The West Bank, A commentary on the bullseye of the Middle East

My program has done an incredible job of providing us with speakers who represent both sides of the conversation when it comes to the Israeli Palestinian conflict (especially when considering that a large portion of funding for participants comes from Israeli tax dollars). And in order to do this they must take us into situations that might not be the most comfortable for us. For example we are headed up north soon where we will be speaking to students from an Arabic village about their views of the conflict. I recently had one of these experiences as we traveled not only to the west bank, but to settlements deep within it.

I should preface this by explaining my view on the settlements, and on Palestinian-Israeli conflict as whole. As a liberal American Jew growing up in the late 90’s early 2000’s, I can distinctly remember the news reports that came about from the second intifada. The near weekly news reports of suicide bombings and shootings was my first contact with the conflict, and the people it directly affected.

For the longest time I couldn’t understand why these people hated Jews as much as they did. What had we done that hurt them so much they were willing to kill not only us but themselves as well, just to make a statement? I grew up with the distinct impression that the Palestinian people, and the majority of the Middle East, hate me and my kind simply for the religion we were born into and prayed to. It was a disturbing thought for a child just beginning to understand what was happening in the world to have.

Of course I slowly learned more about the conflict as I learned more about the founding of the state of Israel, and of the history of the region that preceded it. And as I learned I began to understand just how the Palestinian people could feel so deeply that those attacks were justified.

I am a Zionist, and I am proud to say that, No matter what the Palestinians or the BDS movement may try to do to make that word mean something it doesn’t. Because Zionism is not about apartheid, or the denial of a group of people’s rights. It is about self-determination. It is about no longer allowing ourselves to be stepped on by the world. And it is because I am a Zionist that I support the right of the Palestinian people to have a nation of their own in the West Bank.  That might seem like an odd thing to say, seeing as how Zionism is literally defined as the belief that Jews should have a homeland, whether it be located in the Middle East or elsewhere. But the belief in all people’s right to self-determination means that the Palestinians must also be given that right. It is that belief which makes me uncomfortable with the idea of settlements.

Our journey beyond the green line was split between two types of settlements. The first, a large city called Ariel, is one made up of a division of people coming from all walks of life. They are secular and religious, all sharing one key aspect of their life: Where they want to live. Much like families in America moving to the suburbs, these people moved to Ariel to escape the city, most due to the cost of living, and others for the lifestyle that a community of that size affords. It felt in many ways like a traditional American suburb, albeit one located in the most contentious location on the entire planet.

Ariel is a unique scenario when it comes to the settlements. Pretty much everyone in Israel and the international community is in agreement in saying that should a two state solution ever come to pass that Ariel will be part of a land swap to become part of Israel proper. The other settlement was a bit more controversial.

Psagot is located only a few miles from the Jordanian border, actually located closer to it than it is to Israel proper. Its denizens maintain an award-winning winery and are made up almost entirely of Orthodox Jews. These are people who are choosing to live in this area due to a religious belief that the entirety of the region biblically known as Judea and Samaria, now known as the west bank, should be under Jewish control. It is this belief that causes the greatest amount of concern. The population of Jews in the west bank is greatly overshadowed by the population of Arabs and if these settlers are allowed to have their way than BDS will have been correct and Israel will become an Apartheid state.

I also recognize that Israel giving up control of the West Bank represents a new dilemma as the security of the region comes into concern. If Israel were to give the entirety of the area behind the green line over to the PA for a country Israel itself would only be 25 miles across, from the Mediterranean to the border of the possible country of Palestine. This means that it would be possible to walk across the country in the span of a day. It is a size that is extremely hard to defend and might cause problems if there was a population boom.

I also recognize that it is important to keep Israel as a Jewish state, which cannot happen if a majority of the population is Muslim, or if it means denying the rights of a significant group. This doesn’t mean that Israel is currently an apartheid country, or that it wants to be one, but that the path that the religious settlers want to go down is one that will push the country into becoming such a state.

All of these are problems are ones that experts in the field of international politics have debated for years, which we are no closer to solving. I do not expect that my 23 years of life have given me much expertise in this area, nor would I even try to determine a solution. But I know what I have seen and what my experiences have been. And from these I know that I feel that it is in the best interest of the Israeli people to continue to fight for peace, and to recognize that it is their duty to help lift the Palestinian people, so that they have the ability to fight for their right to self-determination.