Source is Wall Street Journal, not New York Times, sorry.
“Things have gotten a whole lot easier for Jews living in many of the 132 settlements built on territory Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war. A highway now connects Tel Aviv to Ariel, without the military checkpoints dotting much of the West Bank. Real-estate agents pitch it as a Tel Aviv bedroom community for young families. There are parks, malls, a university with 15,000 students and rows of townhouses and apartment blocs priced as much as 30% lower than in Tel Aviv, some 30 miles away.”
Amazing how such good fortune just rains down on Jews, like manna from heaven, meanwhile Palestinians are always stuck with bad luck. There is no social justice in this world!
It only shows that nearly every place can be made habitable if a people choose to do so.
Re: “settlements are still seen by many as an obstacle to peace”
When I look closely at the full page photograph that opens this article, about 80% of the people (students?) appear to have brown or dark brown skin.
How do the residents - Arab and Israeli - distinguish the good guys from the bad guys?
It will be an agonizing 15-20 minutes...
I asked one of the Egyptian Army guards there who spoke English where the pictures were from. He said "Here" and pointed out the windows to barren sand, trash, and clutter. I asked him what happened and he said "The Jews left."
..................
I just watched a documentary on the 1967 war. Those idiots lost that land fair and square.
Jordan, Syria, and Egypt was lucky Israel didn’t shove all of them out back in 67 and send them packing.
Diversity is NOT their strength.