My land – is the land, I stand on!

On reading the Israeli news media (e.g. http://www.haaretz.com/), you will see a number of articles on USA (and UN) requests to freeze settlement growth – in two main areas: the Palestinian West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

Let’s look at the scale of this issue in the West Bank – about 120 settlements, comprising about 270,000 settlers (close to 4% of Israel’s total population). These settlements are scattered through out the West Bank – there are no neat, concentration of settlements in discrete areas. The average growth rate is about 5% a year but this growth is not reflected in the majority of settlements – it’s more, sudden spurts of growth (building activity) in a minority of settlements – at any one time.

President Obama has called for a freeze on the growth of all settlements, including what’s termed ‘natural growth’ – mainly, the children of settlers wanting their own accommodation – as the existing settlers would claim. The emotional side is: why can’t my children live with me, in my community with their friends, with whom they have grown up with – nice, warm, and fuzzy goals-  but as a parent – I can say, it’s a wish!

Obama’s style of diplomacy regarding Israel, is doomed to failure – it’s immaterial if the growth rate of 5% of West Bank settlements is reduced to zero - right now! The ‘facts on the ground’ are 270,000 people, who are there - and, who won’t move from their beliefs – unless their compensation (national or monetary) for their ‘loss’, is much more than adequate!

In a real sense, they (West Bank settlers) are the front-line troops regarding the settlements in East Jerusalem – the land development around East Jerusalem is not without a lot of innate brilliance; the emotions that will rise to enormous nationalistic levels after the straw houses in the West Bank are blown away by American diplomatic ignorance (driven by an uninformed desire to reduce pressures in the womb of Arab terrorism) – will, I think, surprise the Western world. Jerusalem, the city of peace, its status - is not negotiable – in any sense of the word.

As someone who watches the events within Israel, as they influence God’s world, I can only watch in awe at how; such a small country, with such a small population – can grab hold of a white elephant by its tail, with the expectation they can swing it around and out of their lives. Maybe, they really do think that they have God on their side?

What are your views?

Posted on July 9th, 2009 by Shayne
Filed under: General