Re: Israel and its neightbors are at it again
Efrat sits on the politically-incorrect side of the Green Line. I believe we are about 15km south of southern Jerusalem and 5-10km south of Bethlehem. We are also on the "Israel side" of the fence route, inside the area known as 1967+. The caravan I live in is about 1 km from the proposed fence route. I can see the fence (wall at that point) every time I head north to Jerusalem as the new road heads just east of Bethlehem and affords security. The route here used to go through Bethlehem (for somewhere between 200 and 2500 years) but the Arabs were throwing rocks at cars. In response Israel built walls on either side of the road, Arabs threw rocks over the tops. In response Israel spent something like $2billion to move the road and build two tunnels.
Efrat is part of an area known as Gush Etzion which was purchased (save some Arab villages) and partially settled prior to 1948. My caravan is just south of Efrat. Due east of our fenced in community is a blocked in area between settlements and roads (half kilometer square maybe?) of Jewish owned land that we let the Arab squatters stay squatting on and farming in an attempt to maintain cordgial relations with them. The Jordanians did not take the land by right of conquest and resell it, probably because no one wanted to lay a claim to it that would include taxes. When the area was retaken in 1967 settlements were soon rebuilt on the areas of setlements destroyed by the Jordanians and on other land with pre-existing deeds. Overall this area is quiet, ith only 2 or 3 hostile villages between Bethlehem and Hebron.
How do I justify myself? We owned the land previously or it was empty. Some of the guys who have been here 20 years or so tell that they see the Arab villages around here grow with recent arrivals, most of whom will swear that their famiies have been here for generations. The makeup of most of the Arabs in the Gaza strip are of Moroccan descent. For the hundreds of years between the Crusaders being forced out and the Ottomans losing the land to the Brittish it remained sparcely populated. Only when the Jews returned and started improving the land did Arabs from neighboring countries move in also. The Arabs made no move to occupy the land under the Brittish or under the Jordanians.
What do I expect from them peace-wise? Complete peace. Almost every Jewish car in this area has rock-proof plastic windows. Every Jewish settlement with one exception here has a fence around it, all have regular army or private companies doing 24 hour security on the perimeters. All have a gate and guardbooth at the entrances. The few times I've driven through Arab villages (several straddle roads) I've noticed no fence, no spotlights, nobody doing security. I told my parents that if I got a bicycle here and I needed to use it for moving between settlements I would choose a gun over a helmet for protection. I want to be afraid of drunk drivers and not of terrorists infiltrating settlements so they can kill me. I want them to live here and be the neighbor you call when you lock yourself out of your house, not the neighbor who sees you locked out and tries to shoot you.
The Israel/not Israel thing is tricky. I really, truely, want to say that the Brittish divided Palestine into two, the Arabs got Jordan and we get from the Jordan river to the Mediteranian, but I know its untennable and its not going to happen. I also want to say that if a two-state solution means that Jews have to leave their homes and move into Israel proper then Israel should be able to get rid of their Arabs, but we're not the ones facing death if we don't flee if we were to fall out on the wrong side of the border and the International "community" would never allow us equality in that eventuality or protection if we wanted to stay. For the purposes of cartography I'd call East of the Jordan river, minus Gaza, Israel. How much would I like to keep in the event of a two-state solution? All of Jerusalem minus some of the Arab East Jerusalem areas. The area I am in currently with the road down to Qiryat Arba and a 1km circle around The Cave of Patriarchs. I have some friends that live between Hebron and Be'er Sheva who I know would like to keep their homes and don't have any neighbors for almost 10 miles.
Basically my best case scenario is two countries, one land, no borders. We administer Jewish Settlements, towns and cities, they administer Arab ones. Cities mixed enough get a plebicide. Certain predetermined roads and areas get their upkeep taken directly from International Aid already flowing to Israel and the Palestinians. Remaining undeveloped land gets divided 50/50.
I spent about an hour writing this, I'll take another look later to see if I missed anything.
