What does Sharon's latest settlement move mean for Israel?

[Comadreja]

ADC Update


February 6, 2004


"What does Sharon's latest settlement move mean for Israel?"


The following op/ed article by ADC Communications Director Hussein Ibish and ADC member Ali Abunimah, "What does Sharon's latest settlement move mean for Israel?," appears in the Feb. 5 edition of the Chicago Tribune. It can be read online, free registration required, on the Tribune's website at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/oped/chi-
0402060352feb06,1,6786908.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed


Chicago Tribune
February 6, 2004
What does Sharon's latest settlement move mean for Israel?

By Ali Abunimah and Hussein Ibish


Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's announcement that he plans to remove virtually all Israeli settlers from the occupied Gaza Strip has caused a shock wave in Israel.

Has some sudden epiphany convinced Sharon that the settlements are the key obstacle to peace and that Israel's future is jeopardized by the continued attempt to incorporate occupied Palestinian territories into a greater Israel?

Many Israelis, especially in the military, have long felt that the Gaza settlements are pointless, and a massive drain on national resources for no serious purpose. The small Gaza settlements are purely symbolic, in stark contrast to the massive settlements on the West Bank, which have literally reshaped the landscape and are designed also to transform its demographic and political realities, making Israel's control permanent.

While Sharon talks about removing settlements in Gaza, he is continuing to build them all over the West Bank, because he has no intention of permitting a real Palestinian state to be constructed. (more)


After paying a visit to Palestine in 1891, the Hebrew essayist Achad Ha-Am commented: " Abroad we are accustomed to believe that Israel is almost empty; nothing is grown here and that whoever wishes to buy land could come here and buy what his heart desires. In reality, the situation is not like this. Throughout the country it is difficult to find cultivable land which is not already cultivated."

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Does your quote in italics

represent your own viewpoint? In which case I would ask why it would then be necessary to steal the land of the Palestinians in order to have land to cultivate?

[Jim Sagle]

2. Bad link.

:shrug:

[undergroundrailroad]

3. Locking per I/P Guidelines.

Link not working.

NOTE: I will reopen when corrected link is obtained.


UGRR
DU Moderator
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