Ken Berwitz
Re “West Bank Shopping Center, aSymbol of Coexistence, Is Shaken by Violence“ (Gush Etzion JunctionJournal, Dec. 15):
PortrayingIsraeli settlements and their businesses as hubs of coexistence is absurd. Thesettlements have always been primary obstacles to peace in internationalpolitical forums, and major impediments to Palestinian economic growth. Infact, Israeli settlements stiflePalestine\’s economy, according to Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network. What stifles the “Palestinian economy” isthat resources which could have been used to build businesses andinfrastructure are instead used to wage ongoing terrorism against Israelis.
Moreover,portraying settler leaders as champions of coexistence and peace ispreposterous, considering that those settlers live in illegal settlements builton occupied Palestinian land. Palestinian Arabs have – correctly, I\’msorry to say – learned that if you call this “occupied Palestinian land” over and over again, peoplewill believe it.
In actuality, a) this land is not “occupied”, it was won in a defensive war Israel neither started nor wanted and b) in anyevent it was not won from “Palestinians”. Gaza was won from Egypt and Judea/Samaria(aka “the west bank”) was won from Jordan.
“Palestinians” never controlled one inch ofthis land – and they certainly weren\’t calling it “occupied land”, and launching daily attacks on the “occupiers” whenthe Egypt and Jordan controlled it.
Thecharge of absurdity is further bolstered, considering that in the last decade,more than 11,000 attacks against Palestinians were perpetrated by Israelisettlers. In 2015, with more than 861 attacks so far, the most horrifying wasthe arson attack that killed three members of the Dawabsheh family: Ali (18months old), along with his mother and father. I see. This has nothing to do with the fact thatPalestinian Arabs have ongoingly attacked Israel, and that the hamas charter,endorsed by so-called “moderate” fatah, which governs Judea/Samaria, says – inwriting – that Palestinian Arabs\’ mission is to obliterate Israel and killevery Jew, both Israeli and non-Israeli.
If you want to talk about absurdity, let\’s talk about, specificallyattempting to kill every Jew in Israel and then whining when Israel doessomething about it.
TheIsraeli occupation has deprived us Palestinians of our most basic human rightsand of our national right to self-determination. Furthermore, thislongstanding, brutally oppressive occupation has enforced a social structure ofdiscrimination privileging the occupier over the occupied. The only people denying Palestinian Arabsof basic human rights are Palestinian Arabs. If “Palestinians” were to convincinglyrenounce their objective of killing every Jew, and agree to live in peacefulcoexistence, most of the problems would be ended.
The proof? There are over 1.5 million PalestinianArabs living within Israel, in peace, with full rights.
If you want to go after someone, however,how about going after your Arab brethren. Other than a tiny trickle into Jordan, notone Arab country allows Palestinian Arabs to emigrate there and becomecitizens. You attack Israel for defending itself from your official policyof obliteration and murder, but not one word against the 21 Arab countries who,collectively, would not bother to piss on a Palestinian Arab if he was on fire.
Therefore,it is ironic that an Israeli supermarket chain in the West Bank is portrayed asa symbol of coexistence, when settlers are a long-established symbol ofcolonial domination. Instead of whining about the Israelisupermarket, how about using the concrete, wood and steel which streams intoJudea/Samaria to build your own supermarkets — not tunnels into Israel,which are used for smuggling arms and sending terrorists to kill Jews?
