Poll says Jewish settlers will leave if paid by Sharmila Devi in the Financial Times 4:15pm Thu Jul 24 '03 Seventy-four per cent of Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be willing to leave their homes in return for compensation from the Israeli government as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians, according to an opinion poll published on Wednesday. print article Poll says Jewish settlers will leave if paid By Sharmila Devi in Jerusalem Published: July 23 2003 16:19 | Last Updated: July 23 2003 16:19 Seventy-four per cent of Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be willing to leave their homes in return for compensation from the Israeli government as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians, according to an opinion poll published on Wednesday. The poll's findings contrast with the harsh rhetoric of settler leaders, who have vowed to resist strenuously any attempts to evacuate them. Under the US-backed road map to peace, Israel is supposed to freeze new building construction in the territories occupied since the 1967 war and dismantle unauthorised outposts erected since March 2001. Ariel Sharon, Israeli prime minister, has provoked strong opposition from rightwingers with a pledge to dismantle mostly uninhabited outposts but the poll shows he has the backing of 66 per cent of settlers who believe they should be removed. The Israeli group Peace Now interviewed 1,100 settlers by telephone and found also that 44 per cent think the Palestinians deserve a state. About 200,000 settlers live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in 1967. Their eventual fate would be subject to final negotiations under the road map, which sets out steps leading to a Palestinian state by 2005. The Peace Now poll echoes recent Palestinian surveys in demonstrating an apparent willingness to compromise for peace. Only around 10 per cent of the Palestinians who became refugees when the state of Israel was declared in 1948 want to return to Israel, according to polls published last week by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research. However, many Palestinian leaders say they will not give up a right of return. There is growing Palestinian impatience with Mahmoud Abbas, prime minister, who is due to hold talks with President George W. Bush in Washington on Friday. Mr Abbas is expected to seek pressure on Israel to release Palestinian prisoners captured during the intifada. Militant groups have warned their ceasefire rests on the fate of the some 6,000 prisoners. Meanwhile, Mr Abbas may face a confidence vote in the Palestinian Legislative Council if his trip to the US is deemed a failure. www.ft.com add your comments

...polls by goldberg 7:36pm Thu Jul 24 '03 print comment ...lets poll the palestinians and see what they will take to move to any where else.....then once everyone has left...then the whole deal can be setteled in one big poker game...winner takes all add your comments

Once again money beats religios belief by Colin 5:39am Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment All the above story does is prove that the settlers want something for nothing and proves without doubt the motivating factor for the majority of Jews is money - What a surprise add your comments

To colin by fuck off 6:44am Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment Many of these settlers are not even Jewish so to make a broad judgement such as the one that you've made reeks of nothing less than antiSemitism. add your comments

To fuck off by Lily 7:51am Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment 'Many of these settlers are not even Jewish' - Hang on a minute, if they are not even Jewish, why are they there? I thought the whole issue is about the land belonging to the Jewish people etc... If they are not even Jewish and have no righful claim to the land (compared to the Jewish people who said they have rightful claim to the land), then they are just thugs. add your comments

Money? by * 1:01pm Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment Two brilliant brains at work: "proves without doubt the motivating factor for the majority of Jews is money" - Not helpful, and very stained with racist undertones. "Many of these settlers are not even Jewish so to make a broad judgement such as the one that you've made reeks of nothing less than antiSemitism". - Settlers not Jewish? Makes no difference at all for the antisemitic utterings in the comment above. Of course money is a factor in all this. The Israeli state has subsidized the settlements, the housing, the living exspences. The settlements are not neighbouthoods as such, but strategic military positions with the aim to remove the Palestinians from their land. Why blame the "normal" settler for doing what his state suggest and give huge incentives to to. Many can not afford to live an equal life in Israel proper as I understand it. As for the extremists......religious extremists in all religions in all over the world should be made to understand that in this life God comes second to man..... or at least respect the creation. When they die they can go wherever they chose or want or believe. Blame Israel, not the settlers. add your comments

Why blame the settlers? by John Veldhuis 2:11pm Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment "Why blame the "normal" settler for doing what his state suggest and give huge incentives to to." What are "normal" settlers? Why are the other settlers abnormal? Because some of them seem to enjoy being terrorists? Because they are "Israels willing executioners"? See http://www.palsolidarity.org/pictures/flash/settlers.html Let us not blame them all, but just all that are in a position to leave, and don't. add your comments

To explain normal by * 2:49pm Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment I wrote "normal" so to explain that being normal is not a good term. Every single person in this world is fucked up in one way or another:-) "Let us not blame them all, but just all that are in a position to leave, and don't". - I agree. Problem is that very few have the opportunity to leave given the Israeli financial support for the settlements. Who wants to leave everything one has worked for for so long? To pack up and just leave to an uncertain future is not a viable choice, especially if one has a family that will also be affected. If Israel (and it should have been done a long long ago) starts to find alternatives in Israel proper for the ones willing to return, most settlers say they are happy to do so and the Israeli public agrees. Unfortunatly they managed to elect a mass murderer who is also in large parts the architect behind the settlements as prime-minister. How that happend still is a mystery to me, but it was not a wise or rational choice to make for sure. The rest of the settlers may become Palestinians and treated equally.......in reality a downward spiral if the settler will have no more rights than the Palestinians, or be forced out. One can not end up with a situation where Israelis live in Palestine and is protected by Israeli soldiers on foreign land.....should go without saying. add your comments

Interesting by Ben 3:21pm Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment How the settlement issue is going to be resolved will be very interesting to watch. But calling them all terrorists just because a few of them have gone absolutely bonkers is not different than calling all Palestinians terrorists. It is not only a gross - and very self-serving - generalization, it also produces conflict where their could otherwise be agreement. But even more interesting is the question about Sharon's election. If you do not understand how Sharon got elected, then you do not understand the impact of the Palestinian terror campaign on the Israeli people. Like most of the left, you seem to forget that their even exists an Israeli people - who have been made the target of the Palestinian war. I often read about how one Israeli action or another is sure to produce the next suicide bomber or terrorist, but I never hear about how the next suicide bomber or terrorist is likely to destroy any believe in the possibility of peace with the Palestinains. If you don't understand how Sharon came to power, then you don't really understand both sides of the conflict. add your comments

Bonkers allright... by John Veldhuis 5:01pm Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment Some of those gone completely bonkers are still Cabinetmembers of Sharon's government... Like the Minister of Transfer (to the Dead Sea). People of Isreal voted for Sharon out of fear, out of admiration, out of exhaustion, and because he is a great actor. They believed Sharon, when he claimed he could end the terror by force. Which he repeatedly proved he couldn't. They did not believe his opponents, who claimed they could end the terror by negotiation. Which they weren't allowed to prove. Now hopefully Sharon will be forced, by of all people, George W. Bush, to end the terror by negotiation. add your comments

Settler = Terror by Marcus 9:42pm Fri Jul 25 '03 print comment Let me start by saying that settlers get incentives to live on land taken from others. To try and legitimize their stance cause Isreal is the one that sent in the first place is just one sided. Everyone knows they take arab land to create jewish only homes and roads and highways.... How can a person who refers to himself as a jew accept where he is going to live full well knowing how it was achieved. These people are not religious just crazed fanatics like hamas. How can they call themselves jews makes me angry because they don't represent the majority just the militants. Similar to how can a muslim call himself a muslim if he supports suicide bombings. It goes against the religion. Being jewish does not give them the right to take others land by force and making them live in hell on earth, that is just not what a jewish person should be doing. I believe from the bottom of my heart that jews are not pigs or apes or any other mental names given to them by racist people, I believe the settlers are not jews by there actions. To clarify nor do I believe hamas members are muslims. Notice the comparision....extreme militants are not religious just crazy.!!! add your comments

greed and lust by it is only natural/ 2:11am Sat Jul 26 '03 print comment The need for over simplification is way overdue. The Jewish zealots who move to Israel from overseas don't move out of religious considerations as you can worship the lord from wherever you reside but for economical incentives. It is for that reason that they leave everything they know behind and move to the middle east. It is like getting a promotion of sorts. They move up in the general quality of life. Where before they would have resided in a tiny apartment, now they occupy a fancy villa with a backyard and an adjacent pool(one of the many "perks" of being a jew). on top of that, they now are above the law. they can commit every crime forbidden in the holy scriptures and rarely be held accountable. The package is hard to resist considering the sudden economical advantages and immunity from every law in the Book, who wouldn't want to convert to "judasim" to enjoy this french benefits? add your comments