Criminalize the settlements
Issandr El AmraniIt may seem very difficult to convince the Israelis to stop settlements expansion and give up the settlements they've built over the years, but there is another idea worth pursuing in the West: to criminalize any activity that encourages the settlements or transmits money to them.
Governments would not need to engage in any discussion with the Israeli government over this; they would merely be required to enforce international law and recognize the illegality of settlements, and therefore ban any promotional efforts for them among the Jewish diaspora and their financing from abroad. After all, this has been a, if not the, major contribution to the last two decades mushrooming in West Bank settlements. Just read this post on Mondoweiss to understand how groups like the Jewish Agency act to perpetuate and expand the settlements:
Just this past June, the Jewish Agency hosted a real estate expo in the Times Square Marriott, where property on both sides of the Green Line was for sale—with no mention of the 1967 borders in sight. Notice how the Anglo-Saxon real estate agent in the video has an American accent? She's probably from New York.
I'd love to see not only fund transfers criminalize, but also the very fact of living in a settlement. Life should be made impossible for this people, and those who fund them.
Reader Comments (7)
This would have to be done from the grassroots. Something like the BDS movement. You will never get the US or European governments to agree without it. Europe is an easier place to start and try to create momentum.
Yeah, good luck getting that law passed in the US Knessongress.
Very interesting post, and while it may be very difficult to realize given the understandings in the West, it would send a clear message and cut off much financing. One small note to quibble with, though it is very important. You write that
Life should be made impossible for this people, and those who fund them.
Yes, on the second note, but not on the first. I trust that you hold no personal vindictiveness toward the settlers. Your appropriate frustration is at their collective activity. But they are still individual people, with mixed motives and complicated consciousnesses like the rest of us. While we oppose wrongdoing, we must do so with love, respect, understanding, and mercy. We must be strong, firm, and use legal methods as appropriate. But 'making life impossible' opens up too many doors that can result in returning evil for evil.
Thank you, though, for your very good idea.
Tim — you don't need a new law, you need funds to get individual lawsuits going by victims of the settlements, much like people in the US have successfully sued foreign governments and individuals for acts of terrorism, etc.
Issandr, I think you underestimate how deeply entrenched the willingness throughout the judicial and bureaucratic (to say nothing of the legislative and executive) system in the US is to not enforce even the existing laws on this matter. A good friend at State once explained to me a similar situation regarding the US laws against using US weapons exported to foreign countries against civilians. In the case of some country on the outs, there is a quick procedure, light scrutiny by the bureaucracy (because everyone knows the judgement that is wanted), and a verdict against the 'offending' country is quick to come by. In the case of Israel, they described how suddenly every single bullet has to be tracked from factory to ship to receiving port to storehouse to Israeli military unit to individual soldier in individual incident and in said incident every single benefit of the doubt and pro-Israel assumption will be made. The odds of such a case ever resulting in punitive action is next to nil through that process, plus it sucks up so much in the way of time and resources that very quickly State is forced to move on to other 'higher priorities'. And that's the State department where you can get a relatively higher number of semi-sane bureaucrats and FSOs on these issues. Now trying running these cases through an American judicial system chock full of pro-Israel/Zionist conservatives and liberals. A judicial system that regularly railroads Muslims of any stripe, allows the likes of nutters like Steven Emerson to testify as "experts" on all things they decide to label 'terrorism' (i.e., anything Israel and its supporters don't like).
What I'm trying to say is, money to enforce existing laws just isn't enough in the US system. The system is infected top to bottom with a belief in Zionism that hails from not just the Israel lobby (as key as it is), but to goofy preachers' interpretations that go back a century and have laid down roots throughout American political and social culture. A real change will have to involve a grassroots movement, which will probably have to gain steam outside of the US faster if the US is to be pushed into it as well.
But I wonder if civil suits against individuals might have a dissuasive powers because of the cost and opprobrium they involve. Naturally when I was writing the above, very quickly I might add, I was aware that of the cultural and legal impediments in the US.
Well, to be fair in return, I suppose if done carefully (i.e., try to choose the most friendly venues and judges, target suits to get verdicts that aim at a balance between practically achievable but still loud enough message, try to get verdicts that won't result in an instant bill in congress to overturn the precedent, etc.) it might be able to achieve some positive results. But it would require a steady stream of financial and legal support. And it can't be a substitute for other grassroots efforts on this issue to say nothing of other related ones. But yes, if done right, could theoretically be a useful arrow in the quiver.