Israel: Gaza pullout moving quickly
I know the issues are complicated and go back hundreds of years - but the idea of an entire group of people being forced from their homes makes me really sad.
I can't help but think about how traumatic it would be to be informed that you are leaving. I can understand the thought that it would be better to burn down your home rather than have someone else just move in like you had no rights to it at all. Leaving jobs, homes and deceased family members behind must be awful.
I hope that this event improves the relations between Palestine and Israel and that Israel has a plan to assist the displaced people in a manner better than the US did with the exiled Iranian people.
6 comments:
I'm not familiar with the situation of exiled Iranians you speak of or why the U.S. would have any particular obligation to them, but I'm not going to worry much for the settlers displaced from Gaza. Each displaced family will receive an average of between $200,000 and $300,000, plus up to two years' free rent.
The "New York Times" reports: "Israel recently asked the United States for $2 billion to help cover the cost of new developments for settlers and others in the northern region of Galilee and the Negev, in the south."
In case anyone was feeling left out.
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Re: Payments to displaced settlers
I'm sure that $300k is a nice tidy sum, and 2 years rent is also something I could get behind - but it wouldn't compensate me if I had to leave behind a business that I built, my dad buried in the back yard (sorry dad) or my community, friends and neighbors. (All hypothetical as I don't own a business and haven't yet buried pops in the back yard, and everyone knows I don't have any friends.)
This may indeed be the path to peace, but I have empathy for the loss that these folks are experiencing.
Putting on my cynic's hat for just a moment . . .
The settlers were basically speculators who were betting that this day would never come, knowing that it might. They probably got favorable deals for the land because there was the possibility of losing it one day--like anything, this probabiity could be factored into the price. It reminds me a bit of people who get a great deal on homes near the airport and then complain about the noise, plans to build a new runway, etc.
I would hope my loved ones would have better sense than to bury my remains in a disputed war zone, and I think my bankers would have something to say about building an infrastructure-intensive business like a greenhouse complex on disputed land to which I might not have good title.
When the event they risk happens, it's natural to feel sorry for people who built their houses in the hurricane zone, or on the flood plain or whatever, even though those people made bad, even imprudent, bets about risks they knew they were facing.
Oh a debate!
I see your point, however I think only the first generation of settlers can be grouped together as making a conscience choice. Their children were in Gaza because that's where they were born. Eventually they would have the opportunity to choose their own path but I think it would be difficult to not see a place where you were born as your home. (This could be due to my American entitlement slant.)
As for the folks in the hurricane and flood zones I think economics has a lot to do with these decisions. Not everyone has the resources to pack up and leave and let's not forget that we need people to pick oranges at 10 cents a pound so we can pay the low prices that we do.
I will concede that I am excluding the wealthy in my example. By wealthy I mean anyone earning double the poverty line. From the Federal Register the poverty guideline the line for a family of four is $19,350. (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/05poverty.shtml)
The uber wealthy have my condolences when they lose their 9000 sq. ft. vacation home - but I’m not sure they should be subsidized by FEMA. Easy to say but difficult to implement.
later, from the left...
Kids are wonderfully malleable and I wouldn't lose any sleep over moving them from one desert to another. Kids bear the consequences of their parents' decisions all the time. Excessive reverence for kids' every "need" is a striking characteristic of our society.
The economic point is just that if you got a good deal on a house on the edge of a cliff, the price probably takes into account the foreseeable possibility that your house might one day fall into the ravine. And your insurance rates probably reflect the possibilty. If you buy the house anyway, you are gambling, and if the house falls into the ravine--snake eyes!
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