They cannot be removed without a civil war, Jews against Jews.
So let's stop talking about the Two-state Solution. Let's think about something else. A One-State solution? An apartheid state? No solution at all? Eternal conflict?
I DO NOT believe that there is a human problem that has no solution.
I do not believe that despair is a good counselor, though it may be a comfortable one.
I do not believe that anything in life is "irreversible." Except death.
If one is faced with a problem that seems irresolvable, one has to look at it, analyze it and consider the possible ways out.
It is said that General Bernard Montgomery, the British commander in North Africa, had a picture of his adversary, the legendary German general Erwin Rommel, on his desk at his headquarters. To his amazed visitors, he explained: "I want to ask myself at every moment: What is he thinking?"
If we try to imagine the settlers, we see before us a mass of 650 thousand fanatics, growing in number every day. Really frightening. But not frighteningly real.
There does not exist one mass of settlers. There are several kinds of settler. If we want to devise a means to overcome this problem, we first have to take it apart.
Let's look at the diverse groups, one by one.
FIRST THERE are the "quality of life settlers." They go to the West Bank, find a spot surrounded by picturesque Arab villages and settle there on land that probably belongs to some Arab villager. They look out of their window at beautiful minarets and olive trees, hear the call to prayer, and are happy. They get the land for nothing or next to nothing.
Let's call them Group 1.
Since they are not fanatics, it will not be too hard to resettle them in Israel proper. Find them a nice place, give them a lot of money, and they will move without too much trouble.
THEN THERE are the "border settlements." There the settlers live in towns and villages very close to the old Green Line, the pre-1967 border that is still the legal border of the State of Israel. The bulk of the settlers live there.
There exists a tacit agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that these settlements will be included in the "swap of territories" envisaged by practically everybody who deals with the "Two-State Solution."
The basis is a swap of 1 to 1, of equal value. For example, in return for the "settlement blocs," Israel could cede territory alongside the Gaza Strip. The sons and daughters of the families within the Strip, the world's most overcrowded area, would welcome the opportunity to build their homes there, near their families.
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