The article from the Associated Press on Saturday seems to be a one-sided report intent on vilifying Israeli settlers on the West Bank. Most of the Jewish residents on the West Bank are peace-loving and law-abiding citizens who reach out to those among the Arab communities who are the same. The report said a lot about extremists among the Jewish communities but mentioned nothing of the extremists among the Palestinians. Some contexts: with the evacuation of the settlement of Homesh in August 2005, to placate the “land-for-peace” deal with the Palestinians alongside the Gaza disengagement, the Jewish population gave up their homes but have been rewarded with countless volleys of rockets being fired from the land they gave up to Palestinians. Instead of land-for-peace they were ‘rewarded’ with land-for-war. Added to that: A Palestinian gunman shot dead a Jewish Yeshiva student and wounded two others in the area on 16 December 2021. It was this unprovoked murder that prompted some settlers to threaten to rebuild Homesh. On December 22 the Israeli Parliament voted that Homesh should not be rebuilt. On January 3 the Israeli Defence Minister ordered the dismantling of unauthorised structures at Homesh. That is called a civilised democratic government dealing with the extremes of a difficult situation. I wonder if we will ever see such democratic governance from members of the Palestinian Authority who were once members of the PLO terrorist organisation, and who often manifest its traits?
- Nigel Woodley, Hawkes Bay Today, 29 Jan 2022
