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Re: Israel and Palestine We built this city on rock'n'roll
http://www.economist.com/node/17312282
https://www.cia.gov/library/publication … os/is.html
Secular Jewish settlers in the West Bank want fun but face hard times
Oct 21st 2010 | ARIEL | from the print edition
FOR over 20 years Ariel was Israel’s fastest-growing settlement, changing from a campsite on a rocky outcrop in 1978 into the first Jewish city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But over the past decade, Ariel has stagnated, adding a mere 100 housing units. Three other settlements closer to Israel proper, including two that were puny ultra-orthodox villages when Ariel boomed, have swelled to twice its size.
For mediators committed to reviving the wobbly peace process, this paralysis is a rare piece of good news. Ariel, says Ron Nachman, the city’s founder and mayor, was intended to undermine the viability of a Palestinian state. It sits on top of a mountain ridge whose eastern edge reaches 23km (14 miles) into the West Bank, in essence cutting it in two.
Previous Israeli leaders contemplating retreat close to the original 1967 border helped to check Ariel’s growth. But Israel’s current prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, promised to improve the settlement’s fortunes when he was still in opposition. He visited it more than any other settlement, and soon after taking power, he went there to plant a tree.
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* Middle East
* West Bank
* Israel
Background:
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Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides. The territories Israel occupied since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement. Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the "Oslo Accords") guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In April 2003, US President BUSH, working in conjunction with the EU, UN, and Russia - the "Quartet" - took the lead in laying out a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005, based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. However, progress toward a permanent status agreement was undermined by Israeli-Palestinian violence between September 2003 and February 2005. In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, evacuating settlers and its military while retaining control over most points of entry into the Gaza Strip. The election of HAMAS to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Ehud OLMERT became prime minister in March 2006 and presided over a 34-day conflict with Hizballah in Lebanon in June-August 2006 and a 23-day conflict with HAMAS in the Gaza Strip during December 2008 and January 2009. OLMERT, who in June 2007 resumed talks with PA President Mahmoud ABBAS, resigned in September 2008. Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU formed a coalition in March 2009 following a February 2009 general election. Direct talks launched in September 2010 collapsed following the expiration of Israel's 10-month partial settlement construction moratorium in the West Bank. Diplomatic initiatives to revive the negotiations through proximity talks began at the end of 2010.
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Whether this attempted revival will work is unclear. Mr Nachman always wanted his city to be the West Bank’s Tel Aviv, full of secular people. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union, only moderately religious, make up half the population, but their birth rates are low. To boost numbers he has recruited thousands of students from the coastal plains, turning fanatical garrisons into bourgeois dorms. But most students move on before they have families.
That leaves settlement leaders urging an ailing Mr Nachman to abandon his secular dream and welcome ideological rather than economic settlers. Not only are they more committed to populating the West Bank, but they breed faster.
For now, Mr Nachman continues to spurn the ultra-orthodox Jews who have peopled much larger settlements. But seemingly holding his nose, he has welcomed religious “Anglos”, or English-speaking Jewish immigrants, including a South African rabbi. He has also made room for some of the religious settlers Israel moved from Gaza when it pulled out in 2005. But if it is to survive, Ariel will have to swallow its pride and admit less tolerant and flexible folk. Not such great news after all.
Re: Israel and Palestine We built this city on rock'n'roll
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If any of you would want to discuss it further I personally would love to read more from you guys about how you feel about it. I reckon it would make a great debate, especially with the passion some of you seem to have on the subject.I cannot say I know enough about it to have an informed opinion on it myself.
+1
Re: Israel and Palestine We built this city on rock'n'roll
For those interested.
British investigative journalist Ross Kemp made an interesting two episode documentary about the conflict (Ross Kemp: Middle East). One where he spends time in Gaza and one where he spends time in Israel.
He doesen't really take sides (at least not that I could tell), but speaks with moderate and extremists on both sides.
It's out there on various file-sharing sites.
Re: Israel and Palestine We built this city on rock'n'roll
Not that it got anything to do with it for the most part, but IMO, given time, plenty of these territories and countries under former British control and mandate, should have been kept under British control, imposing British laws, British morale, British education system. The whole lot. Especially the last part. Education is key.
Look at Libya for example, just a whole bunch of mess.
What the Palestinian territories (I don't call it a country yet, they actually didn't have one ever) could have developed with fair British control would have been interesting thru the past 100 years or so.
