Want to Stop Israeli Settlements? Follow the Dollars. By Ronit Avni
Here is a very awesome article by extraordinary Ronit Avni ... enjoy it
This month, both at Cairo University and from the Oval Office, President Obama has called on the Israeli government to stop the expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. He should send the same message to the Americans who are funding and fueling them.
There are more than 450,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to Peace Now, an Israeli organization that opposes the settlements. Some of them are Americans. And some of the most influential, militant figures in the settler movement have been Americans, too. Among them were Baruch Goldstein, the doctor from Brooklyn who fired 100 shots at worshiping Muslims in Hebron in 1994, killing 29; Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the Kach party, which was banned in Israel in 1988 on the grounds that it was racist; and convicted terrorist Era Rapaport, a member of the Land Redemption Fund, which coordinates the acquisition of Palestinian land in areas targeted for settlement expansion.
Before the settlers were removed from Gaza in 2005, I visited a group of them while shooting my last film. Some of the settlements' most passionate advocates spoke about their deep roots in the Gaza Strip even though they were actually Americans. Years earlier, while working as a human rights advocate, I had received reports from colleagues who had been threatened or physically attacked by young settlers as they tried to protect Palestinian farmers during harvest. The attackers often included North American Jews, my colleagues said.
Evangelical Christians in the United States also support the settlements, raising millions of dollars for them, according to a recent National Public Radio report. The Colorado-based Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, for example, encourages churches and ministries to connect with "the pioneers of Biblical Israel" through the "adopt-a-settlement program." Sondra Oster Baras, director of the organization's Israeli office, estimates that more than half of the West Bank settlements receive direct or indirect support from Christians, according to the NPR report.
A handful of wealthy businessmen, including American casino magnate Irving Moskowitz, are widely reported to have donated to groups such as the Brooklyn-based not-for-profit Hebron Fund, which raises money to support residents in the West Bank city of Hebron. According to the donation page on its Web site, the organization aims to "keep Hebron Jewish for the Jewish people." Friends of Itamar, also based in Brooklyn, engages in domestic, tax-deductible fundraising for the West Bank settlement of Itamar. All this comes at the expense of the U.S. government, which loses tax revenue by allowing these groups to operate as not-for-profit entities.
Not all support for the settlements comes through charitable organizations. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that in 2007, the settler organization Amana held "housing fairs" in New York and New Jersey to encourage American Jews to buy property in the West Bank. According to the Jewish Voice and Opinion, a self-described "politically conservative Jewish publication" in New Jersey, approximately 250 people attended and as many as 10 properties were slated for purchase.
Last year the Palestinian village of Bil'in filed suit in Canada against two Quebec-based companies that built and sold residential units in a West Bank settlement. The case is still pending, but it demonstrates that people are beginning to pay attention to non-Israeli influences on settlement growth.
If the courts can't find a way to dissuade settlement expansion, perhaps the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control should intervene. The U.S. government has already designated Kahane's movement a foreign terrorist organization for reasons unrelated to settlement financing, but in doing so, it has prohibited U.S. citizens from providing financial support to this group.
The First Amendment protects the right of the settlement advocates to express their views, and so it should. I am not suggesting that non-profits should lose their tax advantages simply because they are at odds with American foreign policy. But the settlements are widely considered a violation of international law. Thirty years ago, a U.S. State Department legal adviser issued an opinion that called the settlements "inconsistent" with the Fourth Geneva Convention. In recent weeks, officials at State and in the White House have declined to say whether the 1979 opinion reflects official government policy, but President Obama's comments have hardly been ambiguous. "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," he said in Cairo. "It is time for these settlements to stop."
Maybe it's also time for Americans to stop supporting them.
Ronit Avni, an Israeli, U.S. and Canadian citizen, is the director of the film "Encounter Point" and the executive director of Just Vision, an organization that documents Palestinian and Israeli conflict-resolution peace initiatives.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Neri Bar-On on -
I think that the analysis is good but the prognosis is confrontational and as such have a risk to block our progress.
The Israeli decision to stop the settlements project is historic one, many people who do not live in the settlements support this activity, and many people who live in the settlements are not accepting the settler ideology and live there from other reason.
Our task is to defuse the relevance of the settlers and we need to do that by proposing solution and not by fighting them, this is their last fight and they will not surrender to the moderates when they believe they are a majority.
The change include what we call "leftists" who need to recognize the humanistic side of the settelments, Israel must support the "normal life" of all of its citizens and the Settlers are Israeli.
I would have been more optimistic to see a Israeli call to the settler to come home. a Civilian and political organization for creation a safe path for people to start their lives within the future agreed borders of Israel and not getting into fight because we are risking the Peace process which its core will be attacked by Settlers extremists and Hamas Extremists.
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Permalink Reply by LOVEY on -
Neri:
Why should settlements be moved or dismantled at all. Just to create another Failed Arab state with no JEWS?
I will wager you that no settlements will be dismantled and there will be m\no expulsions . Yes there will be a cat and mouse game with the hilltop "settlements" and nothing else. Israelis don't want expulsions amnd neither do the Americans.
They have the same rights to the land as do Palestinians, so lets treat them as the Patriotu\ic Israelis that they are.
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Permalink Reply by Basil Keilani on -
Neri,
In the United States if you send money to Hezbollah or Hamas, you go to jail, but if you send money to settlers who seize land from Palestinians nothing happens. I remember this video of this woman with a South African accent claiming this Palestinian woman's land was hers. This kind of thing is a problem. If the US is going to put people in jail for funding Hamas, why not also those who send money for settlements? It's a clear double standard. I believe the days are numbered for such huge gaps in policy. Americans will get tired of this and so will more Israelis and Jews. It's just not just!
I know this off-topic, but that woman Ronit Avni is a very beautiful woman. She also looks like a nice person, too. What a combination!:)
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Permalink Reply by Neri Bar-On on
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Basil,
The reason for that is that the Palestinian resistance went into violent resistance and found itself categorized as Terrorist. This is why Hamas cannot get financial help.
The Settlers are using the law to work out, they manipulated the "un-defined" status of the territory and the Israeli Politic to create facts, they did not used bombs nor mass killing. The Israeli army which support them and use violence do it from "civilian protection".
This is not fair fight, it never was and never will be, this is how war is fought, and this is how the Palestinians who engage in terror justify their acts, so when they loose what can they say?
The Israelis need to change their attitude toward the settlements, but if the "left" wing will politicize this acts they will end up with settlers resistance to change that may be violent. from the other side, as the "terrorists" they did it from some ideology that is going to break down, so we, the Israelis need to connect to their needs and protect them for having normal life, I wish the same be done with Palestinian "terrorists" they all need to be forgiven for accepting what their nations need - peace and stability.
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Permalink Reply by Tala Maron on -
Thats why Neri this war is not Equal ... Hamas and Hezbolla are resisting by violent actions toward israel !!! as well Settlers are making war as they are protected by the israeli law ... which is also not fair. I don't defend Hamas or Hezbollah but i'm using logic here ... do u think after 20 - 40 years from now we will hear about any move toward settlers from the israeli government !!! i don't think so !!!
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Permalink Reply by Neri Bar-On on
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I hope and work to have Israel decision NOW and not in 20-40 years, my reaction toward what Ronit Avni wrote is that we need to be wise, and we need to work for a solution and nor for victory, we need not search a way to punish the settlers we need to support them as their world view is breaking by reality, ensha allah .
Settlers and Hamas and other "violent resistance" will stay with us, but we need to mark the end of the settlements by making sure that Israel give a clear sign it is going to compromise for its borders.
and the Palestinians, who some will think that Israel got too much will have to compromise with Israel existence.
It will not going to be historically-fair, it need to be future-fair.
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Permalink Reply by Tala Maron on
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I work for that as well punshing settlers indeed is not our point here .. but having a wise n fair solution is what we all want indeed ..
its good to be optimistic and some how i like that in your reply :)
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Permalink Reply by LOVEY on
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It is skewed logic that is being used. The settlers are Jewish patriots that are reclaiming the land of their forefathers. Most of the land has either been purchased or is state land. Wallerstein has indicated that any settlements built on private property will be removed. Is that what you are looking for or are just want all Jews expelled for their historical land?
Violence has been used by Palestinians way before there were any settlements or even before the Jewish State of Israel.
Any Jewish government that moves against patriotic Jews has no right to govern and will be turfed out.
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Permalink Reply by Tala Maron on
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The logic taught me not to respond to those who view the issue from the perspectives of personal vindictive.
Violence was a quality of the Israeli army and the Israeli government. I'm not defending anyone or group for using violent actions to get there right ..
Try to emerge your self from the blackness and racism and to obtain a result to resolve this dispute,instead of blaming and fight .. cause these kind of actions will never help us to get to any point we want ...
Tala
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Permalink Reply by Neri Bar-On on
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LOVEY
removing the settlement is the most patriotic and most Zionist act any Israeli Government can do.
enough is enough.
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Permalink Reply by Neri Bar-On on
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LOVEY,
If you say that "Just to create another Failed Arab state with no JEWS" you show no respect to the Palestinians. Israel and Settlers invest a lot of energy to make the Palestinian fail.
Israel want peace and change, we cannot continue put millions of people under control.
Tell me LOVEY - if this is what you think why do you post at mepeace.org? Do you think that you will convince the Palestinian members that they can create "create another Failed Arab state "? Do you expect to create peaceful change with this arrogant and un-informed statments?
The Settlers have the same rights as the Palestinian - non. It is not issue of "rights" it is issue of respect and enable change.
The Settlers did to Israel the worst that a citizen can do, as they are "patriotic" for ideas that do not go with Israel interest of peace.
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Permalink Reply by LOVEY on
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Neri:
I personally do not believe that a Palestinian State will be viable in any configuration. That is a subject for another discussion.
You did not however even bother challenging me on with no JEWS. Is that not racist?
Another :"failed" Arab state will in fact be a danger to Israel and it has really nothing to do with peace or change or posting on mepeace. I am not being uninformed or arrogant but rather realistic. What have the Palestinians done with Gaza or with the teritories under the PA between 1993 and 2000?
We disagree on the settlers and who owns what and that is fine but Israeli opinion is split on that so your ideas are not the be all and and all. Just your opinion as is my opinion. We can debate that but telling me that this is not copatible with Israels interest for peace is just plain silly.
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