Compensate settlers for what?

Compensate settlers for what?

......... by Gideon Levy June 18, 2004

For what exactly should we be compensating the settlers who will be evacuated from Gaza? For the damage they caused the state for decades? For the scandalous economic price of their living in Gaza? For the blood needlessly spilled over them? Most settled in the territories for the chance of cheap housing on tempting terms. Others went there out of messianic ideology. Some settled there legitimately, as it were, with government approval, while others did so through land-grabs. All knew ahead of time that the land they were settling was politically disputed and its future uncertain, so it is they who are responsible for the decision they took.

Nonetheless, the state must supply modest alternative accommodation for authorized settlers, exclusively within the 1967 borders. Those who indulged in illegal land grabs are not entitled even to that, and those who do not agree to leave voluntarily should know they will lose that privilege.

To those who are calling for empathy toward these settlers, we must say they do not deserve empathy since they never showed consideration for the feelings of others. There is not and never has been in the history of the state such a destructive and immoral enterprise as the settlement enterprise. From the start it was established to undermine any and every chance for a peace agreement and to erect a defensive barrier against any just solution.

It was born out of territorial greed and continued to criminally disinherit the Palestinians. The settlers settled on land they had stolen, or which was stolen for them; the harm inherent in their actions not only did not trouble them, but some even went out of their way to hurt their neighbors - and so there is no moral basis for compensating them.

No other community in Israel has enjoyed such benefits, exemptions and social prestige reserved for those in the vanguard. On top of it all, they received the state's protection. Bus passengers in cities and residents in outlying places, who are also exposed daily to dangers, never received such protection. A massive deployment is required to guard the settlers' safety day and night. Their children are protected to a far greater degree than any other Israeli children, who are also in danger............

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