Posted on 12/02/2004 6:38:39 PM PST by CHARLITE
I am a settler. According to most of the world, I and people like me are to blame for violence in the Mideast, global terrorism, even tribal warfare in The Sudan. I'm sure that, given time, the hurricanes hitting seacoasts around the world could also be attributed to the settlers.
If I were to be viciously murdered and hacked to death along with children and old people tomorrow, it wouldn't be the person wielding the knife who would be at fault, it would be me and us to blame!
I am an enemy of the world. I am a more nefarious and violent entity than Al Qaeda, the murderers of the school children in Beslan, the Madrid bombers, The Junjaweed in Sudan, Al Zaqaawi in Iraq,etc. When terrorists perpetrate their acts, the media fall over themselves to try and understand why. Was it their upbringing? Were they social outcasts, picked on at school?
Whatever the reason, they will find out and paint a very human picture to these humans who commit inhuman acts. I am a settler, apparently I got up one day and felt like oppressing the poor Palestinians and stealing their land and that is the whole of my story.
In media reports around the world I do not have a gender, I do not have a profession, I do not have likes or dislikes, I have no context. I am always referred to as a 'settler', sometimes I am afforded the prefix 'extremist' or 'right-wing'.
I can tell you that I am new at this 'settling' business. A few months ago I wasn't a settler and if I was killed it would be partially condemned by oh, let's see.....at least four or five governments. Today I wouldn't receive even that. I have moved only a few miles geographically yet a whole world in terms of legitimacy. I dared to move across the hallowed 'Green Line'.
I am sure the whole world knows what the Green Line is and how it got its name. I am sure they know that it was created by two generals on opposing sides in war sitting in a tent in the middle of nowhere attempting to muddle out a ceasefire. I am sure too that the world knows that the only marker they had to delineate the lines of cease-fire was a thick green magic marker pen which when making the line on the map was sometimes miles thick.
That is it, a cease-fire line. Not the borders of a state, not the ending of a peace plan, but a line showing where two armies had finished their fighting and decided on a truce. When people talk of 1967 borders, they are being factually incorrect. One can only border a sovereign state.
Which brings me to my next important fact which I am positive the world knows. There has never been a sovereign Palestine, ever in the history of man. Never a Palestinian King, President, ruler. Never a distinct Palestinian language or culture or currency.
So where is it I have moved to, I hear you ask. I can tell you that the last Internationally recognized agreement pertaining to this land was called 'The Balfour Declaration' which was adopted by The League of Nations in the early part of the twentieth century which called for a Jewish Home including where I now live....and nothing since. So at best surely where I live could be called 'disputed'. I recognize that there is a dispute, there are two people wanting to claim this land where I live. I do not occupy it any more than an arab who lives down the road from me.
Speaking of Arabs, the world knows where I stand on them. Surely, I want them gone from here or dead perhaps and I pray continually for their destruction. Well I have some news for the world: I don't hate the Arabs or anyone particularly. I hate traffic, cold mornings and finding the colour of my clothes have run in the washing machine, but I don't hate people. I have never hurt anyone in my life, nor do I intend to. I am not a pacifist, nor am I violent. I'm just like most people on this planet....a regular person. A regular person doesn't hate any particular people.
I have been told by many "more veteran" settlers that they remember before the Intifada when they used to go to the shops and souks of the local Arab towns and cities. They used to invite Arabs to their homes and celebrations and were invited back. Yes, these were the evil settlers pouring tea to their Arab guests of their home and enquiring about the health of their relatives. These were the abhorrent Arab-hating settlers who would moan about the weather with the Arab shopkeepers as they did their weekly grocery shopping. What may surprise many is that most settlers long for these times again and dream of living side by side with Arabs or anyone in peace and harmony. Damn they are truly evil!
As a settler I am not allowed in many countries. I am sure you all knew the declaration of The Non-Aligned countries in the UN (a very large percentage of the world) that I am barred from their countries. While the world fights for civil rights for murderers and terrorists, mine are just shunted aside. But hey, it doesn't matter. As a Jew I am not allowed in many countries in the world and am forbidden from owning land in many, many more.
So yes I am a settler! I make no apology for it. I never hurt anyone, I never stole anyone's land. In fact the land I am living on wasn't lived on before I got here. No Palestinians were displaced to make room for me. I wanted to write this piece not to convert anyone to my way of thinking. I haven't even given my reasons for living here. I just wanted to give myself and those around me context.
I wanted to let you know that the BBC, CNN, etc don't know me or want to get to know me, they would rather shed a tear and try to 'understand' terrorism. I don't even seek anyone to understand me. I just want people to understand that there are two sides and to learn about both. To make a decision about something while only knowing one side is intellectually unsatisfying. Not to at least listen to both sides is dishonest.
So please send this on to as many people as possible, so more human beings can at least get at least a glimpse of this other, hidden side of a human dilemma.
When I read the news nowadays I have to do a mental substitution to de-Orwellianize the language sometimes. Here are some examples, let me know if they are wrong:
"Settler" = person.
"Settlement" = city/town.
"Palestinian refugee" = person.
"Palestinian refugee camp" = city/town.
;-)
I'm sorry, but that article is crap. The guy victimizes himself way too much to be taken seriously.
Dar al Islam. "One world of Islam." Islam is like the Borg in Star Trek...it must seek to make the whole world Islam or die trying. It is a religion of conquest and domination revealed by a Machiavellian warrior. It must be destroyed or capitulated to.
The Crusades live...
Your rebuttal, meanwhile, just screams out loud "take me seriously!"
Especially since you seem to have assumed that Ashley Perry is a guy?
I could do without the tea-pouring and grocery comments myself, but the "elephant in the room" point is effective...the "Palestinian" problem is an anti-Semitic Media Production.
There are two sides to this issue. The Palestinians were there before the Jews moved to Israel in the early 1900s. This doesn't condone terrorism or fundamentalism, but the Palestinians need someplace to live, and the Jews and Palestinians are going to have to find a way to live together in near proximity.
This guy is playing victim, and I'm not overly sympathetic.
I'm skeptical.
"Settlers are not the cause of violence by Islamofacists. Islamofacism is the cause."
Fundamentalist Islam is its own evil. But that doesn't solve the problem of where the Palestians are supposed to live.
One vote=one person in a democracy. If Israel is "united", Palestianians will soon be the majority.
So were the Jews.
So your willing to give back your home and property to the american indians. After all, they were here first.
He IS a victim of a propaganda campaign. Brought to you by your friends in the MSM and fueled by anti-Semitism, or more precisely, Atheism.
"So your willing to give back your home and property to the american indians. After all, they were here first."
No, Europeans and American Indians have learned to share this country.
But, this is the key point. If Israel and the occupied territories were united, and they held an election, the Palestinians would be soon be the MAJORITY. What would you do about that?
(We hold elections all the time, and American Indians get to vote.)
"So were the Jews."
That's true, and they will have to learn to share the country.
So who's not sharing? Which side wants to kill the other side and drive them into the sea?
Oh no, the Indians were smashed to bits and forced to life in refugee camps called "reservations".
The key point is that before the Jews took Jerusalem in a war with Jordan there was no such thing as a Palistinian.
They will share. They always have.
You must have read a different article than the one posted here.
"So who's not sharing? Which side wants to kill the other side and drive them into the sea?"
I'm not condoning any Palestinian terrorists. Islam seems to be a religion that fosters a lot of extremism and violence, to say the least.
But the Palestinians aren't going away, and they will soon be the majority. This author seems to be suggesting a "One Israel", in which Jews would be free to settle in the occupied territories. That is a valid view. But, then the Palestinians who live in those same territories should be able to vote in nationwide elections.
That issue is problematic for the "One Israel" view.
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