By: A Stamp for Letters to the Edge of Madness

A Stamp for Letters to the Edge of Madness — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:32:07 +0000

[...] dedicated to the orange ribbon – officials who help build illegal outposts, who make sure that demolition orders against illegally built homes in settlements are never demolished, who even issue stamps meant to rally the hardline forces [...]

By: george a. hilborn

george a. hilborn — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:52:48 +0000

As a Christian observer to Israel in March and as a trial lawyer and a history major in undergrad Israel is a most interesting study of complex problems. There is a segment of the international community and the “homegrown” Palestinians who say the settlements are illegal and should be torn asunder, but who is going to enforce the evacuation order? Let’s move to a more reasonable practical solution: withdraw the financial underpinning for the maintenance and construction of these settlements ;like roads ,sewage,embarqoing building materials. electricity and water. As an outsider I saw the destructive and corossive effects these settlements are having on normalcy in the country. The state that the Palestinians are to get is something right out of Rube Goldberg and any half-intelligent person looking at the proposed map would come away saying “you got to be kidding!” There has to be a land link between Gaza and the East Bank or your going to have the old West Pakistan/East Pakistan problem Reducing the number of settlements would greatly reduce the effect of the radical elements’ stature in any future negotiations.The equity argument in regard to the land upon which the settlements set can be viewed either from the English equity tenet of “adverse possession” or proscribes from Torah or “might makes right “Israel needs strong and wise leadership and counsel now not tomorrow and to get the financially and morally compromised out of the “seats of power”
Israel is a miracle in this modern age but as a Bulgarian Jew told me after I asked why the City of Tel Aviv didn’t take better care of the Rabin Memorial outside the City Hall ,he said “miracles last only three days in Israel” I guess the translation for me would be “out of sight,out of mind” In the long run ,legal abuses may be remedied but moral abuses sanctioned by clergy whether they be rabbis’,priests,inmans or any other interpreters are not easily remedied or forgotten by those most affected especially those whose land is taken from them. The book ,The Lemon Tree , a true story, helped me understand those things Iwitnessed in March on just this issue

Comments on: At a Settlement, a Battle Over Both Law and Judaism

By: A Stamp for Letters to the Edge of Madness

By: george a. hilborn