Mr. Shavit, I decided to look into the period 1967-1977 and yes you are right there were settlements, but they were in the main small semi-military on the Jordan river designed to implement the then Israeli Allon Plan as a defensive shield. The other ones were a recreation of the Gush Etzion settlements that were in place prior to the cr…
Mr. Shavit, I decided to look into the period 1967-1977 and yes you are right there were settlements, but they were in the main small semi-military on the Jordan river designed to implement the then Israeli Allon Plan as a defensive shield. The other ones were a recreation of the Gush Etzion settlements that were in place prior to the creation of the State of Israel.
As you may recall Kfar Etzion in the Gush area was put under siege during the war in 1947 and the then occupants were slaughtered by local Palestinian/Arab villagers. The other 3 nearby communities surrendered to the Arab Legion the next day and their towns were plundered and then burned down. You know the kind of thing that supposedly only the Jews did.
So these communities were reestablished for historical symbolism unlike the others in teh Jordan valley, mostly a deserted area, that were established for security reasons. Other than Maale Adumim (40,000) also in the Gush Etzion sector, and part of which is on the annexed Jerusalem land, the total population even today of these communities is under 30,000 hardly a bar to a peaceful settlement.
Good work, just a few more words; the warning was there all along that this would not end well. About the experience of 1968, we would travel in the middle of the night to the west bank to eat without fear or weapons. The Palestinians hated the Jordanians who ruled over them more than they hated us. After all, it was not the Palestinian army that we fought in 1967. It was the Jordanian army. It is complicated, but the consensus among people I respect is that we blew the chance for peace right after 1967, and the victory distorted our vision.
You are for sure right. I recall first reading Harkabi’s The Bar Kochva Syndrome when it came out right after Likud started to approve settlements in the West Bank warning about the future. Then only available in Hebrew. He also wrote Israel’s Fateful Hour. He used the Bar Kochva rebellion to show the folly of the “G-d is on our side” religious fanatics 1,800 years ago, attacking Rome at the height of its power and causing the Jewish people its state—The Judeans were exiled. The remaining remnant melted into Christianity and later Islam and are now Palestinians. These books point out the nonsense of Israel as a superpower. Israel often punches above its weight class.
I now fear that Beinart’s aspiration “Israel-Palestine” will be brought on inadvertently by Netanyahu’s need to pull a rabbit out of a hat by attacking Iran. Such an attack might destroy Iran’s immediate nuclear project. But anyone thinking there will be no response from Iran and its proxies that would leave much of Israel in smoke, is for sure smoking a lot of bad weed. A bloodied Israel and totally dependent on America’s goodwill will be forced to live next to an ascendant Palestine. Such an Israel will be populated by the likes of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir the “start-up Nation” will be gone.
Mr. Shavit, I decided to look into the period 1967-1977 and yes you are right there were settlements, but they were in the main small semi-military on the Jordan river designed to implement the then Israeli Allon Plan as a defensive shield. The other ones were a recreation of the Gush Etzion settlements that were in place prior to the creation of the State of Israel.
As you may recall Kfar Etzion in the Gush area was put under siege during the war in 1947 and the then occupants were slaughtered by local Palestinian/Arab villagers. The other 3 nearby communities surrendered to the Arab Legion the next day and their towns were plundered and then burned down. You know the kind of thing that supposedly only the Jews did.
So these communities were reestablished for historical symbolism unlike the others in teh Jordan valley, mostly a deserted area, that were established for security reasons. Other than Maale Adumim (40,000) also in the Gush Etzion sector, and part of which is on the annexed Jerusalem land, the total population even today of these communities is under 30,000 hardly a bar to a peaceful settlement.
Wars have consequences for both sides.
Good work, just a few more words; the warning was there all along that this would not end well. About the experience of 1968, we would travel in the middle of the night to the west bank to eat without fear or weapons. The Palestinians hated the Jordanians who ruled over them more than they hated us. After all, it was not the Palestinian army that we fought in 1967. It was the Jordanian army. It is complicated, but the consensus among people I respect is that we blew the chance for peace right after 1967, and the victory distorted our vision.
You are for sure right. I recall first reading Harkabi’s The Bar Kochva Syndrome when it came out right after Likud started to approve settlements in the West Bank warning about the future. Then only available in Hebrew. He also wrote Israel’s Fateful Hour. He used the Bar Kochva rebellion to show the folly of the “G-d is on our side” religious fanatics 1,800 years ago, attacking Rome at the height of its power and causing the Jewish people its state—The Judeans were exiled. The remaining remnant melted into Christianity and later Islam and are now Palestinians. These books point out the nonsense of Israel as a superpower. Israel often punches above its weight class.
I now fear that Beinart’s aspiration “Israel-Palestine” will be brought on inadvertently by Netanyahu’s need to pull a rabbit out of a hat by attacking Iran. Such an attack might destroy Iran’s immediate nuclear project. But anyone thinking there will be no response from Iran and its proxies that would leave much of Israel in smoke, is for sure smoking a lot of bad weed. A bloodied Israel and totally dependent on America’s goodwill will be forced to live next to an ascendant Palestine. Such an Israel will be populated by the likes of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir the “start-up Nation” will be gone.