tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167210975362071658.post2917128545343615252..comments2024-03-04T11:41:37.259-05:00Comments on lovable liberal: Settlements vs. settlementlovable liberalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616294696912710046noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167210975362071658.post-29043664851318160142008-07-21T18:52:00.000-04:002008-07-21T18:52:00.000-04:00There is a piece of land on the east side of Beit ...There is a piece of land on the east side of Beit Sahour (adjacent to Bethlehem. This land, which Israelis call Shdema and the Palestinians call Ush Ghrab, was a military base for Jordan before 1967. Then the Israelis used it as a base until mid 2006. Since then, the Israeli government gave part of the land to the municipality of Beit Sahour to develop a park, recreation area, and other things - there are plans for a hospital to be built there. Several NGO's have contributed and there is now a park with play equipment, a climbing wall, a snack bar, picnic area, etc. with more planned. On May 15, a group of settlers came to the land and that day the Israeli army and police closed the place off until they could convince the settlers to leave. We were there at the time. The settlers returned each Friday for 2 or 3 weeks and then on July 15 150 settlers and supporters came and spent the night. This caused a day camp for Palestinian youth to be cancelled. In these incidents, while there was no "murder" there was a lot of hatred and use of terroristic threatening. I would indeed use the word "terrorist" to describe the group I saw. They want all arabs out of their land (all of the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River). Settlements are often started on farmland, but sometimes they have bulldozed buildings, including houses, to take over the land. <BR/><BR/>Your last point is well-taken. The Palestinian idea that they will be allowed to return to their pre-1948 land needs to be put to rest, but it is a deep, deep idea.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167210975362071658.post-40166930495976260052008-07-20T21:50:00.000-04:002008-07-20T21:50:00.000-04:00Not sure why terrorist would be appropriate in gen...Not sure why <I>terrorist</I> would be appropriate in general. Maybe you could explain. Squatter, sure, but, AFAIK, only a relative few have murdered for ideology.<BR/><BR/>Also, after sixty years, it's time to stop calling Palestinian cities <I>camps</I>. That sustains the vain hope that they're temporary way stations before the Palestinians win the right of return, which is effectively synonymous with the destruction of Israel. It is past time to make them decent cities, however, with modern infrastructure and economies.lovable liberalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15616294696912710046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167210975362071658.post-63032868291406034622008-07-20T21:43:00.000-04:002008-07-20T21:43:00.000-04:00Brown's comments are a start. More "world leaders...Brown's comments are a start. More "world leaders" need to visit the area and see what things are going on. Lajee Center at Aida camp in Bethlehem would be a place to start. And there are places in Israel where Arabs and Jews coexist quite nicely. The "settlers" should be referred to as terrorists in the western news. Reading the typical story coming from this area has such bias in the terminology that very few care what happens to the palestinians.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167210975362071658.post-51047625112380831862008-07-20T14:43:00.000-04:002008-07-20T14:43:00.000-04:00The reason it hasn't worked (and will not work) is...The reason it hasn't worked (and will not work) is one sided support of Israel from America.<BR/><BR/>Lets face it, Israel is there and you cannot just not have it any more. So the Jews are there to stay and they must have a place (The Europeans who killed millions of jews should have given a part of their land to them in compensation, but they decided to get rid of them completely and take someone else land to give them, Oh yes, I forgot YHWH promised this land)<BR/><BR/>If, when Israel does something against the UN resolution, it should be punished as well but ther have been over 170 resolution in UN that has been ignored by Israel and vetoed by US only.<BR/><BR/>So who cares about the Palestinians just as long no harm comes to Israel policy of US will never solve this problem.H. Shadmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01894615942312579604noreply@blogger.com