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I have hitchhiked around the West Bank. In one settlement, my driver invited me to stay with his family. I was surprised to see Orthodox Christian icons on the

I have hitchhiked around the West Bank. In one settlement, my driver invited me to stay with his family. I was surprised to see Orthodox Christian icons on the wall. “We’re not religious Jews,” they said. “We just immigrated from the former USSR on the basis of ancestry, but culturally we feel more Orthodox Christian”. What had drawn them to move to a settlement was significantly cheaper housing. They introduced me to their neighbours who were in the same boat. In Israel proper, so many young families complain about crushing cost of housing there. Religious fanaticism does drive settlement expansion and provides the political pressure on the Israeli government for it. However, I have come to dislike media depictions of settlers all as Jewish religious extremists, since I saw firsthand that that is not the case. The cost-of-housing side never seems to get brought up.

Gibbon1 3y ago
Maybe 25 years ago tried to estimate what it would cost to build a bunch of housing to alleviate some of the conflict. I think I came up with back then $10-15 billion. That seemed grossly worthwhile to me. Could do that and kick the religious nutters out of the west bank and things would probably settle out.
- invalidname 3y ago
  If it was a problem of money it would have been solved in the 90s...
invalidname 3y ago
Well, a couple of months ago there was a pro-government demonstration next to my home in Tel-Aviv (to counter the weekly anti-government demonstrations). The settlers were immediately recognizable. Pretty much everyone there was wearing specific headgear and dress indicating their religious beliefs. The right wing government encouraged immigration into the territories in foreign countries. People are shown a picture perfect private property without mention that it's technically in the west bank. People immigrate from the US, Canada, France, Russia etc. into these areas to help bolster the settlement numbers. Even with the crushing costs of properties most Israelis just don't want to live there. It's like living in a prison. You're surrounded by a fence and are afraid to drive from your home. A lot of these people just don't know the history or the facts and their ignorance is used in a cynical way by the government. Some of them think it's patriotic to live there, it is not. They think they are "helping" those of us who live in the rest of the country, they are not. Another important point to make is that not all settlements are created equal. The problematic settlements (Hebron, Quiryat Arba etc.) are 100% crazy fanatics. This is 100% a problem of religion. The non-religious people who are there are just white noise.
- johnnyworker 3y ago
  > Another important point to make is that not all settlements are created equal. https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/5295/transcript/ https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/5295/transcript/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZNS-AZowFo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZNS-AZowFo I doubt they have much traction, and I think all settlements are "wrong". But still, FWIW. Kudos to these humans showing how to human.

Gibbon1 3y ago

Maybe 25 years ago tried to estimate what it would cost to build a bunch of housing to alleviate some of the conflict. I think I came up with back then $10-15 billion. That seemed grossly worthwhile to me. Could do that and kick the religious nutters out of the west bank and things would probably settle out.

invalidname 3y ago
If it was a problem of money it would have been solved in the 90s...

invalidname 3y ago

Well, a couple of months ago there was a pro-government demonstration next to my home in Tel-Aviv (to counter the weekly anti-government demonstrations). The settlers were immediately recognizable. Pretty much everyone there was wearing specific headgear and dress indicating their religious beliefs. The right wing government encouraged immigration into the territories in foreign countries. People are shown a picture perfect private property without mention that it's technically in the west bank. People immigrate from the US, Canada, France, Russia etc. into these areas to help bolster the settlement numbers. Even with the crushing costs of properties most Israelis just don't want to live there. It's like living in a prison. You're surrounded by a fence and are afraid to drive from your home. A lot of these people just don't know the history or the facts and their ignorance is used in a cynical way by the government. Some of them think it's patriotic to live there, it is not. They think they are "helping" those of us who live in the rest of the country, they are not. Another important point to make is that not all settlements are created equal. The problematic settlements (Hebron, Quiryat Arba etc.) are 100% crazy fanatics. This is 100% a problem of religion. The non-religious people who are there are just white noise.

johnnyworker 3y ago
> Another important point to make is that not all settlements are created equal. https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/5295/transcript/ https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/5295/transcript/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZNS-AZowFo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZNS-AZowFo I doubt they have much traction, and I think all settlements are "wrong". But still, FWIW. Kudos to these humans showing how to human.