Israel and the West Bank
I just read this article on the BBC website.
It seems while people still have these views there will never be peace
It also confirm I was right not to follow any religion. Since all religion does is fuel conflict :-
It is rare for an international media organisation like the BBC to be allowed into these outposts. But on this occasion, a lawyer with an organisation that represents Israelis arrested for violence against Palestinians, agreed to speak.
He told me that attacks on Palestinian villages last weekend were justified as revenge for the killing of the outpost's security guard.
"I think now, after they killed one Israeli, we need to kill all the people in Tal and Sarra, even Jit and Farata," he said, naming the Palestinian villages closest to the outpost.
I put it to him that he was equating one Jewish life with hundreds or even thousands of Palestinian lives.
"No," he said, "millions. One Jewish life, it's 10 million [Palestinians]."
Challenged on the racism of his statement, he did not deny it.
"Yes, I know," he replied. "But this is the truth, because God chose us [and] because of this you are jealous."
These extreme views – rejected by many Israelis – are crucial to understanding the conflict playing out across the West Bank, as Israel's settlements and outposts expand, and violence against Palestinians grows.
Many settlers here, especially in unauthorised outposts like Havat Gilad, built without Israeli planning permission or legal oversight, see the West Bank as land given to the Jewish people by God.
Both Israel's official settlements and its unauthorised outposts are illegal under international law.
It seems while people still have these views there will never be peace
It also confirm I was right not to follow any religion. Since all religion does is fuel conflict :-
It is rare for an international media organisation like the BBC to be allowed into these outposts. But on this occasion, a lawyer with an organisation that represents Israelis arrested for violence against Palestinians, agreed to speak.
He told me that attacks on Palestinian villages last weekend were justified as revenge for the killing of the outpost's security guard.
"I think now, after they killed one Israeli, we need to kill all the people in Tal and Sarra, even Jit and Farata," he said, naming the Palestinian villages closest to the outpost.
I put it to him that he was equating one Jewish life with hundreds or even thousands of Palestinian lives.
"No," he said, "millions. One Jewish life, it's 10 million [Palestinians]."
Challenged on the racism of his statement, he did not deny it.
"Yes, I know," he replied. "But this is the truth, because God chose us [and] because of this you are jealous."
These extreme views – rejected by many Israelis – are crucial to understanding the conflict playing out across the West Bank, as Israel's settlements and outposts expand, and violence against Palestinians grows.
Many settlers here, especially in unauthorised outposts like Havat Gilad, built without Israeli planning permission or legal oversight, see the West Bank as land given to the Jewish people by God.
Both Israel's official settlements and its unauthorised outposts are illegal under international law.
61-69, M
