Dear (in both senses of the word) Settler,
Let’s not waste time on nonsense words like “dialogue”, “conciliation” and such wordscherished 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 youfrom your homes and turn them over to the Arabs. I believe that you and your friends aredestroyers of Israel who conspire to impose their will on the state and drag it into an eternalwar 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 toprevent any possibility of giving the occupied territories back to the Palestinians. Youhave compelled all the governments, from Eshkol to Barak, to give you a huge slice of thestate’s resources. You have turned the army into your private militia. The Israel DefenseForces have become the Settlement Defense Forces.
Politicians of all shades have courted you, and still do. The socialist Yig’al Allon plantedthe 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 “Moneyfor education and not for settlements” has turned out to be the greatest patron of the settlersever.
You have succeeded. Not since the zealots (70 AD) have so few succeeded in imposing their willon so many. The zealots, of course, after initial successes, led to the mass-suicide atMassada and to the virtual elimination of the Jewish presence from this country for 1900years.
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, dominatingthe 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 middleof 160 thousand Hebronites. Living in the “Jewish part” of Hebron there are 40 thousandPalestinians, who are condemned to a curfew every time one of your children overturns a standin the market.
Quite different are the “quality of life” settlements. They were not founded in order tohasten the coming of the Messiah but to enjoy the air and the landscape (“What a beautifulminaret in the village opposite”). They have nothing in common with the violent fanatics ofMa’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 thatarch-settler, Teddy Kollek, in order to enlarge his fiefdom. Kiryat Sefer, another bigtownship, was established by the coalition as a bribe to the orthodox, who get luxury housingfor 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 thePalestinian people, on stolen land, and use the water needed by another people for their veryexistence. You dominate the landscape; symbols of the occupation. The planners drew up thesettlement 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. Itslike an alien particle implanted in a body: the body mobilizes all its strength in order toevict it. The Palestinians see this struggle as their war of liberation, whose main aim is toget 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 havewon them all. In each of them, the occupying army was infinitely stronger than the rebels. Inevery one of them, the conquered people suffered far more casualties than the occupier. Butthe occupiers always tired of the struggle before the occupied, because the occupied peoplewere fighting for their lives and freedom, while the occupiers were fighting for luxury. Forthe Israelis, the settlements are a luxury.
Some months ago, a public opinion poll surprisingly showed that you are the most unpopularsector 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 willevaporate, once the number of our casualties rises, when we relinquish all our achievementsin the Arab world, when our standing throughout the world sinks, when the public becomes awareof the economic price of this struggle and when the danger of a general war in the region (adanger 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, likethe Provence”. A million people lost their lives there. At the crucial moment, the Frenchsettlers set up a militia of their own (the OAS) and committed acts of revenge. As a result, amillion French settlers of the fifth and sixth generation had to flee within a few days, onceFrance made peace. The same happened to the British settlers in Kenya. The white settlers inSouth Africa avoided this fate because they surrendered in time and became citizens of theblack regime.
You have missed that opportunity. What you and the soldiers are doing now is creating such rageand hatred among the Palestinians, that your continued presence in the territories hasbecome 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. Youare 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 aboutyour return and rehabilitation.
Your enemies will say: We owe you nothing. Nobody compelled you to go there. We have wastedbillions 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 stateshould finance your return to Israel and your orderly absorption. After we easily absorbed amillion new immigrants from the Soviet Union, we shall absorb 150.000 settlers too. It will beall the easier as most of you are working in Israel anyhow, so that only the problem of housingremains. 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 onyourself, on the soldiers. Each drop of blood spilt is a waste. Let not the settlements becomean 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 trustworthythan all those who flatter you now and who will sell you down the river tomorrow.