As further evidence that the present right wing Likud government of Israel represents a minority of uber-nationalist and religious extremists, in a survey just conducted by the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, two-thirds of Israelis support dismantling settlements in the disputed (read “occupied”) territories as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Three fifths of Israelis support dismantling settlements in the disputed* territories…
60% of the Israeli public answered that they supported “dismantling most of the settlements in the territories as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.” This is 11 points higher than the previous survey, conducted in December 2009, and the highest result since 2005.
One-thirds of the Israeli public oppose dismantling most of the settlements, with 13 percent of that number very strongly opposed.
In sharp contrast, however, are the responses of settlers surveyed by the Truman Institute. 69% of settlers oppose dismantling West Bank settlements – and a majority believes that most of the Israeli public shares this view.
*As a footnote, the use of the term “disputed” to replace “occupied” is an old propaganda trick to obscure the legal status of the Palestinian territories, and was first suggested by the Republican pollster/Israel consultant, Frank Luntz.
…and a cat?? Elder Goddess Bastet will NOT be pleased: http://www.kawther.info/wpr/2010/04/13/donkey-horse-and-cat-in-israeli-jail
Also, this may need more attention:
http://uruknet.info/index.php?p=m64891&hd=&size=1&l=e
(the article includes a link that has an extra parenthesis at the end, messing up how browsers handle the URL. try this: http://www.youtube.com/user/NilinMediaGroup, and this http://www.heb2.tv/)
a different kind of time “bomb” for Israel:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/06/israel-integration-orthodox-jews-arabs
Thanks for the reading, Martini. They were all interesting, in one case, the animal arrests, ridiculous.
Saw this today: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”
is there a specific peace that Jerusalem offers? or do you think they mean “pray for peace IN jerusalem”?
Seems it would be more fitting to “Pray for Peace in ALL of Jerusalem” (hopefully making the reader think “huh? ‘all’ of Jersualem? is there more than one major part?” (since many people seem to have no idea that East Jersualem isn’t Israeli-owned.))
Good questions. The meaning might depend on the source. If Christian Zionist, then the message is clear, otherwise, hard to say what it means.
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“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.”
Psalm 122:6
Bumper sticker from Galilee
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."“60% of the Israeli public answered that they supported “dismantling most of the settlements…“
Ah, but how does one interpret “most” in this context? Was that defined at all in the survey? If not, it could mean a number of different things. It COULD mean to dismantle the colonies on most of the territory. It could also mean to dismantle the “outposts”, and smaller colonies that make up the majority of the “settlements” while leaving intact and in place the huge, sprawling colonies such as Maale Adumim that occupy most of the land taken up by colonies. My guess is that it is the latter, which is not such great news.
I wish your question had an answer, but did not note any specifics. Speaking of removing settlements, how about Ariel, population 17,000, which sits smack in the middle of the West Bank. Reason alone to want the specifics.
Still, I don’t think the right wing Likudniks will be at all phased by the results of this study.
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(FMEP) – The announcement of a routine planning approval for 1,600 dwellings in the East Jerusalem settlement neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo precipitated a crisis in relations that highlights not only Israel’s intention to expand settlements–in East Jerusalem and elsewhere–but also the need for a more effective U.S. effort to rescue President Barack Obama’s troubled diplomatic initiative.
Green line and settlement extension into occupied territoryAriel settlement ‘bloc’ population 40,000
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Ariel per se has 18,000 and extends deeply into the West Bank. I didn’t know there was an Ariel bloc.
However, when talking about settlements, I would suppose that the Jordan Valley settlements that reach to the border have the most far reaching extent.
Interestingobservation by Ran HaCohen/Antiwar.Com
http://original.antiwar.com/hacohen/2010/04/09/israel-a-new-decade/
well, maybe the ‘middle’ supports abandoning the settlements in theory, but I see no evidence that any of the politicians think they can get away with it.