Settlers to seek asylum in Palestine!

[bemildred]

All Phasers on stun, and warp factor 7 Mr. Scott.

This was also apparently in al Jazeera too, but I can't dig it
up. That's all I can see right now in English, I suppose one
could check YA if one had Hebrew.

JERUSALEM: A group of Jewish settlers from the West Bank is planning to ask Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for political asylum in order to remain in their homes following Israel’s planned evacuation of four enclaves in the area, an Israeli newspaper reported yesterday.

“If the state of Israel doesn’t want us, we don’t want it,” Drori Stuan told Yediot Aharonot.

---

“We are people who intend to carry on living in Samaria under Palestinian rule and not under Israeli rule,” said Stuan

“There are Jews everywhere in the world: in Syria, in Iraq, in Iran, in Pakistan, so we want to be Jews under Palestinian sovereignty.” – AFP

Gulf Times

Edit: another source:

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&hn=20383

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. you have the link in hebrew?

[bemildred]

2. Nope, don't know if YA is even online. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. It is my hebrew is rusty as hell, they even have

an english version, but not all of it is translated

Printed the story that I think may have it.... so right now about to try to decode it... if this is the case... this is major

[bemildred]

4. Eh, I don't know, you can find people that will say and do most anything.

Of course we can expect a large melodrama, it has lots of
propaganda possibilities. I think I'll take it with a grain
of salt for now, and go get some popcorn.
:popcorn:

Edit: I would appreciate your opinions when you have some.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Going throgh it, my hebrew is extremely rusty

on the bright side I know it will take readying the paper to get good at it again, so I shoudl bookmark the place

On edit, waht you found in English IS the summary of the event. They did tell this at a rally in tel aviv to YA.... we may still avert a civil war in Israel...

Oh and yes get your popcorn this will get amusing...

[bemildred]

8. Thanks.

:-)

[Colorado Blue]

5. Well, it's one way to keep Gaza and West Bank from

ethnic cleansing:)

[Behind the Aegis]

6. This will be interesting,

Considering that most, if not all, of the settlers of Gaza and the West Bank are Jews, will they be allowed to stay and become citizens of Palestine, or will they be forced out completely.

[Igel]

9. Indeed. n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

12. Considering there's no sign yet of a Palestinian state...

isn't that sort of question kind of pointless? I mean, who can possibly answer that question with any sort of authority at all?


Violet...

[Behind the Aegis]

13. Not pointless

It is important to plan ahead. At some point, the Gaza Strip will come under PA control. They should be consulted if they will allow the Jewish settlers seeking amnesty to stay, or will they expect the Israeli government to remove them?

[Violet_Crumble]

14. Before when areas have been under PA control...

...that control didn't extend to settlers. To ask for Palestinian citizenship, there would need to be a Palestinian state, not just areas that are under the control of the PA, at least that's what I'd think would be needed...

This may come as a shock to some of the folk who start frothing at the mouth every time Arafat gets mentioned, but I was reading a book called 'Negotiating Outside The Law' by Raymond Helmick, some sort of Jesse Jackson sidekick, and it included an exchange of correspondence between him, Clinton, Arafat, Barak, not Netanyahu because he was too evil even for Helmick to talk to, and Sharon. In the book Arafat expresses interest in a future where Israeli settlers who haven't been violent and who wish to coexist peacefully with Palestinians would be given Palestinian citizenship by the Palestinian government, and a reciprocal arrangement would be in place for Palestinians wishing to gain Israeli citizenship for family reasons etc. The whole idea was very reasonable, though I could imagine extremists on both sides of the equation would be totally opposed eg. those who want not one single Jew in Palestine, and those who would screech that allowing even one Palestinian to move to Israel means the destruction of the Jewish state...

Violet...

[dameocrat]

10. This is a good idea actually

. I hope it works out.

[Colorado Blue]

11. An Israeli friend of mine has this perspective.

To paraphrase, if this is true, it means the settlers are getting along with their Palestinian neighbors and feel at home with them - and vice-versa.

Perhaps they are working out economic (crop and/or labor sharing) arrangements.

In any case they wouldn't want to stay where they didn't feel comfortable, with people they didn't get along with:)