Well, the 800-pound gorilla of Israeli life - fanatical ultra-orthodox groups - is shaking the living room wall these days. They are rioting in Jerusalem to 'protest' the opening of a parking lot on the Sabbath and the jailing of an alleged child-abuser who is one of them. About 20 police officers were injured in the melee. For two days in a row violent, fanatical 'settlers' have attacked Palestinian olive orchards, burning and cutting down olive trees that provide a living for their owners. The reason: revenge on Palestinians for the disassembly of illegal outposts by the Israeli government. Go figure.
Understanding the violent, uncompromising nature of ultra-orthodox 'settlers' is crucial to understanding all points of view about settlements. All Israeli politicians are afraid of them. Makes sense. They are crazy and violent. Remember who shot to death Yitzhak Rabin. They did because he made accords with Palestinians. In addition to fear of violence, Israeli governments depend on political parties espousing radical religious views (Shas, Yisrael Beiteynu, etc.) to form governments. Currently, PM Netanyahu repays his debt to the crazies by his emplacement of the racist, undemocratic (he's Russian) Avigdor Lieberman as Foreign Minister. He also has declared that settlements are not blocking peace because he supports them and he depends on them for political survival.
Palestinians of course understand that settlements are high up on the list of important barriers to peace, about the same as rocket attacks by Hamas on Israel. Can you imagine Abbas saying that the parties should not dwell on rocket attacks? Furthermore, as we see from their recent actions, law is not an obstacle to these well armed settlers. They serve as a military front line of the forces occupying land captured in 1967. Pit bulls. In short, settlers represent the fist of the occupation - the thumb in the eye of Palestinians.
President Obama, now joined by the EU and Russia (original home of many settlers), has started on the right track by focusing on halting settlement construction. Just as Palestinians must deal with Hamas to arrive at a peaceful position, so must Israel deal with its own religious fanatics to do likewise. Compromise on Israeli settlements is no more an option than is compromise on Palestinian rockets.
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