An American President and the outposts of Zion

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Ben White, The Electronic Intifada, 9 January 2008


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Settlers are often portrayed in the Western media as extremists within Israeli society, and the outpost "pioneers" -- those who heeded Ariel Sharon's call a decade ago to "move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can" -- an even more maverick fringe. <7> Yet core ideological characteristics of the settlers are also central to the identity and policies of the Israeli state itself; the settlers of city and caravan are a natural expression of Zionism, rather than an aberration.

While the ultra-religious settlers are more frequently spotlighted as ascribing to slogans such as "Only the Bible is the roadmap of the Jewish people," Israel's very own Declaration of Independence itself celebrates "the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country" and affirms "the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel." <8>

Closely connected to the idea of the Bible as land deeds is a second characteristic of both settlers and the Israeli state: a disregard for and denial of applicability of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and a refusal to accept the Palestinians' recognized right to self-determination. Again, typically settlers are presented as the kind of extremists who reject any kind of concession to either the "Other" or to the demands of international law. In a recent piece in The Los Angeles Times, the mayor of the Gush Etzion bloc, Shaul Goldstein, looks down at the land owned by a Palestinian family from Bethlehem and assures the reporter: "'If the state wants to give it to me, for my settlement, they will give it to me. All the land belongs to Israel. We can build wherever we want'". <9> Interestingly, while Goldstein rejects the idea of an illegal Israeli occupation -- since the land is Israel -- he also tolerates the limited presence of Palestinian "neighbors," and "says they must be accommodated in what he calls the land of Israel."

This same kind of rejectionism and denial of Palestine's right to exist is not the exclusive preserve of the settlers; it is echoed at the heart of the Israeli political establishment. Speaking to the UN in September 2005, Ariel Sharon made similar remarks to those of Goldstein:

"The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean disregarding the rights of others in the land. The Palestinians will always be our neighbors. We respect them, and have no aspirations to rule over them. They are also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence in a state of their own." <10>

Thus, "according to Sharon ... the Jewish people have a 'right ... to the Land of Israel;' in other words, theirs is the right of ownership and possession -- in practice and in principle. All others, or more exactly, the Palestinians, have 'rights in the land'... do not, it appears, have any right to the land of Palestine itself." <11>

In case even Sharon's views are dismissed as those of an unrepentant right-winger, there is also the example of current Defense Minister Ehud Barak, ex-Prime Minister of a Labor-led government and apparent "hawkish dove." In 1999, a year before the second intifada and well before construction commenced on the separation wall, Barak spoke at length about his vision for the OPT:

"'Only physical separation from the Palestinians will give us both personal and national security, but in no way will we withdraw to the 1967 border,' he explained. 'Bet El and Ofra will be ours forever ... There is no meaning to our identity and to all that we are here without the connection to Shilo and to Tekoa, to Bet El and to Efrat ...'" <12>

Moreover, his opposition to outposts was not "because we do not have such a right." In fact, Israelis "have a complete right to settle there. We didn't steal anything from anyone. We have deep ties with these places." Interestingly, in February of the same year, Barak specified some of Israel's "red lines:" "Alfe Menache, the Etzion Bloc, Ariel, Nirit, the corridor, the Jordan Valley settlements, and many more places are part of the State of Israel, now and in the permanent agreement."

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http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9208.shtml

[madrchsod]

1. the boy king, led by his 800 retainers and an army of 10,000.

commands the "lights of the city" be dimmed so not to distract him as the sun rises over the land of god`s chosen people......