Dear* Settler,
Let’s not waste time on nonsense
words like "dialogue", "conciliation" and such words cherished by the
feeble-minded. Let’s face the fact that you don’t like me and I do not
like you. You believe that my friends and I are "destroyers of Israel",
people who conspire to evict you from your homes and turn them over to the
Arabs. I believe that you and your friends are destroyers of Israel who
conspire to impose their will on the state and drag it into an eternal war
that may lead to its destruction.
So let’s talk about practical
matters.
Up until now, you have been a
success story. You wanted to create "facts on the ground", so as to
prevent any possibility of giving the occupied territories back to the
Palestinians. You have compelled all the governments, from Eshkol to
Barak, to give you a huge slice of the state’s resources. You have turned
the army into your private militia. The Israel Defense Forces have become
the Settlement Defense Forces.
Politicians of all shades have
courted you, and still do. The socialist Yig’al Allon planted the first
settlers in the heart of Hebron, Shimon Peres planted the first
settlement, Kedumim, in the heart of the West Bank. Ehud Barak, who won
the elections with the slogan "Money for education and not for
settlements" has turned out to be the greatest patron of the settlers
ever.
You have succeeded. Not since the
zealots (70 AD) have so few succeeded in imposing their will on so many.
The zealots, of course, after initial successes, led to the mass-suicide
at Massada and to the virtual elimination of the Jewish presence from this
country for 1900 years.
I know that there are major
differences between the settlements. There is Kfar Darom, a tiny,
fortified and isolated settlement, in the middle of 1.2 million
Palestinians, dominating the lifeline of the Gaza strip. A thorn in the
flesh.
Then there is the "Jewish
settlement in Hebron", a few dozen fanatical families in the middle of 160
thousand Hebronites. Living in the "Jewish part" of Hebron there are 40
thousand Palestinians, who are condemned to a curfew every time one of
your children overturns a stand in the market.
Quite different are the "quality of
life" settlements. They were not founded in order to hasten the coming of
the Messiah but to enjoy the air and the landscape ("What a beautiful
minaret in the village opposite"). They have nothing in common with the
violent fanatics of Ma’aleh Amos or Yitzhar. At the present time, death
overshadows their quality of life.
Ma’aleh Adumim, whose area is
officially bigger than all of Tel-Aviv, was implanted by that
arch-settler, Teddy Kollek, in order to enlarge his fiefdom. Kiryat Sefer,
another big township, was established by the coalition as a bribe to the
orthodox, who get luxury housing for nothing.
Settlements of different kinds,
settlers of all shades. Yet they all have one thing in common: every
settlement is a land mine on the road to peace. You are sitting on the
land reserves of the Palestinian people, on stolen land, and use the water
needed by another people for their very existence. You dominate the
landscape; symbols of the occupation. The planners drew up the settlement
map with the aim of carving up the Palestinian territory.
Therefore, it was only a question
of time until the Palestinian people rose up against you. Its like an
alien particle implanted in a body: the body mobilizes all its strength in
order to evict it. The Palestinians see this struggle as their war of
liberation, whose main aim is to get you out.
Don’t kid yourself: you have no
chance whatsoever of winning this war.
In the last hundred years there
have been dozens of such wars, and the oppressed peoples have won them
all. In each of them, the occupying army was infinitely stronger than the
rebels. In every one of them, the conquered people suffered far more
casualties than the occupier. But the occupiers always tired of the
struggle before the occupied, because the occupied people were fighting
for their lives and freedom, while the occupiers were fighting for luxury.
For the Israelis, the settlements are a luxury.
Some months ago, a public opinion
poll surprisingly showed that you are the most unpopular sector in Israel,
even more unpopular than the orthodox. You may be less unpopular today,
because you are being hit - but have no illusions, this is a very
temporary popularity. It will evaporate, once the number of our casualties
rises, when we relinquish all our achievements in the Arab world, when our
standing throughout the world sinks, when the public becomes aware of the
economic price of this struggle and when the danger of a general war in
the region (a danger which we have long forgotten) appears again on the
horizon.
The French fought for seven years
for Algeria, which they considered "a part of France, like the Provence".
A million people lost their lives there. At the crucial moment, the French
settlers set up a militia of their own (the OAS) and committed acts of
revenge. As a result, a million French settlers of the fifth and sixth
generation had to flee within a few days, once France made peace. The same
happened to the British settlers in Kenya. The white settlers in South
Africa avoided this fate because they surrendered in time and became
citizens of the black regime.
You have missed that opportunity.
What you and the soldiers are doing now is creating such rage and hatred
among the Palestinians, that your continued presence in the territories
has become impossible. Every dead child, every demolished home, every
"blockade" and "liquidation" brings the end of your settlements nearer.
I am sure that you and your friends
know this in your hearts. All your behavior shows this. You are acting out
of despair. I propose that you exchange the despair for hope of a
solution.
Instead of dreaming up empty
slogans like "Let the army win", you should start to think about your
return and rehabilitation.
Your enemies will say: We owe you
nothing. Nobody compelled you to go there. We have wasted billions and
billions on you. Now you can look out for yourself.
I do not subscribe to that. I, and
many more like me in the peace movement, believe that the state should
finance your return to Israel and your orderly absorption. After we easily
absorbed a million new immigrants from the Soviet Union, we shall absorb
150.000 settlers too. It will be all the easier as most of you are working
in Israel anyhow, so that only the problem of housing remains. Israel in
peace, with a flourishing economy, will easily solve the problem.
I am convinced that the great
majority of the settlers – all except the hard-core fanatics – will sooner
or later accept this solution. Sooner rather than later, I hope. Have pity
on yourself, on the soldiers. Each drop of blood spilt is a waste. Let not
the settlements become an altar of Moloch, on which the children are
sacrificed.
When you, too, come to this
conclusion, you will find that we are your allies, more trustworthy than
all those who flatter you now and who will sell you down the river
tomorrow.
*(Dear / Jakar - in both senses of
the word - as dear = jakar in hebrew)
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ua / hagalil.com /
25-11-2000 |