[Jewish] Join me in signing the Call to Bring the Settlers Home to Israel

[jjg99 at hampshire.edu]

Thank you Ari.  Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Quoting ajos02 at hampshire.edu:

> Hey JSU members,
> 
> First, a warning that this e-mail again discusses the petition to Bring the
> 
> Settlers Home.  If you are only on this listserve to find out about Shabbat
> 
> dinners or don't want to hear political discussion about Israel than I
> suggest 
> you read no further.
> 
> Okay, you choose to keep reading.  Good choice if I do say so myself.  This
> e-
> mail is a reply (hopefully a short one) to some of Jessica's comments.  Her
> 
> entire e-mail is included below and thus I am just going to reference
> parts.
> 
> Jessica wrote that those who signed the petition "didn't think realistically
> 
> about the remaining settlers, who do not wish, under any circumstances, to 
> leave their homes due to their religion or race."  Guess what, I did think 
> about the remaining settlers.  For one, I realized that the settlers are not
> 
> being asked to move because of religion or race (though it's a given that a
> 
> majority if not all the settlers are Jewish) but because of the location they
> 
> choose to live in.  Of course, certain settlers will choose not to move, this
> 
> is their choice.  However nowhere, not in my e-mail, the petition 
> (http://bringthemhome.btvshalom.org/), or the Brit Tzedek v'Shalom website,
> is 
> there any suggestions that the settlers who choose to remain will not be 
> protected by the Israeli army.  Jessica essentially eluded to army withdrawal
> 
> in her suggestion that remaining settlers would be left vulnerable to
> violence.
> 
> ***Warning Personal Rant***  
> Personally, I question the justice of asking the Israeli army to protect 
> settlers in the West Bank and Gaza when these are areas that many Israeli 
> citizens and members of the world community do not believe settlers should
> have 
> moved to in the first place.  Protecting the settlements costs a lot of money
> 
> and drains the already hurting economy of Israel.  It is painfully ironic
> that 
> some (sorry I can't give numbers but I would guess the number is significant)
> 
> of the settlers do not even serve in the army because of religious beliefs
> and 
> yet call on the army to provide them with protection.  However, we must 
> remember that the army is not only protecting Israelis from Palestinians it
> is 
> also Protecting Palestinians from Israelis.  Daniel Gordis wrote an excellent
> 
> article entitled Olive Picking in the Wild West (Bank) in which he discusses
> 
> the phenomenon of settlers ruining Palestinians olive harvests and thus their
> 
> major source of income.  However, no need to take my word for it, you can
> read 
> the article yourself at (http://www.topica.com/lists/gordis/read).
> 
> Okay, I think I'm off my personal high horse.  Jessica continues by
> suggesting 
> that some people leaving the settlements will serve as encouragement for 
> Palestinians to increase their violence against those who reamin in the 
> settlements.  (Back on the Horse: Remember there was no violence against
> people 
> in the settlements when there were no settlements.)  She may very well be 
> correct.  I'd also argue that increasing settlement population will increase
> 
> the violence.  They only other option is freezing settlement populations and
> 
> presumably violence levels where they stand now.  Any option and we still get
> 
> violence.  However perhaps, through having people leave settlements, 
> establishing a Palestinian state, and promoting trade and economic growth 
> between the two countries, we can have the peace we all desire.
> 
> Jessica ended her e-mail with "I do not believe that signing this petition is
> a 
> move towards peace, or simply a "financial incentive."  Rather, this petition
> 
> promotes a forceful use of US resources in legitimizing the use of violence
> to 
> achieve one's goals.  Who will then be responsible for the blood of the 
> remaining men, women, and children who did not "chose" to leave their homes
> due 
> to their religion?"
> 
> I end my e-mail urging you to read the petition (linked above), and read it
> 
> carefully, and decide for yourself whether what it calls for is a step
> towards 
> peace or a misuse of force.  Jessica asked who will be responsible for the 
> blood of those who remain.  I ask that we all take responsbility for the
> blood 
> which has been spilt already and do our best to create peace in our day.
> 
> Im Chalomot Shalom (With Dreams of Peace),
> 
> Ari Shapiro
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting jlz98 at hampshire.edu:
> 
> > 
> > > Dear JSU members,
> > 
> > 
> > This petition (and the latest email response to Jesse's email) makes the
> > claim 
> > that making a financial incentive for the 200,000 Issaeli settlers in the
> > west 
> > bank to leave their homes is an innocent approach which does not "mention"
> 
> > using force to remove people from their homes. 
> > 
> > At best, this is simply uninformed. 
> > 
> > Let's say this plan starts to take effect in its ideal intention, and
> > thousands 
> > of Israeli settlers begin to move back to Israel "proper."  This is going
> to
> > 
> > promote "peace and justice?"
> > 
> > For those of you who signed this petition, I guess you didn't think 
> > realistically about the remaining settlers, who do not wish, under any 
> > circumstances, to leave their homes due to their religion or race. Do you
> > think 
> > that it is not using "force" to be left vulnerable to the repeated
> attacks,
> > 
> > bombings, and shootings that the Palestinians have used to express their 
> > perspective?  Do you think that mass evacuation of the Israeli
> settlements
> > and 
> > a slow and steady degradation of financial support is going to suddenly
> > inspire 
> > a change of heart and a change of approach?  It seems to me, that if one
> > simply 
> > looks at the history of violence, and the history of a Palestinian
> leadership
> > 
> > that openly legitimizes violence as a means to acheiving its goals, that
> this
> > 
> > is an extreme incentive to foster an increased level of violence and
> terror
> > 
> > upon the remaining settlers who do not wish to move from their homes and 
> > homeland due to their religious beliefs or their race. 
> >  
> > 
> > I do not believe that signing this petition is a move towards peace, or
> > simply 
> > a "financial incentive."  Rather, this petition promotes a forceful use of
> US
> > 
> > resources in legitimizing the use of violence to achieve one's goals.  
> > 
> > Who will then be responsible for the blood of the remaining men, women,
> and
> > 
> > children who did not "chose" to leave their homes due to their religion? 
> >  
> > 
> > Jessica Zambias
> > former signer of JSU  
> >  
> > 
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> > 
> 
> 
> 
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