...Many Israelis have no patience for the settlers. A high-tech magnate attending the Herzliya conference was candid about his negative views of the religious settlers (not unlike a Manhattanite might scornfully refer to "Bible Belters") and told me, "Just because something is mine, doesn't mean I have to exercise that right." For him, Palestinians and the land they occupy must be separated from Israel so that Palestinians are not "ruled" by Israel. He insisted no autonomy arrangement would suffice and that if Israel gives them the West Bank the world will leave Israel alone, even though not all of the West Bank will go back. But would the "international community" really relent?Read the whole thing.
...Even the Obama administration now recognizes an extended military presence in the West Bank by Israel would be needed in the event a peace deal could ever be negotiated. Settlement critics like the Herzilya magnate insist the Israel military can simply go back into the West Bank whenever needed to "clean out" the terrorists. However, the Gaza operation hardly gives one confidence that Israel will be able to endure the international alarm raised whenever Israel acts in its own defense. How many attacks on neighborhoods in Tel Aviv would be sufficient, in the eyes of the world, for Israel to take action?
Demography, geography, faith and security interlock on the West Bank, reinforcing each side's perspective. The same set of facts compels the settlers to demand retention of the West Bank and the anti-settlement Israelis (not to mention the U.S. and European governments) to demand it be excised from Israel. But even a short time on the West Bank leaves one suspecting that for all the talk that the present situation is "unsustainable," the alternatives are as well.
Technorati Tag: West Bank.
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