Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion
Posted on 10/03/2010 by Juan
Shorter Mahmoud Abbas: We refuse to negotiate with Israel about territory it is actively stealing from us while we are talking about its future disposition.”
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I’m sure Israel will keep asking for the “negotiations” or “talks” to continue so as to outline how to begin talking about the “settlements question”, and the US will likely ask “all parties” to act with patience and continue. For Israeli state leaders, hopefully this can continue on long enough so that the real negotiations for sloughing off the Palestinians, I mean, a ‘viable Palestinian state’, can begin once they have everything of the West Bank they want.
Why do people continue to call the colonists in Palestine settlers? They are colonizing the land of another people and should be called colonists. A case can be made that the entire of Israel is a colony of European zionists. But, that aside, the presence of Israelis in the West Bank is a classic form of colonization.
Shorter Netanyahu: Israel will steal all of Palestine no matter what happens during these phony negotiations, and so it makes no sense to halt the settlement process.
Here is a little fun. A remix of Donald Duck with the
rightwing messages
Dear Juan,
I gave the address of the daily kos donald duck link. When I looked at it, it was broken up. The link needs to be the whole way to the end through Glenn Beck. Could you fix the link.
Thanks,
Don Utter
TV reporters often choose to represent the “settlers” as this video does — a couple of guys in T-shirts with a religious slogan, and some bags of sand. With this image in mind, you could assume that this is a matter of principle but of little practical importance as a political issue. After all, boys will be boys and religious boys are not much different.
This leads to a widespread confusion, at least here in North America, about what a “settlement” is. Once we are shown the aerial images of western-style suburban sprawl it becomes much clears that there is far more at stake here. Of course the young guys are the vanguard and, left unchecked, their efforts may lead to another Jewish-only town in the future, but “settlements” are far from renegade enclaves in Israeli society and law. They are fully supported, subsidized townships that are religiously exclusive and populated mainly be people who are more interested in a decent, affordable place to live than they are in the immorality of land theft.
We have an Israeli problem not because a few hard-heads are willing and eager to steal land, but because ordinary Israelis have been told not to worry about it. Those ordinary folks are the ones we should see in the news.
Very well said.
Very true John, I’m going to start using your suggestion:
Map of Israeli colonies in West Bank.
link to news.bbcimg.co.uk
Does anyone actually think they are going to give up these ‘facts on the ground’? A binational state is inevitable.