What's particularly galling to a lot of West Bank Palestinians is that Israel has actively recruited Jewish immigrants from all over the world to their shores since 1950 when they enacted their
Law of Return, whereby anybody half Jewish (at least at the mother's side) along with any child or grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew can immigrate. In a very short period in the early 1990's, they allowed 1.6 million Russian to immigrate.
A lot of these immigrants, due to persecution in their native lands and/or strong beliefs in the Zionist ideal, are happy to build settlements (legally or otherwise) on Palestinian lands inside the West Bank or in East Jerusalem. FWIW, many of these (sometimes illegal) settlers are American. There are now 350,000 settlers living in the West Bank and over 200,000 living in East Jerusalem. A big reason for these settlements is to establish "facts on the ground," thereby cementing Israeli dominance over these lands.
Meanwhile, any discussion of Palestinian "right of return" for refugees of the 1948 or 1967 wars is formally off-the-table in any Israel-Palestine talks. How do you think you'd feel if you were born in Hebron, Jerico, Ramallah or Bethlehem? I guarantee you'd be at little less sympathetic to Israel, its Zionist ideals, 30' concrete walls and humiliating treatment within them.
I was as strongly pro-Israel as any American until I went there the first time in 1983. I've now been there over 5 weeks on several visits and covered virtually every square inch of the place from Eilat to the Golan Heights. I've also been all over the West Bank, but never in Gaza (though very close). Now I'm able to see both sides and am unwilling to demonize or dehumanize Palestinians, even if I disapprove of their tactics and intransigence. They deserve a lot better than they're getting from their leadership and Israel.
07-18-2014, 05:30 PM
Threaded Mode