There’s a certain strain of American Jewish liberal that acknowledges that Israeli settlement expansion is bad and that settlements will have to go someday, but doesn’t really like to see the U.S. or other governments do anything about this. One day, the story goes, the Palestinians will come to their senses and want to make an agreement and of course Israel will give up at least the vast majority of the settlements. But Tom Ricks points to this story in Haaretz headlined “IDF troops hang sign at base: We won’t evacuate settlers”.
Now that’s not to say that settlement evacuation is impossible. In fact even Bibi Netanyahu’s right-wing government recognizes the need to discipline these soldiers. But the point is that even an Israeli government that was inclined to abandon large numbers of settlements would have practical problems doing so. And those problems get worse the more settlements expand. And they also get worse as religious nationalists gain influence inside the IDF.
Meanwhile Sarah Palin comes out in favor of unlimited settlement expansion “because that population of Israel is, is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead.” But of course the population of the United States is growing. Does that mean we should start colonizing portions of Canada? Almost every country is experiencing population growth—and that growth with be accommodated within those countries’ boundaries. After all, the population of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is also growing. Should their be Palestinian settlements inside Israel?
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