Smoke ‘em out…
A few weeks ago, the Israeli government decided to ‘cut off’ funding for illegal outposts in the West Bank. It seemed like relatively good news and I even considered posting about it at the risk of giving the Zionist regime undue credit. For those who don’t know, outposts are settlements built without the Israeli government’s approval and technically illegal (of course, all settlements are illegal in the eyes of the international community). There are close to 250 settlements in the West Bank, at least 100 of which are outposts. Despite the fact that the state of Israel does not officially recognize these colonial constructions, they have been underhandedly supporting them for years. While the government’s decision may have seemed like a good thing, it was little more than a meaningless declaration that is unlikely to bring any action – the current administration is in no position to actually take on the settlers, even if it wanted to.
Like any other settlements, the government typically provides these outposts with the electricity and running water that are considered a luxury in too many Palestinian homes. Their presence contaminates the water supply in the West Bank (for starters). They vary in size and population density, but taking down even the small ones is a major challenge – the Israeli government is unlikely to do anything more than sit back and watch them grow.
Migron is one of these outposts. Much to the chagrin of some people, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that it should be demolished. This has yet to happen… and it is unlikely that it will anytime soon. On Monday, Migron’s settlers made a deal with the government: they will eventually be moved (to another settlement), but only after a plan is formulated to build their new homes – something the government admits will not “happen in the near future.”
It’s a shame that nothing is changing with respect to the outposts or settlements in general. The settlers and those who support them are a greater threat to peace in the region than Hamas or any other group of Palestinians ever could be – they hold sway in the halls of power but they can essentially do as they please (and they do). They must watch a lot of Westerns.
I wish it were more, but at least it’s something.
Also, if you look at what needs to happen for the settlements to be dismantled, this is definitely a step down that road.
Step one, the essential step, is to *heighten the contradictions within Israeli society* between the secular, just-want-to-live-their-life Tel Aviv types and the crazy Black Hats. You want more and more confrontations between the two groups; angry riots by Black Hats in Jerusalem, attacks by settlers on Israeli security forces, etc.
You need this for two reasons; it gives the new leaders of the ruling coalition the clout to shift policy, and it helps shift the country to a more unified footing against the settlers so that they’re not the perpetual swing vote in Israeli politics, with all that demands.
There’s one big thing Palestinians with Israeli citizenship could do to help this work; set aside their differences among one another and present a more unified front that’d make them attractive, reliable coalition partners. Palestinian Israelis punch below their weight in Israeli politics, and one big reason is the very high degree of in-fighting they engage in over a ton of different issues.
If they’re serious about making this happen, they need to become single-issue voters, *at least for now*, just as the Gush Emanim are. Willing to all vote a party line simply so that there’s a political coalition to get the illegal settlements dismantled.