Ran Hacohen on Israeli settlers

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Sun Jun 23 05:41:34 PDT 2002


On Thu, 20 Jun 2002, Alexandre Fenelon wrote:


> Reasonable point of view (I think)
> http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/h-col.html

[Which are so rare it's worth posting in full, I think. Since antiwar.com makes their money from donations rather than ads -- and since I've left their donation address attached -- I think they would count this as a favor rather than as an offense.]

June 17, 2002

Letter From Israel Ran HaCohen

How Jews Can Support Israel Support the People, not the Government

The United Jewish Communities of North America has recently decided to

give its financial support also to Israeli settlers in the occupied

territories (Ha'aretz, 14.6.02).

At first, out of warm Jewish solidarity, I got very worried.

Persistent rumours, especially since September 11th, say that the US

government is not very fond of using charity money to support illegal

purposes these days. After all, the Israeli settlements are

internationally regarded as illegal, breaching the IV Geneva

Convention, article 49, which states rather clearly that "the

Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian

population into the territory it occupies". Even the Israeli

government is now deeply concerned that the International Criminal

Court may convict settlers as war criminals. So I truly hope the UJC

have good lawyers.

But later, edified by my own feelings of Jewish solidarity, I realised

that the urge felt by Jews world-wide to support Israel in these

difficult days is quite understandable. So I started thinking how Jews

really could, and should, support Israel. Not by supporting Sharon's

vision of eternal war, but by supporting us, the Israeli people, whose

vision is coexistence side-by-side with the Palestinians in peace,

security and prosperity.

Support the Settlers

The idea of supporting the settlers is not such a bad one. I mean:

from a humanistic-universalistic point of view, of course it is the

Palestinians who deserve our help, much more than the settlers. But

since this seems unrealistic for many a Jewish donor ("your own poor

come first", says the Talmud), supporting the settlers might be a good

alternative. But let me explain how exactly.

A recent opinion poll (Ha'aretz, 6.6.2002) found out that 65% of the

Jewish population in Israel supported dismantling the settlements. My

devoted readers should not be surprised: this is a consistent and

stable result, as all opinion polls show again and again.

Now you may think that the Israelis inside the Green Line support

dismantling settlements, but those in the settlements oppose it. This

sounds logical, but it is not true. Remember that by far not all

settlers are ideologically motivated. Some moved to the occupied

territories for promises of better life: fresh air, beautiful view,

rural serenity. Many others, probably most of the settlers, were

transferred to the occupied territories by the dull coercion of

economy: while flats within Israel are extremely expensive, houses in

the settlements are generously subsidised. Having to choose between an

unaffordable small flat in Jerusalem and an almost-free spacious house

in a nearby settlement, with a generous state mortgage, a generous

state bonus, a generous reduction on income-tax as well as generously

improved public services (education, health, infrastructure), many

lower middle-class families opted for the latter. One can hardly blame

them for that.

Settlers Cheated and Doubly Betrayed

In view of the Intifada, non-ideological settlers probably a majority

in most settlements, especially in the bigger ones now find themselves

both cheated and doubly betrayed.

Cheated, because they were promised high quality of life and now find

themselves literally in a war zone, risking their lives, injured and

killed almost daily. They are constantly targeted by Palestinian

militants, who ever more often try to penetrate the settlements and

kill them even in their own homes. Whether we like it or not, these

are facts that even Sharon's murderous "Operation Defensive Shield"

failed to change. Moreover: if, as is now planned, a fence is to cut

off the occupied territories from Israel, the settlers will become

even more of a target for Palestinian militants, who may not be able

to enter Israel itself.

Betrayed once, because the State that urged them to move to the

occupied territories does not even consider letting them leave. Well,

of course they may leave "it's a free country" but they cannot.

Whoever was wise enough to hire a flat, left as soon as the Intifada

broke out; young couples moved back to their parents inside the Green

Line; some settlements are half-empty; but the great majority of

settlers, who own their house, cannot sell it for a reasonable price

no buyers and are thus prisoners in their own homes.

Betrayed twice, because public opinion turned against the settlers as

if they and not the government that sent them and holds them hostage

were the ultimate source of evil. The rhinocerised nationalistic daily

Ha'aretz attacks settlers on a daily basis (e.g. a recent article by

its Editor-in-Chief), urging them to leave "for their own sake", as if

people who somehow managed to buy a cheap housing unit in a settlement

could simply leave it behind and buy another house somewhere else.

It's Not (Just) Sharon

Don't blame Sharon. A Prime Minister who openly says that as long as

he is in power, evacuation of settlements will not even be discussed

in cabinet, a retired General for whom human beings are just pawns,

cannot be expected to act differently. Especially not after his

"dovish" predecessors have done the same.

Shortly after the first Oslo Accord (1993), the 13 families of the

tiny settlement Dugit in the Gaza Strip nature-loving fishermen locked

their houses, started a sit-in demonstration in front of the Prime

Minister's Office in Jerusalem and demanded an alternative strip of

coast inside Israel. It's time for peace, they said, we don't want to

be a bone in Gaza's throat. PM Rabin rejected their demand. Dugit is

still there, largely expanded meanwhile on confiscated Palestinian

land, defended by battalions of soldiers, with Palestinian militants

attacking it on a daily basis.

Later on, Knesset Member Haggai Merom (Labour) prepared lists of West

Bank settlers wishing to leave for fair compensation 30 to 50% in some

settlements, he said. Then-president Weizmann rejected their request

to meet him; PM Peres rejected their demand too.

A couple of years later I happened to meet Shimon Peres. I asked him

why. "It won't have mattered," he told me. "Even if a settlement of

5,000 had been left with only 500 settlers, we would still have to

build the by-pass road leading to it".

Not convincing? Very convincing. Peres could not even think of

settlers in terms of human beings with rights and wishes. For Peres

(or Barak, or Sharon), the settlements are there as an excuse for the

by-pass roads, and the by-pass roads are there to divide and cantonise

the Palestinian territory, destroy Palestinian contiguity and prevent

the option of a viable Palestinian state. The settlers are merely

pawns in this game, just like the soldiers sent to protect them by

turning Palestinian life into hell.

So Here Is What You Can Do

Jews in America and world-wide should therefore use their money to

support settlers who wish to leave the occupied territories and return

to Israel. This should not even be a "political" issue: the settlers

(and their children) are held hostage by the Israeli government,

exposed to deadly violence. You do not have to be a dove to support

people's right not to live in the middle of a battle-field (unless

they want to). Sums and conditions can be negotiated, using as

guidelines the compensations paid by Israel to the settlers evacuated

from Sinai when it was returned to Egypt.

The advantages of such an initiative are numerous.

* On a human level, it respects the free and legitimate will of

settlers who wish to leave.

* On a moral level, it does justice to innocent Israeli citizens who

conformed to Israeli law and policy, moved to the occupied

territories, and now feel abandoned, cheated and betrayed.

* On a national level, it respects the overwhelming majority in

Israel that supports evacuation of settlements (without even harming

the minority of settlement-supporters).

* On a regional level, it can show Arabs that Jews world-wide are

supportive of peace, not of the disputed settlements. Empty

settlements can then be sold to house Palestinian refugees.

* On an international level, it conforms to the international as well

as American position that the settlements are illegal and form an

obstacle to peace.

Now, dear United Jewish Communities of North America: you have

collected $265 million in your recent "Israel Emergency Campaign". 65%

of the Israelis support evacuating the settlements. Will you take 65%

of the sum $172 million and offer it to settlers wishing to leave? Or

will any other Jewish institution take up the glove? You'll find an

overwhelming majority of Israelis and Palestinians behind you, and you

will enter History as the initiator of a quantum leap towards Peace in

the Middle East.

Text-only printable version of this article

Ran HaCohen was born in the Netherlands in 1964 and grew up in Israel.

He has a B.A. in Computer Science, an M.A. in Comparative Literature

and is currently working on his PhD thesis. He teaches in the Tel-Aviv

University's Department of Comparative Literature. He also works as a

literary translator (from German, English and Dutch), and as a

literary critic for the Israeli daily Yedioth Achronoth. Mr. HaCohen's

work has been published widely in Israel. "Letter from Israel" appears

occasionally at Antiwar.com.

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