Daily Alert Archives

High-Tech Israeli Town Spotlights Divide Over Security Barrier

(South Florida Sun-Sentinel) Tim Collie - Ariel, a town of 20,000 people 12 miles inside the West Bank, is Israel's second-largest settlement. It is home to a large college, has wireless broadband, a new shopping center, good schools, quality home construction, and affordable prices. "This is a great community, a thriving city, and the most high-tech place in Israel," boasts Ron Nachman, Ariel's mayor. Two decades of Jewish settlement, representing about three generations of Israeli settlers, now call the West Bank home. "This is nothing more than a gated community, just like you have in Fort Lauderdale," said Nachman. "We all want peace with our Palestinian neighbors, but Ariel isn't going anywhere," he said. "Whether there is a fence or not, Ariel is not going to disappear. We're too big, and too important a city now for anything to be dismantled." A recent survey of settlers by Ariel's College of Judea and Samaria found that West Bank settlers tend to be younger and better educated and earn higher incomes than Israel's overall population. They also tend to have more children.
2005-01-14 00:00:00
Full Article