About That Settlement Freeze

Commentary Magazine ^ | 9/15/10 | Michael J. Totten

[Nachum]

Israeli historian Yaacov Lozowick is in favor of continuing the settlement freeze that’s set to expire later this month — as long as the freeze is only in West Bank settlements that are actually up for discussion and that might plausibly be dismantled in a future peace deal with Palestinians. “Not in Modi’in Illit,” he said, referring to an ultra-Orthodox settlement immediately adjacent the Green Line, “which will remain in Israel no matter what, and certainly not in any part of Jerusalem.”

Israel annexed all of Jerusalem decades ago. And while very few Jews move to and build in Arab neighborhoods, enormous Jewish neighborhoods have been constructed on land that used to be empty. There is no chance these places will ever be part of a Palestinian state unless the Palestinians first conquer Israel. It doesn’t matter if Israelis should or should not have built in these areas. The fact is that they did. Hundreds of thousands of people live there today.

The same goes for some of the settlements near the Green Line, such as those in Gush Etzion. They have not been formally annexed to Israel like Jerusalem has, but because they can be annexed without disrupting or fatally compromising a Palestinian state in the future, they will be. Last year, after Jimmy Carter visited the Gush Etzion settlement of Neve Daniel, he said, “This particular settlement area is not one that I can envision ever being abandoned or changed over into Palestinian territory. This is part of settlements close to the 1967 line that I think will be here forever.”

[Phlap]

From a Guardian story yesterday:

Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, said: "We had good meetings in which substantive issues were discussed including the future of the [settlement] freeze."

It says a lot that they are talking about the freeze and not the settlements themselves because East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel, is occupied territory in international law.

[ridesthemiles]

Meanwhile, rockets from Gaza are landing in Israel.

Those notcases don’t ever want peace with Israel.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Nachum.

Israeli historian Yaacov Lozowick is in favor of continuing the settlement freeze that's set to expire later this month -- as long as the freeze is only in West Bank settlements that are actually up for discussion and that might plausibly be dismantled in a future peace deal with Palestinians.

[Eleutheria5]

Bethlehem is literally right next to Jerusalem. You can reach it from Gilo by cab for fifteen shekels, and yet it’s judenrein but for the worshipers at Rachel’s tomb, which is so heavily fortified against the piece-loving Palis that it looks more like a jail than a shrine. There is no such thing as “not adjacent to the green line,” because everything is adjacent to everything in Israel. OK. So Tzefat isn’t adjacent to Be’er Sheva. Big deal. That “historian” should take these fake distinctions, roll them up into a conical shape, place them on a round stool without a back, sit on them and rotate until it penetrates to sufficient depth. That’s all they’re good for.