. Do you believe the West Bank should belong to Israel? If not, what’s the purpose of building settlements?
Re: Re: Question for Israel supporters My try: Not automatically. But because the settlements are unjust it is one step towards peace.
No. The purpose of building settlements is to increase the bargaining position of Israel when the two sides actually calm down enough to actually bargain. Not that it will happen anytime soon. But really, why should they slow down the settlements? As a sign of good will towards the suicide bombers? As far as I am concerned, they should expand, expand, expand. Unless of course the bombings stop or slow down, then they should withdraw and retract.
By "Israel supporters," do you mean "people who support Israel's right to exist?" If so, then count me in, and I'll vote NO. Purpose? The purpose seems pretty clear to me from the perspective of the right wing racist zealots who are the settlers. Plenty of moderate Israelis don't agree with that purpose though.
Re: Re: Question for Israel supporters Wow, you truly have NO idea what you're talking about, do you? Come on, admit it. You have zero idea of who these settlers are, what kinds of rhetoric they spew, and what their stated goals are. Hint: Call them a "bargaining chip" and they'll spit in your face.
Re: Re: Re: Question for Israel supporters They are people who believe that Israel was given to them by God. As a result, the West Bank should be Israeli territory. They believe there should be no splitting it up. They believer there should be no land given to Palestinians. This land belongs to Israel because God gave it to them. Any agreement will offend them. To be quite frank, I don't have a problem offending them at all. They are just as irrational as the idiots who believe the way to heaven is by attaching a bomb to your back and taking out a bunch of kids on a bus.
There's a far different "irrationality" at work between someone who "irrationally" builds a settlement and someone who "irrationally" blows themselves up on a bus full of people. The fact that they both believe God is guiding their actions does not make the actions comparable. One bunch of "idiots" are murderers, the other are not.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Question for Israel supporters Ok, so you proved me wrong. You DO know what you're talking about. Your first post might need to be revised to the following, "the purpose of allowing the building of settlements..." to differentiate from the political bargaining chip motive (true) and the motive of the actual settlers. As for the comparison between the zealots on each side, I think riverplate misrepresents you (as I did!). Clearly, there is no moral equation between simply stealing someone's land [horrible and mean thing to do] and blowing oneself up as a suicide murderer [beyond the pale of human morality]. So morally, they are not equal, but they both stem from similar irrational impulses of fear and xenophobia.
The 2 sides will determine what to do with the settlements. If they're removed then the assumption is that Israel will not suffer any more attacks on their soil. Somehow I doubt Israel will get a break with this current Palestinian "leadership" (terrorists, muslim fanatics, apologists for terror named Arafat).
After the '67 war, Isreal offered to give up the West Bank in exchange for keeping Jeruslaem and getting peace with it's neighbours. The Arab League said no. If the West Bank is to be given up, it should go back to Jordan. Not the Palestinians.
Why should they have said yes? No reason I can see. Why should they give it back to Jordan? Jordan doesn´t want it and "gave" it judicialy to the Palestinians. Why shouldn´t it given back to them? What´s your point? I mean a country takes land of you (Isreal) than another one takes the rest (Jordan) after a few years the first country wins a war against the second an conquers the rest of your soil. And you suggest after a peace the land should be given to Jordan, not to it´s inhabitants?
Jordan, is that the country with a Palestinian majority, a Palestinian Queen and four times the land of Israel?
It would dramatically cut down the number of potential suicide bombers. People are not likely to blow them selves up if they have something to lose. How many suicide bombings happened before Israel started building settlements? Or do you think those are completely unrelated? I meant people who support current Israeli policies. I too support Israel’s right to exist. BenReilly, I’d like to read your answer to the original question.
(1) Ideally, tiny Israel, 1/1000th the size of the Arab nation (and 1/50th the population), shouldn't have to give up its ancient land that it had 2000 years before Mohammed. Without the contributions of the Isarelites, these lands would be as noteworthy as Mauritania (and how often does Mauritania come up in the news despite its horrors?). However, this isn't an ideal world so Israel should be prepared to again give up (most of) this land. (2) Aside from the Jerusalem area, the settlements are profoundly foolish.
It would only embolden those suicide bombers to increase their atatcks. They want Isreal pushed into the sea.