Obstacles to Peace

Michael L.

In an editorial by the Jerusalem Post we read:

We find it problematic that this government is using building beyond the Green Line as a quid pro quo for prisoner releases. Building in east Jerusalem and in settlement blocs should never be construed as a form of punishment against the Palestinians or as an “evening of scores.” Rather, it should be a natural outcome of population growth. At the same time, we can understand the political expediency of emphasizing building to blunt criticism – particularly on the Right – of the unpopular move of freeing murderous terrorists.

And futher:

The idea that Jewish settlements are “an obstacle to peace” is based on the morally repugnant premise – supported by the international community – that the very presence of Jews in these territories is an affront to the Palestinians, while Palestinians expect Israel to absorb not just the 1.6 million Arabs with Israeli citizenship but also an unknown number of Palestinian “refugees.”

This should not be surprising considering the fact that Muslim countries regularly persecute religious and ethnic minorities without incurring serious international condemnation. Why should a Palestinian state be any different? The real obstacle to peace remains Palestinians’ rejection of the very idea of a uniquely Jewish state. Decades before Judea and Samaria came under Israeli control and “settlements” began to be built, Palestinians opposed the very existence of a “Zionist entity.” To this day Palestinians harbor hopes that Palestinian “refugees” will be allowed to settle in Israel; they deny the Jewish people’s ties to the Land of Israel; they refuse to see the Jews as a distinct people that has a right to its own state.

Peace will come the day that the Palestinian people recognize the Jewish people’s right to national self-determination in its historical homeland. Blaming settlements misses the point.

The notion that the building of Jewish townships on land where Jews have lived for thousands of years before the Arab invasion is an "obstacle to peace" is racist on its face.  Furthermore, those Jews who set themselves up in opposition to their fellow Jews who live in Judaea and Samaria are enabling and justifying that racism.

There was a time, during the period when Oslo still seemed at least somewhat viable, that it was understandable that Jewish people might oppose Jews building housing for themselves on land that might someday become part of an Arab state, but now that Oslo is over there is simply no justification, moral or practical, for supporting this rank bigotry against the Jewish people.

From the comments:

JS4136  

JERUSALEM IS NOT "OCCUPIED"  

There is no "East Jerusalem" and "West Jerusalem" like some modern edition of Berlin. There is only ONE Jerusalem and it is Israel's capital.  

Jerusalem is Israel. Israel is Jerusalem.

I do not know that I would go so far as to say that Jerusalem is Israel, but certainly Jerusalem is of Israel and thus of the Jewish people.  Israel needs to declare total sovereignty over the entirety of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount.

If the Arabs accept a corrupt terrorist statelet for themselves on Jewish land, Ramallah should be its capital.  Or, if not Ramallah, any other Arab town, but not the ancient capital of the Jewish people, the City of David, Jerusalem.