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The latest talk from the leaders of the Israeli government is that they will be willing to withdraw from at least 90% of the West Bank in order to make room for a new Palestinian State (my objections to this are here). If this were to come to pass, somewhere between one hundred and two hundred thousand Israeli citizens (99.9% of whom are Jews) will be forcibly relocated to different areas of the country (fitting the definition of ethnic cleansing). A new country ("Palestine", presumably) would be formed in this area, separate form Israel, able to welcome back the many many "refugees" that have been held in camps in Lebanon and Syria by their hospitable Muslim brothers for the past sixty years.
I am not so happy about this (as you might be able to tell). Not just because it means that I will have to move (whether I like it or not), but because I don't see how this will solve anything, given the current leaders of the PLO/Hamas government. Still, some variation on this plan could come to pass within the next few years, and many Jews will be removed from their homes.
This has happened before, on a smaller scale. Last Summer, Israel expelled the entire Jewish population from the Gaza strip. This includes thousands of families, dozens of communities, around 8,000 residents. The expulsion from Gaza was in the planning stages for close to two years. Special army, police and border control units practiced against mock towns full of rioting, angry fake-settlers. The country came close to civil war as anti-religious hatred came to the fore, and everyone feared for the worst.
Thankfully, the entire expulsion went through with no casualties, and hardly any serious injuries. No one fired guns at soldiers. Almost everyone left their houses when the police escorts came to knock on their doors. It was over in six days. The army and police went home, and everyone gave a sigh of relief.
Everyone, that is, except for the evacuees.
The government had planned on taking care of those they would be making homeless. A new government institution (called SELA) was put together to arrange things like housing, compensation, jobs and counseling for the evacuees. There was lots of publicity in Israel regarding this before the expulsion actually took place. Just as the government put in 110% and spared no expense to make sure that the operation went smoothly (as it did - six days), it was also presumed that the government would dedicate itself to the same degree in order to help those who were to be evacuated. (Note: all of the people who came to Gaza did so at the encouragement of the Israeli government, and Ariel Sharon).
Unfortunately, things did not turn out that way. It has now been ten months since the Jews were expelled from Gaza. Yesterday, a report was presented to the Finance Committee in the Knesset as to the status of the Gaza-Jews. Some highlights:
- 51% of the expellees are still unemployed
- 70% of the expellees living in Nitzan are unemployed
- 113 families - 7% - are still living in hotels, guest houses and tent sites
- Just 38 out of 220 people who ran functional farms or agricultural enterprises have returned to such work
- 2% of the families live in permanent housing
In short, the government has utterly failed these people. Most are living in temporary housing, most are unemployed. Communities have been broken up, families have been ruined. People's possessions have been lost.
This is what happened when Israel expelled 8,000 people. At this in point in time, I do not have much confidence that they will improve when expelling ten to twenty times that number.
Something to keep in mind whenever discussing Israel withdrawing from areas in the West Bank. In an attempt to solve the problems of those who view Israel as the "Zionist Entity", (unless they get their act together) Israel will be causing much harm to tens of thousands of her own citizens, the very people Israel is sworn to protect.
