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To take this thread further off topic, i feel like there's some remarkably not-hot-headed people in this thread so maybe I can finally get an answer to a questi

To take this thread further off topic, i feel like there's some remarkably not-hot-headed people in this thread so maybe I can finally get an answer to a question that's been bothering me a long time: Why do some Israelis build settlements? I mean, in the middle of what used to be Palestinian-controlled land? What's their goal? Also isn't it super risky/scary? It seems to me to just be a needless provocation but that makes no sense, why would anyone risk their family's safety just to provoke? I'm clearly missing some key insight.

whearyou 6y ago
Originally, security . Israel’s economic and population core is contained within a region as wide the distance from your average small city to a suburb. It’s also geographically a low plain. It’s called Gush Dan and looking at a map is helpful for understanding how extreme this geography really is. The land on the Palestinian side of that border are hills. Prior to when Israel conquered that land in 1967, Arab militants/terrorists would take pot shots at and occasionally kill drivers of cars and busses driving along roads in this region. It’s really that small, single digit miles wide. Apparently school busses were a favorite since they are large bright targets. The settlements were originally limited in number and designed to offer the Israelis opportunity for physical security. This is still the case today when the preferred weapon of militants/terrorist is missiles. After 1973 when the Right came to power the settlements adopted a religious connotation. They were massively expanded as a conscious effort to absorb the entire West Bank. Since then the problem has only deepened.
- Robotbeat 6y ago
  Right. Irredentism is a lot of the reason as I understand it.
bjourne 6y ago
Over two thousand years ago there were two kingdoms called Judah and Israel. Judah encompassed the southern West Bank and Israel the northern West Bank. These kingdoms were destroyed and became part of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and the Roman empires. The modern State of Israel claims that it is the spiritual successor to these kingdoms and that it therefore has a right to the same territory that these kingdoms once encompassed. Furthermore, Judaism's holy book, the Torah, describes how God gave his people, the Israelites, this territory. Many Israeli Jews believe that they are somehow related to the ancient Israelites. While many Israeli Jews (likely a majority) acknowledge that the West Bank is "occupied", technically, according to international law, for the above reasons, they insist that Israel has a legitimate claim to it. The West Bank is in Israel commonly referred to as "Judea and Samaria" because those are the names used in the Torah. The goal of the settlements is to create "facts on the ground" to make it harder for future governments to relinquish the occupied Palestinian territories. As Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon phrased it: "Everybody has to move, run and grab as many [Palestinian] hilltops as they can to enlarge the [Jewish] settlements because everything we take now will stay ours... Everything we don't grab will go to them." This is precisely why it is considered a war crime for an occupying power to transfer parts of its civilian population into occupied territory. Most Israeli settlers live in settlement blocs and it is not dangerous for the setters to live in them. A smaller number of settlers are religious extremists and they establish "outposts" - settlements built without explicit permission by the government. These settlers are often well-armed and coordinate with the Israeli military. Palestinians, on the other hand, are for the most part not allowed to own firearms.

whearyou 6y ago

Originally, security . Israel’s economic and population core is contained within a region as wide the distance from your average small city to a suburb. It’s also geographically a low plain. It’s called Gush Dan and looking at a map is helpful for understanding how extreme this geography really is. The land on the Palestinian side of that border are hills. Prior to when Israel conquered that land in 1967, Arab militants/terrorists would take pot shots at and occasionally kill drivers of cars and busses driving along roads in this region. It’s really that small, single digit miles wide. Apparently school busses were a favorite since they are large bright targets. The settlements were originally limited in number and designed to offer the Israelis opportunity for physical security. This is still the case today when the preferred weapon of militants/terrorist is missiles. After 1973 when the Right came to power the settlements adopted a religious connotation. They were massively expanded as a conscious effort to absorb the entire West Bank. Since then the problem has only deepened.

Robotbeat 6y ago
Right. Irredentism is a lot of the reason as I understand it.

bjourne 6y ago

Over two thousand years ago there were two kingdoms called Judah and Israel. Judah encompassed the southern West Bank and Israel the northern West Bank. These kingdoms were destroyed and became part of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and the Roman empires. The modern State of Israel claims that it is the spiritual successor to these kingdoms and that it therefore has a right to the same territory that these kingdoms once encompassed. Furthermore, Judaism's holy book, the Torah, describes how God gave his people, the Israelites, this territory. Many Israeli Jews believe that they are somehow related to the ancient Israelites. While many Israeli Jews (likely a majority) acknowledge that the West Bank is "occupied", technically, according to international law, for the above reasons, they insist that Israel has a legitimate claim to it. The West Bank is in Israel commonly referred to as "Judea and Samaria" because those are the names used in the Torah. The goal of the settlements is to create "facts on the ground" to make it harder for future governments to relinquish the occupied Palestinian territories. As Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon phrased it: "Everybody has to move, run and grab as many [Palestinian] hilltops as they can to enlarge the [Jewish] settlements because everything we take now will stay ours... Everything we don't grab will go to them." This is precisely why it is considered a war crime for an occupying power to transfer parts of its civilian population into occupied territory. Most Israeli settlers live in settlement blocs and it is not dangerous for the setters to live in them. A smaller number of settlers are religious extremists and they establish "outposts" - settlements built without explicit permission by the government. These settlers are often well-armed and coordinate with the Israeli military. Palestinians, on the other hand, are for the most part not allowed to own firearms.