Israel's hilltop youth settling in

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Richard Boudreaux, The Los Angeles Times, Feb 18, 2008



Israeli settler youth stand on the West Bank hilltop near Jenin where the evacuated Israeli settlement of Homesh once stood, after vowing to re-establish it last fall. (Anat Zakai, Maan Images)
It was a festive night for the teenage squatters in this renegade hilltop camp. A rabbi was on his way, and they were cranking up a generator, stringing light bulbs and arranging benches, turning what had been a Palestinian family's barn into a synagogue.

Suddenly the group fell silent. An Israeli soldier and a policeman had trudged up the slope and were demanding to know who was in charge. No one would tell them.

After a few tense minutes, the uniformed intruders left. The "hilltop youth" had prevailed again.

As Israeli and Palestinian leaders try to end decades of conflict, this outpost and other unauthorized Jewish settlements have become a battle line between the Israeli government and a settler movement unwilling to give up any part of the West Bank.

Under commitments made to President Bush at a November peace conference, Israel is supposed to dismantle about 50 outposts as a first step in negotiations on definitive borders and other terms of a final accord. Instead of vanishing, however, the outposts are growing, swollen by a loose-knit group of young second-generation settlers believed to number in the hundreds.

Since this outpost was set up in December, Israel's paramilitary border police have chased away its occupants at least a dozen times, but never for long. "They come up the hill, we go down the hill, we come back two hours later," said Yaakov Cohen, 17, shrugging off the timid evictions.

About 100 outposts, in addition to 126 settlements formally authorized by Israel, occupy West Bank land the Palestinians seek for a future state. Some of the bigger outposts have a few hundred residents each and de facto government support in the form of running water, electricity, paved streets and schools.

Bush pressed the issue last month after his motorcade passed this outpost during a visit to the region.

"The agreement was, 'Get rid of outposts, illegal outposts,' and they ought to go," he said at a Jerusalem news conference. Standing beside him, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert replied: "This was discussed. . . . We ought to fulfill our commitments, and we will."

But that resolve has provoked new land invasions by the hilltop youth, guided by a belief that the Torah commands Jews to settle all of biblical Israel no matter what modern Israel's elected leaders say.

http://imeu.net/news/article007914.shtml

[Englander]

1. Virtually the same headline in '68, '78, '88, '98 -

HEBRON SETTLERS MAY STAY IN TOWN; An Israeli Decision Reported, Allowing Jews to Remain

By JAMES FERONSpecial to The New York Times

May 16, 1968, Thursday

HEBRON, Israeli-occupied Jordan, May 15 -- The Israeli Government is reported to have decided to accept the presence of a group of Jewish settlers who have been living for a month in this occupied town on the west bank of the Jordan River.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00B12F83D5E147493C4A8178ED85F4C8685F9&scp=894&sq=west+bank+israel&st=p


U.S., Surprised by Reports of 3 Israeli Outposts on West Bank, Asks for Clarification; U.S. and Israel in Rift on Issue Settlements in All Occupied Areas

By BERNARD GWERTZMAN Special to The New York Times

February 2, 1978, Thursday

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1--The Carter Administration, caught unawares by reports of three new Israeli military outposts on the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River, sought clarification from Israel today on whether the camps would be transformed into civilian settlements, in apparent disregard of repeated statements of concern by Washington.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F1071EFD3C5413728DDDAB0894DA405B888BF1D3&scp=459&sq=west+bank+israel&st=p

For Israeli Settlers, Resolve To Stay Means 'This is War'

By ALAN COWELL, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: February 27, 1988

The Israeli woman who identified herself as Aviva from Ofra seemed frail as a bird next to her friend with the Uzi submachine gun, but her words bore a message as blunt as the weapon's snout.

''We are going to stay for good'' in the occupied territories, she said as she joined 500 other Israelis today in a demonstration that seemed to show the passions that pull the nation's political center of gravity toward the right.

''There is only one way to restore peace,'' said another Israeli demonstrator, Avigdor Eskin, who supports the far-right Kach organization of Rabbi Meir Kahane, ''and that is the transfer of the Arab population to Arab countries.''

The demonstration today was held outside the office where Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was meeting with Secretary of State George P. Shultz at the start of a new Middle East peace drive. It seemed designed to conjure hard emotions that Mr. Shultz could not ignore when considering the readiness of other Israelis, notably Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, to consider trading occupied land for peace.

To make sure, the organizers of the demonstration said, Mr. Shamir had given permission for members of the far-right Tehiya Party to demonstrate alongside his own supporters today. 'What You Win Is Yours'

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE6DE123EF934A15751C0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

In Midst of Uprising, Jewish Settlers Keep Arriving

By JOEL BRINKLEY, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: December 25, 1988

The brightly colored road sign on the highway to Nablus says: ''Come Visit Eli. We're Building!'' And up a dirt road, 20 Jewish families live in pleasant tract homes not much larger than trailers.

Twenty more settlers' homes are under construction, and 18 of those are already taken, said Hannah Avital, who has been on the settlement's new resident ''absorption committee.''

Even here, deep in the West Bank, ''we're not having any trouble attracting people'' during the uprising, she said. ''People are moving here because of the uprising.''

The Palestinian uprising is in its second year, and Arabs continue throwing stones and firebombs at Jewish settlers' cars and buses every day. But Jews are moving into new homes in the West Bank just as fast as they can be built. Attacks Fail to Stem Newcomers

And in the view of the settlers' leaders, the American decision to talk with the Palestine Liberation Organization will only increase the number of Jews moving to the West Bank.

''We are moving into high gear in our protests and efforts to attract people to come out here,'' said Yisrael Medad, an official of the Tehiya party, which advocates increased settlement. Mr. Medad, a settler himself, adds with reference to the West Bank region, ''AJewish presence in Judea and Samaria is the only way to prevent a Palestinian state.''

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE1D7153DF936A15751C1A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

ISRAEL AT 50: THE SETTLERS; Imperturbably Awaiting Delivery Of Remaining Land God Promised
April 6, 1998

In Yoel Tzur's vision, the return of the Jews to the land of Israel might have its ups and downs, but it cannot be stopped. And in his view, he is an instrument of the sacred cause of spreading Jewish settlement in that land, a ''soldier of God.''

''All the prophets prophesied that the people will return to the land of Israel, that the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,'' he declared in the exalted and confident tone of the true believer. ''It is a divine promise. We believe it will come true.''

Mr. Tzur spoke in the large living room of his house in the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, where he was one of the original settlers in 1978. His many children listened, rapt. The girls were dressed in the long dresses of the religious; Mr. Tzur and a son wore the knitted yarmulkes of religious nationalists. Almost all the books on the shelves were religious, and there was no television.

In this house he is the commander and sole parent. His wife and youngest son were killed by Arabs in a drive-by shooting near Beit El in late 1996. He refers to the incident as ''the tragedy,'' as a test of his resolve that only made him and his surviving family more determined.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E3D8103AF935A35757C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

[Tom Joad]

2. It can't even get rid of these "outposts". How can we expect it to remove the massive number of

settlements that would be required in a two-state solution?

Perhaps it is time to look beyond that.

[Phx_Dem]

6. Why is it necessary to remove settlements?

I take it that you don't think Jews should be able to live in Muslim countries including the future state of Palestine.

[breakaleg]

7. Which Jews want to live in Palestine? None. They want to rename it Israel.

[Phx_Dem]

9. It's not up to them is it?

[breakaleg]

12. I have no idea what you are trying to say.

[Phx_Dem]

I'm saying that Palestine should do what Israel did

That the people living in Palestine when it becomes a state should be offered citizenship.

[Crunchy Frog]

16. I thought that most of the Palestinians

who were living in Israel at the time it became a state were forcibly expelled.

[Phx_Dem]

18. A good many stayed and became citizens of Israel

Currently there are 1.2 million arab citizens of Israel, almost 20% of the total population.

[Crunchy Frog]

20. Yeah, I know,

but weren't about 3/4 of them expelled in '48? And weren't the remainder of them under military rule for about 20 years?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

19. massacre communities so others will flee in fear? nt

[breakaleg]

22. You think things ought to work both ways? Radical thought.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. They should not remove the settlements.

They should just give equal rights and citizenship to all people living in the occupied territories, and open up the settlements to anyone who wants to live there.

Personally, I think that I should be able to live in Mexico on my own terms, under U.S. law, and under the personal protection of American soldiers.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[breakaleg]

14. I think (not that you are asking) that the settlers should apply for citizenship in a new

Palestinian state under whatever rules they set up. Clearly, all the rabid ones would likely be denied. But then that's only fair right?

[Phx_Dem]

17. Yes citizenship in Palestine

is what I am taking about.

If the settlers abide by the laws of Palestine then what is the problem? I know there is a lot of "bad blood" between the settlers and Palestinians, but they will both just have to grow up and learn to live together.

[breakaleg]

21. If the settlers are willing to abide by the laws, fine. But the ones who have terrorized

Palestinians up to this point ought to be denied.

If I had any say, the first thing I'd do to the new citizens of Palestine is cut their water supply so they have to live on the same pitiful amount as their neighbors. I can hear the battle cries already.

[Crunchy Frog]

15. The settlers are currently there in violation of international law.

I don't believe that Jews should be any more above the law than anybody else. If they want to continue living there under Palestinian law and Palestinian jurisdiction (maybe Palestinian citizenship) in communities that are open to Palestinians to live in too, and they are able to work this out with a future Palestinian government, then I say more power to them. The current situation however, is unacceptable and illegal and that has absolutely nothing to do with any religious or ethnic identity, no matter how much you wish to make it so.

Frankly, I'm in favor of a one state solution where everyone living in the area between the Mediterranian and the Jordan would have equal citizenship and equal rights.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Disgusting

There are too many people in this world who place their 'God' above humanity.

These settlers are illegal, and illegal should mean what it says. They need to be evicted.

[Tom Joad]

4. But this is governmental policy, don't blame it on these religious settlers.

They are doing the government a favor by displacing Palestinians.

If it were not Israeli governmental policy... you don't think the IDF would be strong enough to remove them?

[Englander]

23. Is there even the remotest chance there'll be an eviction?

And, how many of "these settlers" are illegal?

[Crunchy Frog]

5. This situation could be cleared up very quickly.

All they would need to do is arrest those kids and throw them into jail for 15 months or so, and throw them in again if they repeat offend. In short, they should be treated exactly as Palestinians in an equivalent situation would be treated, (that includes shooting them if they resist).

In the absence of an serious willingness to enforce the law, the only alternative that I see is to give equal rights and citizenship to all people who are living in the same area. Israel needs to either follow international law, and enforce the law with respect to its citizens, or they need to grant full citizenship and equal rights to ALL people living in the OT.

[breakaleg]

8. Now now, let's not get carried away. They are a long way from treating Israeli kids the same as

Palestinian kids. I bet there are some who would call such a thing blasphemy!

[Crunchy Frog]

10. Hell, I'd join the IDF myself if they would start treating settler kids

the same way they treat Palestinians.

[Englander]

24. Meanwhile, in an alternate universe...

Ramon: No outposts erected since 2005

Not a single new outpost has been established in the West Bank since 2005, Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon told the Knesset State Control Committee on Monday.

Ramon was speaking during a committee discussion on whether or not to ask the State Comptroller for an opinion on how the government has dealt with the report published by Attorney Talia Sasson on March 9, 2005. The motion to discuss the matter was filed by Avshalom Vilan (Meretz).

In her report, Sasson determined that settlers had built 105 illegal outposts with government connivance, including 61 which were built on land part or all of which did not belong to the state. Sasson, whose investigation was commissioned by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon, recommended that 15 of the illegal outposts be dismantled as quickly as possible and the land returned to their Palestinian owners.

However, not a single outpost has been removed during the three years that have elapsed since the report was presented to Sharon and the government.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203847466299&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull