[Los Angeles Times] Gershom Gorenberg - In Cairo this month, President Obama urged Israel to stop settlement construction. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ardently defended the communities and the people who live in them. "The settlers are neither the enemies of the people nor the enemies of peace. Rather, they are an integral part of our people." As used today, the term "settlement" refers to an Israeli community built in the territories that Israel conquered in the Six-Day War in June 1967. Some of the settlements are tiny, but many are large suburban towns such as Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and Ariel, east of Tel Aviv. These bedroom communities have attracted Israelis, both secular and religious. The great majority of settlers live in large towns, most of them close to the armistice line between Israel and its Arab neighbors, drawn in 1949 at the end of Israel's war of independence. It's also known as the pre-1967 border. Israelis learn the Bible as their national history, and places in the West Bank such as Hebron, Bethlehem and Shiloh are the setting of much of that history. In practice, every Israeli government since 1967 has promoted settlement. In principle, the U.S. has consistently opposed all settlements, including the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. However, most administrations have avoided confrontations over the issue, especially when peace negotiations were underway. In the meantime, settlements kept growing. Aren't most settlers from the U.S.? Absolutely not. The misconception that settlements are heavily American may stem from foreign correspondents looking for English-speakers to interview when they visit.
2009-06-29 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive