The Settlement Issue

Today in class, as my mind wandered from the mundane class discussion, I started to think about the settlement issue. It's an extremely complicated issue no doubt, but the main argument AGAINST settlements is the idea that they are obstacles to peace. Up until now, I have believed the same. I am not quite certain anymore. There are two issues: One is why is Israel allowed to settle there and are they actually an obstacle to peace? Throughout history, the issues that war was fought have evolved. The most basic issue was the issue of land. The more land you had, the more power you had. Without going into a shallow history lesson of war, land is not something that is fought over anymore, except in the case of Israel and Palestine. The crux of the issue is that of land and who does it belong to? Does it belong to the Jews? Does it belong to the Muslims? Does it belong to the Palestinians? In 1948, the a peace treaty was presented and was basically all about which land belonged to whom. The Jews had some land and the Palestinians had some land. The Jews accepted it and the Palestinians rejected it and fought the Jews. When you have land and you fight to gain more land and then you lose, you lose the land you originally had. This is the basic concept of war. It has happened throughout history. If the issue you're fighting over is land and you lose, you've made yourself vulnerable to lose your own and sometimes you do. So why is it an issue for Israel to build on land that it rightfully won? Jordan and Syria and Egypt were parties to the war in 1967. Their goal in participation of that war was to eradicate Israel and reclaim the land for Arabs. They lost. Their goal was to gain more land and in return, they lost their own. That's how war works. If it didn't, then there would be no risk for a government to go to war. Egypt lost the Sinai and then was returned to them for peace. Jordan gave up the West Bank to Israel and got peace and yet Syria and Palestinians believe that Israel should just give up their land because they asked. So my first question is: If Israel rightfully won the land in war, why should they not be able to build on it? Do you believe that if Jordan or Syria or Egypt had won the 1967 War, they would've said, "Oh now that we've successfully massacred you, you can have the land and we'll go home." No. Of course not. If Palestine had won the war in 1948, would they have welcomed the Jews with open arms? No. Because that's not how war works. You win, you get the land. You lose, you find somewhere else to go. But that's no longer the issue because even if Israel has the right to build settlements, the issue is: Should they build settlements and should they evict people from the West Bank? 

     Now obviously I do not believe that they are good for peace, but I wonder if they should be an issue at all. My question is, "Why are the West Bank settlements an obstacle to peace?" Why do the Jews who live in the West Bank need to leave and Israeli settlements need to stop? Now I don't believe that Israel should continue to build settlements in the West Bank, but I would think that the Palestinians would enjoy the free construction. By Israel building in the West Bank, all that does is create more areas for Palestinians to live at the cost of the Israeli government and no cost to the Palestinians once a Palestinian state is created in the West Bank. Aside from that argument, which is not that serious, there is an underlying issue in the request of removal of all settlers from the West Bank: The refusal of acceptance of a minority within the state of Palestine. Does Palestine believe that they cannot have a state with minorities living there? It seems that Palestine only wants a state for themselves if no one else lives there, but Palestine. Why does this matter? Some of you are probably asking me, "Well doesn't Israel want to remain a Jewish state?" Of course it does, but it does this with minorities within it. There is a secular minority, a Christian minority, a Muslim minority, an Arab minority, along with many other smaller ones. Every single country lives with at least some of its population (however small it may be) being a minority and yet Palestine believes that it cannot survive with a Jewish one… This is the real issue. From this we can conclude that it is not the settlements that are the obstacle to peace. No they do not further the peace process by any means, but they should not be a condition of peace. The only thing that should be a condition of peace is the removal of the IDF from the West Bank, but peace can be attained without the settlements becoming an issue.