Dear (in both senses of the word) Settler,
Let's not waste time on nonsense words like
"dialogue", "conciliation"
and such words cherished 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 you from your homes
and turn them over to the Arabs. I believe that you and your
friends are destroyers of Israel who conspire to impose their
will on the state and drag it into an eternal war 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 to prevent any
possibility of giving the
occupied territories back to the Palestinians. You have
compelled all
the governments, from Eshkol to Barak, to give you a huge
slice of the state's
resources. You have turned the army into your private militia.
The Israel Defense Forces have become
the Settlement Defense Forces.
Politicians of all shades have courted you, and still do. The
socialist Yig'al Allon planted the 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 "Money for education and not for
settlements" has turned out to be the greatest patron of
the settlers ever.
You have succeeded. Not since the zealots (70 AD) have so few
succeeded in imposing their will on so many. The zealots, of
course, after initial successes, led to the mass-suicide at
Massada and to the virtual elimination of the Jewish presence
from this country for 1900 years.
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, dominating the 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 middle of 160 thousand Hebronites.
Living in the "Jewish part" of Hebron there are 40
thousand Palestinians, who are condemned to a curfew every time
one of your children overturns a stand in the market.
Quite different are the "quality of life"
settlements. They were
not founded in order to hasten the coming of the Messiah but
to enjoy
the air and the landscape ("What a beautiful minaret in
the village
opposite").
They have nothing in common with the violent fanatics of
Ma'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 that arch-settler, Teddy Kollek, in
order to enlarge his fiefdom. Kiryat Sefer, another big
township, was established by the coalition as a bribe to the
orthodox, who get luxury housing for 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 the
Palestinian
people, on stolen land, and use the water needed by another
people for their very existence. You dominate the landscape;
symbols of the occupation. The planners drew up the settlement
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. Its like an alien particle
implanted in a body: the body mobilizes all its strength in
order to evict it. The Palestinians see
this struggle as their war of liberation, whose main aim is to get
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 have won them all. In each of them, the
occupying army was infinitely stronger than the rebels. In every
one of them, the conquered people suffered far more casualties
than the occupier. But the occupiers always tired of the
struggle before the occupied, because the occupied people were
fighting for their lives and freedom, while the occupiers were
fighting for luxury. For the Israelis, the settlements are a
luxury.
Some months ago, a public opinion poll surprisingly showed
that you
are the most unpopular sector 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 will evaporate,
once the number of our casualties rises, when we relinquish
all our achievements in the Arab
world, when our standing throughout the world sinks, when the
public becomes aware of the economic price of this struggle and
when the danger of a general war in the region (a danger 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, like the Provence". A
million people lost their lives there. At the crucial moment,
the French settlers set up a militia of their own (the OAS) and
committed acts of revenge. As a result, a million French
settlers of the fifth and sixth generation had to flee within a
few days, once France made peace. The same happened to the
British settlers in Kenya.
The white settlers in South Africa avoided this fate because they
surrendered in time and became citizens of the black regime.
You have missed that opportunity. What you and the soldiers
are
doing now is creating such rage and hatred among the
Palestinians, that your continued presence in the territories
has become 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. You are 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 about your return and rehabilitation.
Your enemies will say: We owe you nothing. Nobody compelled
you to go there. We have
wasted billions 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 state should finance your return to
Israel
and your orderly absorption. After we easily absorbed a
million new
immigrants from the Soviet Union, we shall absorb 150.000
settlers too. It will be all the easier as most of you are
working in Israel anyhow, so that only the problem of housing
remains. 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 on yourself, on
the soldiers. Each drop of blood spilt is a waste. Let not the
settlements become an 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 trustworthy than all those who flatter you
now and
who will sell you down the river tomorrow.
