely before the state is created, but after as well, especially when, as always, there are those who wish to destroy or extinguish it.
You may feel left wing Zionism has weakened. Well, for much of forty years American liberalism was weakened. But that didn’t mean it had ceased to exist, or that being American was now synonymous with being right wing or extremist. So I think it is in Israel or any country. When one speaks of the American political situation, one refers simply to the right wing, or even extremists. We know it is America being discussed. One doesn’t identify believing in the legitimacy of an American state with being right wing. When you use the expression “Zionist right wing extremists” the implication seems to be that Zionism is associated in nature with right wing extremism. I know that there are people who, unfortunately, believe that. I was trying to find out if that was what you intended to suggest.
Dear A.Jay Adler,
Thank you very much for your interest and your comments. I did move to Israel when I was young and I have spent most of my life here. Over the years I became very disillusioned in the direction that Israel is moving. The idea of Israel being considered a “light unto the nations” is so relative. The extremist Islamist regimes of Iran, Hamas-controlled Gaza, Libya and many other rather conservative Arab states are certainly no light to any nation least of all to their own people. However, when we compare Israel to modern democratic Western states such as the US, UK, Western European states generally, it is doubtful if Israel is so progressive. Right wing extremism in the guise of Zionism in the settler movements that believe in colonizing the occupied territories and destroying the two-state solution to this conflict by encroaching and stealing Palestinian lands while Israel has turned a blind eye is a cause of concern to the future of Israel as a democratic state. There are close to 320 000 settlers living in occupied Palestinian areas beyond the green line. The right wing government of Israel is today supportive of these settlers. There is no serious talk about freezing of settlements as the idea of “natural growth” is used as an excuse to carry on the occupation. There are some attempts to pull down illegal housing projects in some of the occupied territories but this is so marginal that it is not really a factor here if one views the whole occupation picture. Today most Zionists are associated with right wing settler policies and so are the majority of the religious Zionists as well. Believe me, I say this with a heavy heart because at the end of the day there will never be peace when both Palestinians and Israelis take up extremist positions. The Labor Party which was considered the leader of moderate left wing Zionism has now lost its identity in the right wing Netanyahu Government which, as you know, includes Avigdor Lieberman’s right wing racist party that considers itself a true Zionist party. This is why I say left wing Zionism has lost its identity and has almost disappeared by being swallowed up into the right wing coalition.
its refreshing to see jews like yourself who oppose zionism and illegal occupation of the israeli right wings and the oppression of palestinians. the israeli govt at this point just want to keep expanding (meaning ethnic cleasing of arabs out of that land) and the neocons will keep supporting for some biblical prophecy to speed up the 2nd coming of jesus and thinking jews would convert. this is a sick govt with their sick concept by people who have no morals, princles or any type of shame. anyway man keep up the good work.
Shimon, I appreciate your efforts in responding to me. truthunleashed (indeed) is the kind of subtle thinker I have in mind when I question you on your use of the word Zionism. You refer to “left wing Zionism,” which means you do not identify Jewish nationalism with right wing views only. You say that “Today most Zionists are associated with right wing settler policies.” There may be exceptions, of course - and the last commenter clearly thinks you are one - but presumably most Israelis believe that Israel should, and has a right to, exist. That is Jewish nationalism. That is Zionism, in itself neither right nor left. Unfortunately, careless use of the word enables the misrepresentation and slander of people like our other commenter.
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