WATCH: Settlers hurl rocks at Palestinians in the presence of IDF soldiers | +972 Magazine         {parsetags: 'explicit'}   var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-18130069-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'http://web.archive.org./web/20140917071507/https://ssl' : 'http://web.archive.org./web/20140917071507/http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();   var siteBaseURL='http://web.archive.org./web/20140917071507/http://972mag.com';    .sprite{background-image:url('http://web.archive.org./web/20140917071507im_/http://972mag.com/wp-content/themes/nstt/img/sprites15.png');}.sprites{background-image:url('http://web.archive.org./web/20140917071507im_/http://972mag.com/wp-content/themes/nstt/img/sprites15.png');}WATCH: Settlers hurl rocks at Palestinians in the presence of IDF soldiers  /* */            var is_donated=false;           Appreciate this article? +972 depends on your support -- click here to help us keep going            Voices Samer BadawiMairav ZonszeinHaggai MatarActivestills Larry DerfnerDahlia ScheindlinOmar H. RahmanAmi Kaufman HaoketsNoam SheizafSocial TVMya GuarnieriCafé GibraltarLisa GoldmanAziz Abu SarahDimi ReiderMichael Omer-ManEdo KonradRoi MaorLaissez PasserYossi GurvitzRoee RuttenbergOri J. Lenkinski+972 Blog+972 Resources  Analysis News     var googletag = googletag || {}; googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; (function() { var gads = document.createElement('script'); gads.async = true; gads.type = 'text/javascript'; var useSSL = 'https:' == document.location.protocol; gads.src = (useSSL ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//web.archive.org./web/20140917071507/http://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js'; var node = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; node.parentNode.insertBefore(gads, node); })();   googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.defineSlot('/10798520/Bottom', [728, 90], 'div-gpt-ad-1352362722708-0').addService (googletag.pubads()); googletag.defineSlot('/10798520/Cube', [300, 250], 'div-gpt-ad-1352362722708-1').addService (googletag.pubads()); googletag.defineSlot('/10798520/Cube_2', [300, 250], 'div-gpt-ad-1352362722708-2').addService (googletag.pubads()); googletag.defineSlot('/10798520/Top', [728, 90], 'div-gpt-ad-1352362722708-3').addService (googletag.pubads()); googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest(); googletag.enableServices(); });     googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display ('div-gpt-ad-1352362722708-3'); });     Wednesday, September 17, 2014    How to stop Palestinian workers from unionizingMichael S. Omer-Man   Israel's watershed moment that wasn'tLarry Derfner     Donate    We depend on your support!  

      StreamNewsAnalysisVideoAll PostsVoicesSamer BadawiMairav ZonszeinHaggai MatarActivestills Larry DerfnerDahlia ScheindlinOmar H. RahmanAmi Kaufman HaoketsNoam SheizafSocial TVMya GuarnieriCafé GibraltarLisa GoldmanAziz Abu SarahDimi ReiderMichael Omer-ManEdo KonradRoi MaorLaissez PasserYossi GurvitzRoee RuttenbergOri J. Lenkinski+972 Blog+972 ResourcesAbout             By Mairav Zonszein |Published January 14, 2014  WATCH: Settlers hurl rocks at Palestinians in the presence of IDF soldiers    IDF soldiers do not use any crowd dispersal means to stop settlers throwing stones toward Palestinians in the West Bank village of Burin; several reportedly injured.

 IDF stands by masked settlers in Burin (Photo: Munir Kadus, Yesh Din)

 Over 20 masked settlers armed with slingshots invaded the West Bank village of Burin on Tuesday afternoon, a field worker from human rights organization Yesh Din reported.

 The settlers, some of whom appear to be minors, hurled a large amount of rocks at Palestinian residents who were working on a house on the edge of the village. This area has been attacked by settlers many times in the past.

 In the photo above, Israeli  soldiers can be seen standing with the masked settlers.

 Masked Israeli settlers hurl stones toward Palestinians in the West Bank village of Burin, January 14, 2014. (Photo: Munir Kadus, Yesh Din)

 In the first video, the soldiers appear to chase after the settlers throwing stones but make no attempt to arrest or detain them. They do not use of tear gas or other crowd control means to disperse the settlers, which is almost always the case when dealing with Palestinian stone throwers.

 

 

 It took over an hour for army and Border Police forces to take control of the situation, according to Yesh Din. The Israeli authorities ordered the Palestinians to stop working at the site, which is inside the village and under Palestinian civil control (Area B). A number of Palestinians, including the cameraman, were lightly injured in the attack.

 Just last week, in the nearby village of Qusra, a large group of violent settlers were caught by Palestinians, some of whom saved them by calling the IDF to come evacuate them.

 It became clear after the event, as reported here by Yossi Gurvitz for Yesh Din, that the IDF actually identified the group as it descended toward the village to attack it, but did nothing to stop the settlers, claiming they “lost eye contact.”

 More on settler violence in Burin: WATCH: Masked settler beats Palestinian with metal pipe While you were sleeping: The systematic terrorization of Burin 

 For additional original analysis and breaking news, visit +972 Magazine's Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. Our newsletter features a comprehensive round-up of the week's events. Sign up here.

         LEAVE A COMMENT  Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//web.archive.org./web/20140917071507/http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");                Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//web.archive.org./web/20140917071507/http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");             View article: AAA Share article Print article   TAGS:  burin, IDF, occupation, settler violence, settlers, west bank    RELATED STORIES:  Refusal by elite IDF reservists angrily dismissed as 'political'IDF's 'start-up nation' reservists refuse to serve the occupationPHOTOS: Hundreds attend Ramallah funeral of young Palestinian killed by IDF           COMMENTS     Ginger Eis  TuesdayJanuary 14, 2014     What is good for goose is good for the gander. If Palestinians teach their youth that ‘stone-throwing’ is a form of legitimate protest and “resistance” and encourage them to seek out Jews and maim (if possible kill) them with stones, they should enjoy it when overzealous Israeli children throw stones at them. Maybe the Palestinians would finally learn that it ain’t pretty having stones thrown at anyone and halt similar activities from their own camp. BTW, I saw IDF-soldiers doing their best to stop the stone throwing.

    Reply to Comment         Greg Pollock TuesdayJanuary 14, 2014     Well, if you reverse roles, making the soldiers PA police, the settlers Palestinian youth, the dominant view would be that the police didn’t do enough, that no attempt was made to disarm the slingshots, and that the police seemed quite passive towards their own breaking the local peace. The PA might reply that they feared flaming the situation, and that they did gently try to dissuade the young while not harming them nor making things worse. If the PA police also said that the target group as a class also engages in stone throwing and this should be a lesson to them–you would be enraged. Since the episode switches in indignation upon racial interchange, this is not an example of equal protection by the sovereign entity monopolizing legal force–the IDF and State of Israel.

 If the building was within the village under Area B, then there should have been response to allow the lawful activity to continue unimpeded by threat of any kind. (Come on, kids, we are going home.) Where the IDF are, so is State monopoly over legal violence. The claim that settler youth rock throwing is payback for the same by Palestinians so the latter will learn to change its ways 1) makes stone throwing lawful in reply to stone throwing irrespective of origin; 2) attaches this young settler behavior to the State through the State’s enforced protection. I don’t think you want this.

 As far as I can tell, Greater Israel is inching forward. If you make settlers of whatever age a protected class even when they instigate immediate violence on the ground, conflict will ultimately get worse. Israel holds a monopoly of legal violence in this encounter. Issues of equal allocation of protection will expand as Greater Israel expands. This is inevitable.

 So what do you want? An underclass where one of its members pays for the violence of any other of its members even if unattached to the latter? Or an expanding State which quashes violence against others where encountered?

    Reply to Comment         Ginger Eis WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     Greg, if you analyze the video carefully, you will notice that the Israeli kids were not the only ones throwing stones. From the (re)actions of the soldiers it follows that stones/stuffs were also thrown towards them and the Israeli kids from the direction of the INVISIBLE “Palestinians” (who might turn out to be radical ISM-anarchists). While the soldiers watched out for their own safety, they also CLEARLY sought to restrain the stone throwing Israeli children. The video is EVIDENTLY heavily edited and one-sided. The (ISM) authors of the video, I put it to you, had the ONLY intention to use the video to manipulate, deceive and mislead and with the goal of smearing Israel and embarrassing her on the international stage. Based on the information provided in the video, one need to split hairs to find issues with the conduct of the soldiers.

    Reply to Comment         Greg Pollock WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     On your interpretation the best reaction of the IDF would be to shepherd the kids home, not stand around while rocks are thrown on both sides. Allow that just encourages gang behavior. Since the youth have come to the village perimeter, in this instance they are taunting. All the IDF had to do was say go somewhere else; certainly allowing one youth to appear masked at the perimeter is just foolish.

 The youth shouldn’t be there, the solders did not disperse them. The event is an unnecessary provocation.

 This is on your own interpretation.

    Reply to Comment             Haifawi TuesdayJanuary 14, 2014     Really? You really saw the soldiers ‘doing their best’ to stop the throwing? I don’t think anyone is saying how terrible the stones are, but it IS terrible that these settlers aren’t getting a nice whiff of tear gas and rubber bullets to the chest.

    Reply to Comment           Ginger Eis TuesdayJanuary 14, 2014     It is not a secret that some (jobless) European leftist anarchist travel all the way from Europe to Judea and Samaria (West Bank of the Jordan River) to provoke violence against IDF-soldiers, Border-police and “Settlers” (as you call them), visit with- and drink coffee with the families of dead suicide bombers, organize protests with the intention of embarrassing and smearing Israel on the international state. After these anarchists have gathered together a few protesters and “journalists” (who outnumber the protesters), they match to(wards) IDF-positions and dwellings of the “settlers” and provoke and confront them with stones, Molotov-cocktails, etc. Really, these anarchist should be happy that Israel has no such thing as the “Second Amendment” for its citizens, for if that were the case, the anarchist would think twice, trice and ad infinitum before threateningly provoking and engaging “settlers” in their private sphere. The Right Of Self-defense is a fundamental and absolute Right.

    Reply to Comment         Richard Lightbown WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     What an interesting fairy tale you do tell. Now tell us the one about how the nasty Palestinians attacked the friendly Israeli soldiers led by the saintly Ariel Sharon at Sabra and Shatila.

    Reply to Comment         Ginger Eis WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     Richard, it seems you are very good in throwing stones at- and confronting IDF-soldiers while the camera rolls, but not extremely good in making arguments in support of or against anything? In Sabra and Shatila, Arabs massacred Arabs. But you blame Israel. Pls. do explain hat erratic logic to us. In Israel today, hundreds/thousands of Syrians (children, combatants and non-combatants, etc.) wounded in the Syrian Civil War are being treated in Israeli hospitals FREE. May Syrian women cross into Israel to deliver their babies. Today as we speak Israeli social-workers cross daily into Jordan to provide food, medicine, clothing to Syrian refugees. But, as usual, lunatics chose to bury their heads in the sand and blame Israel for global warming. Should I go on and on? Not necessary. Anyways, Arik Sharon is one of the greatest Generals and Field Commander to walk the face of the Middle East. When he was the Prime Minister, the enemies trembled in their shoes and fled in fear, Hamas – facing complete decapitation – begged for cease fire. When he was the Gate Keeper, Israeli families slept in peace. You may scapegoat him all you want, but the Jihadis and their apologist knew, feared and respected Arik. Arik was a Leader all States aspire to have. Get over it.

    Reply to Comment         Richard Lightbown WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     Get over what? That Sharon was a terrorist, and a criminal who escaped justice?(And according to his peers was a coward: Seymour Hersh, The Samson Option p162) 

 That Israel exploits disasters for good publicity? There has been a few hundred Syrians treated recently. (Please don’t exaggerate for effect.) Israel is doing sweet FA for dispossessed Syrians, unlike Turkey and Jordan who are struggling to cope with tens of thousands. The Israeli field hospital was in Haiti for two weeks. The one sent to the Philippines stayed just three weeks. This was callous exploitation of other people’s misery. Once the media leaves so do the Israeli relief teams leaving other teams to do the hard graft while Israel takes the credit.

 I refuse to believe you live in a bubble that does not allow you to be aware that the Kahan Commission found the terrorist Sharon responsible for the massacres in the Lebanese camps.

 You’re through the looking glass. Do us all a favour and go peddle your malicious and mischievous propaganda somewhere else.

    Reply to Comment              Haifawi WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     listen, the economic situation in the West Bank is terrible. Most of these kids are unemployed, and now that I, an Israeli am also unemployed, I will have a lot more free time to try and make the lives of settlers and soldiers as miserable as possible. Activism doesn’t pay (unless you’re a settler).

    Reply to Comment         Ginger Eis WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     When you – in your own words – “make the lives of settlers and soldiers as miserable as possible”, pls. don’t get violent and do not bring them in a situation any of them may fear for his/her life or serious bodily injury – for they might exercise their self-defense rights. The “occupation” is NOT the reason for Palestinian “poverty”. There is joblessness and poverty around the world including inside Israel proper. The donor-money received by the Palestinian Authority per annum is MORE than the combined GDP of several countries (in e.g. Asia, Africa, etc.). Billions of Euros of donor-money are unaccounted for by the Palestinian Authority. The members of the Palestinian Elite are millionaires and billionaires. They are getting richer and richer yearly while the ordinary Palestinian gets poorer and poorer. As long as Arabs can’t figure out the cause of their problems, they will remain destitute. In the meantime continue scapegoating and blaming Israel (what else can you do (better)?).

    Reply to Comment         Haifawi WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     As a Jewish Israeli citizen, I have my own weapon as well, and do not have any qualms about using it in self-defense, as you say. To paraphrase the right, ‘Israelis only understand the fist.’

    Reply to Comment               Rehmat WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     The action of Israeli soldiers is understandable. They’re trained to protect the “occupation” and not the natives resiting the occupation.

 Maybe this was the reason MK Rabbi Haim Druckman slammed Yair Lapid, who demanded that yeshiva rabbis should be fired for advising Zionist religious Jews to boycott Israeli forces.

 http://rehmat1.com/2014/01/14/top-zionist-rabbi-calls-israeli-minister-to-resign/

    Reply to Comment         Ginger Eis WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     Aside from the historical connections and claim of the Jewish People to Judea and Samaria, the territory of Judea and Samaria was conquered in a DEFENSIVE war imposed on the Jews by the Arabs to annihilate them. As such, the “occupation” is more than LEGAL and JUSTIFIED under International law. According to applicable UNSC-resolutions, both parties must engage in negotiations in which Israel should give up (most of) the occupied territories in exchange for defensible borders. As long as Palestinian-Arabs continue to reject reasonable peace offers (especially the astonishing Olmert-offer that gave away 100% of the “occupied” territories) and there is no agreed upon peace Treaty, the Israelis will live, prosper and defend themselves in the land of their forefathers – regardless of what you (or anyone) think. Vast majority of Israelis wants Palestinian Arabs to have their own State and rule over themselves. But that State must mean the end of the conflict and the end of all claims, and NOT a “Palestine” ABLE to threaten The State Of Israel (with- or without the help of third countries).

    Reply to Comment         Rehmat WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     Ginger, here is the SIX MILLION DOLLAR Question for you and the other brainwashed Zionists. “Who killed six million Jews during WW II; Christians or Jews or Arabs?”

 You would be surprised to learn that my city’s late Chief Rabbi and past president of Israel lobby, Canadian Jewish Congress, Wolf Gunther Plaut (died 2012), in his 1990 book, ‘The Man Who Would Be Messiah’ has claimed that Frankist Jews helped Nazis to kill European Jews. The book’s ‘Foreward’ was written by no other than Elie Weisel, the father of ‘holocaust culture’. Weisel did not disagree with Rabbi Plaut. The book is biography of Polish Rabbi Ya’akov Frank (1726-1791), who claimed being the biblical Messiah of Jews and thus part of Trinity.

 http://rehmat1.com/2012/03/24/rabbi-frankist-jews-committed-holocaust/

    Reply to Comment         Ginger Eis ThursdayJanuary 16, 2014     If you desire a serious dialogue, you MUST desist from name-calling. Just state your position and argue your case. Additionally, neither the Nazis nor the Holocaust has anything to do with the case I made. I therefore see no point in answering your question and I desire the money not. Lastly, it would be be highly appreciated if you don’t uses “SIX MILLION DOLLAR Question” and “six million Jews killed during WW II” in the same context – for you might be easily be accused of trivializing- and making mockery of the Holocaust – even though such might not be your intention (I am just trying to be fair to you).

    Reply to Comment               Greg Pollock WednesdayJanuary 15, 2014     Ginger, occupations are structural. Removing them does not make all bad things go away. Consider South Africa, where mining companies still contend with labor, now having major black politicos on companies’ boards.

 But occupation produces a schism precluding progress. It also polarizes so unifies an opposition into a promise of better future. Greater Israel will not be able to live under the rhetoric of defensive shield. You are going to have to consider prior residents as people, persons. And your not ready for that.

    Reply to Comment         Ginger Eis ThursdayJanuary 16, 2014     Comparing Israel to (Apartheid) South Africa is fallacious (IMO). After the destruction and the deportation of Jews in the land of Israel in 70 AD, Jewish presence continued in that land until the establishment of the State Of Israel in 1948. Unlike the Afrikaners in South Africa, the Jews are the rightful owners of the land of Israel – regardless of how long their exile from that land lasted. The Roman’s brutal destruction and expulsion of Jews from the land did not- and could not abrogate Jewish right and claim to the land of Israel (just like no amount of destructive force and duration of exile would abrogate the right of the English People to England).

    Reply to Comment         Nasdaq7 FridayFebruary 14, 2014     Don’t deny white South Africans their rightful land! They were the first human settlers!

 80% + of South Africa was unoccupied when the first white settlers settled in South Africa from Europe. The entire population right now doesn’t even occupy 30% of South Africa’s surface! Come visit and see. 

 Most of the land was covered with wild animals. The black tribes had no territorial boundaries. No guns to clear the elephants, the lions, the crocodiles, the rhinos, the leopards. The black tribes had no wheels, no roads, no alphabet, no maps, no centralized government. No horses. There is mountain ranges which cannot be scaled without climbing gear, deserts. The black tribes stagnated for centuries in the Eastern parts of the country. There was not enough rainfall in the deserts to sustain human life. Only those who had canned food and that could build roads could come and live in much of South Africa in 1600 – 1800. 

 To “steal someone’s land”, that tribe that “claims their land was stolen”, should at the very least be aware of the existence of that land! They should at least have people that have visited that land area, at least once in history! They should have anything there: a hut, a farm, a building structure! There’s nothing there, even today! The land area that was colonized by the whites was as large as half of Europe. The European Union now even wants to build the largest radio telescope in the world’s history inside South Africa because the land area is the most scarcely populated area ON EARTH! 

 Wikipedia square kilometer array

 Here’s 2 of South Africa’s president’s quotes:

 1. Afrikaners are the only white tribe of Africa. Jacob Zuma 2. South Africa belongs to all who live in it. Nelson Mandela

 Google image search Kruger National Park

 To see what Africa looked like before the white settlers.

    Reply to Comment           Ginger Eis ThursdayJanuary 16, 2014     Having said the above, there is no denying that what you call occupation infringes on the right of the Arabs who now cohabit Judea and Samaria to live their lives as free people. All peoples desire freedom from subjugation by other people. The Arabs in Judea and Samaria deserve such freedom – just as Israelis in e.g. Naharia. BUT, the Arabs are solely to blame for absence of that freedom. I will cut the story short and fast-forward to 1967. After the 1967 six-day war, the UNSC-resolution 242 was passed unanimously. It called on the Arab States to recognize Israel within defensible borders and for Israel to relinquish (most of) the conquered territories in exchange for peace (I am paraphrasing here). Guess what: the Arab States again REJECTED the UNSC-resolution and went to a conference in Khartoum (Sudan) and produced The Three Famous No’s: (a) No Peace With Israel, (b) No Negotiations With Israel and (c) No Recognition Of Israel. These are well documented by the Arab League (and pls. do correct me if you see the need to). Finally the Khartoum conference maintained the right of the Palestinians to ALL of the land of Israel. Now, what was Israel expected to do? Evacuate its citizens to Europe, the Middle East, The Americas, etc. and hand over the land to the Arabs? Or hold/occupy the land and defend herself? Whose fault is it that the Arabs cohabiting Judea and Samaria don’t have a State of their own AFTER 1967? Whose fault is it that the Arabs cohabiting Judea and Samaria didn’t have a State of their own BETWEEN 1948 to 1967 (when Jordan was the occupier of Judea and Samaria)? Why did the Arabs reject the Olmert-offer (that offered 100% of Judea and Samaria)? Israel’s? You be the judge. You see, majority of Jews do not want the Arabs living in Judea and Samaria to become Israelis, NOT because Jews are racist, BUT because Jews do not want a situation in which Jews (eventually) will become a minority in their own country. That’s the simple truth of the matter. If the French, the English, the Dutch, the Norwegians, the Germans, the Greeks, Turks, etc. would NOT allow such in their respective countries, why should Jews? Arabs will get their State and be free in their State when they desire such a State instead of Israel and her destruction.

    Reply to Comment         Greg Pollock ThursdayJanuary 16, 2014     Ginger, I do understand what you are saying. I don’t agree with a lot of it, but there is a strong sense in which my disagreement is irrelevant. As far as I can tell, the best possible structural “state” peace scenario will have the IDF at the Jordanian border (and I think Jordan would be fine with that, given how things are going in the region). But this will not yield a true State, and radical Palestinians will use IDF presence as an argument for struggle. Moreover, Israeli sovereign, or last word, control will seep into other areas, in terms of transit and economics. And this is a best possible outcome for Palestinians.

 So I see some form of Greater Israel as inevitable. I don’t say this because of what the Romans did, or what Arabs States have or have not done. All indications right now are for some kind of Greater Israel, at best with a federated less than sovereign Palestine. This means that issues of IDF abuse will arise. So too issues of economic conflict, from graft to breached contract, and all sides. And issues of failed security by the Palestinian police. All of this will have to be determined on the fly, over the years, in courts and administrative organizations. It will be hard for all parties, and some will hate it, resist it. What will be hard for Israelis is to sometimes admit IDF soldiers go to far, do hurtful things, and correcting same. It is natural such will occur; it is natural that one will want to protect one’s own soldiers. But it really will be long term necessary to construct some rule of law soldiers must adhere to in what will amount to the continued occupation.

 If I thought a real Two State solution were possible, I’d be all for it. I don’t see it because I don’t think Israeli security concerns will allow it. So, in the West Bank, you will be there, but so will those Arabs born there. The occupation is brutal and humiliating; Arabs lives have truncated futures. If you do not begin to reign it in when you are dominate, as now, things will get worse; you will end up doing things you dislike. This is the lesson of South Africa; consider what was happening at the time of Mandela’s release in 1990.

 Frankly, it is very rare for those in a dominate position to look clearly and closely how they affect others. I think there might be some hope given your High Court. The African refugee case is important not just for the disposition of the refugees but as well for what it will mean for an independent Court, the same Court that rules some time ago that the IDF is obliged to protect Jews in the WB, in legal and illegal settlements. But true oversight of power via courts and administrative agencies will be a struggle to achieve–a hard struggle.

 I comment on the Yesh Din pieces on this site because that Israeli organization focuses on these kind of “who is harmed right now” questions. It is your only hope long term, I think.

 I am not a nationalist. I’ve made a rather bad American, really. But I do believe in the evolution and rule of law. Everyone’s hope is there, I think. And for the law to evolve, almost no one gets everything they want.

 Lastly, I envision an indefinite Israel with the free ingathering of the exiles. That is what has been achieved and it is not going away. But nor are the Palestinians. Arguing about who did what to whom has become a way of dodging the true issues: what are all of you doing to each other. And no stupid American sitting safely at home is going to tell any of you–on all sides–what to do.

 But still, because I believe in law, have hope in its progress; and because my mind feels better when I come to this site, I come. Some here have lately called me an Israel basher. I think you could win it all and lose what you are.

 And that is why I think, given the subject of this post, that those IDF soldiers should have told those young Jewish Israeli citizens, protected by their State, to go home. That would not have been such a horrible thing; but it might help expand what must come to the WB: the rule of law.

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   Please enter a valid e-mail Please enter a name            SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTERSubmitI am an independent writer, translator and editor, originally from NYC. I am fascinated by the role Israel plays in Jewish identity and American politics and wrote my MA thesis on the changing definition of “pro-Israelism” in American Jewry. More…

 I began working as an editor with Haaretz.com in 2012. Before that I was an editor with +972, and have also worked for various NGOs, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Ir Amim. I write freelance for a variety of outlets.

 I am active with Ta’ayush, a direct-action Arab-Jewish group whose activism focuses on the rural Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills.

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How do you stop Palestinians from unionizing? Cancel their entry permits! http://t.co/f7OdfzyCjO by @MikeOmerMan

Israel's watershed moment that wasn’t http://t.co/CFFyLrNGBI by Larry Derfner.

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