Dr. Pipes, why do you support the settlement movement?

Submitted by Alon (Israel), Oct 7, 2009 at 04:56

Dear Dr. Pipes,

I am an avid reader and, like you, I see no reason for Israel to offer concessions and begin withdrawal from the West Bank without any changes in Palestinian policy. However, can't Israel just keep the IDF in the West Bank without settlement expansion?

A) Israel is investing millions of dollars in an area that is predominantly Arabic and that will, one day, belong to an Arab country, and all of that at the expense of settling and developing the Negev and the Galilee, both areas WITHIN Israel proper and both inhabited by an Arab majority and Jewish minority. A very possible long term danger.

B) The more Jewish settlements the more difficult it will become to disentangle the Jewish and Muslim populations of the West Bank. Eventually the world will get tired of the Two State Solution, being impossible because evacuation will be impossible, and begin to push the One State Solution, which we both know will be the end of Israel.

So, I repeat, why not just keep the IDF in the West Bank to maintain order but without the entanglements and financial burdens of continued settlement expansion?

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Daniel Pipes replies:

This is a large topic. In brief, I believe (1) that Israeli towns put pressure on the Palestinians to settle and (2) a true settlement would leave Jews in place on the West Bank.