Settlements, is not a bad word!
The International Community considers the establishment of settlements in Judea and Samaria illegal under international law. International Law says, no such thing. Israel is consistent with international law. The 4th Geneva Convention, which posses guidelines for “Occupied Territories”, do not apply to the territories occupied by Israel in the “1967 Six Day War”. The 1967 lines, are the 1949 armistice lines, they are not international borders. The 1917 Balfour Document, 1920 San Remos Agreement, 1922 Partition, which is the same treaty that gave Jordan its sovereignty and the 1923 Anglo American Treaty defines Israels borders under International law. Failure on the part of the International Community to honor this, gives any other treaty, law, or agreement, no value and irrelevance.
The position of successive Israeli governments is that all authorized settlements are entirely legal and consistent with international law. Israel does not accept that the 4th Geneva Convention applies de jure, but has stated that on humanitarian issues it will govern itself de facto by its provisions.
World Leaders have to see this dispute as if it were a Child custody and legal guardianship cases. As it describes the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the child to make decisions and the parent's duty to care for the child, is determined in accordance with the best interests of the child, including sexual, physical, emotional abuse, brain washing, parental alienation, sabotage and manipulation. Attempts to build upon the best interests of the children by crafting developmental needs of the children. This applies the same for the Palestinians. One has to compare the relationship Israel has with its Arab citizens against the relationship Hamas, Abbas and the PLO have with those that they rule. The Palestinians will enjoy a better life under Israel law, as opposed to life under those that rule in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority.
Human Rights by any definition is, the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are considered to be entitled, often held to include the rights to life, liberty, equality, and a fair trial, freedom from slavery, torture, freedom of thought and expression, the rights of individuals to liberty, justice, and fundamental rights, especially . those believed to belong to an individual and in whose exercise a government may not interfere, as the rights to speak, associate, and work, and freedom of press. This is not found in Gaza and the in PA. So, under these cruel practices, Israel should be the caretaker for the Palestinians and not those that are calming to rule them.
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948:
“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security”. Human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech, belief and freedom from fear and want as been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life. Freedom shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. Hamas and the PLO have failed to do this, so Israel is awarded custody of the Palestinians.
Palestinians have died in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a result of anarchy, lawlessness and misuse of weapons. There have been complaints about torture, arbitrary, unlawful arrests, journalist arrests and mistreatment in Palestinian prisons, by the PA and Hamas. There have been complaints from Palestinians who accused the Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank of unlawfully seizing their money, assaults on freedom of expression and the media, people being taken into custody for "politically-motivated" offenses, as well as on peaceful protests and academic freedoms. Students are repeatedly summoned for interrogation in universities suspected of posting comments in favor of Hamas or criticizing the PA on their Facebook accounts.
Settlements promote and stimulate “Peace”. It is the catalyst for Jews and Arabs to experience how to work, live and enjoy life together in a real “Peace”. The “Settlements” provide jobs, education, health care, human services healthy community living, raise the standard of living and life expectancy, just to name a few for its Arab neighbors.
The more “Settlements” we build and expand, the closer we get to achieving an everlasting peace with our Arab neighbors. The “Settlements”, is our front line for coming to a peaceful understanding between us and our Arab neighbors. Every community throughout Israel, is a settlement built by Jewish refugees. I like to share with you the lives these refugees made for themselves and their off springs. Should World Leader truly want to improve the lives of Arabs that work and live in these areas, they would be calling on "Global Industry" to set up shop there, not boycott their work place. Do world leaders actually believe that life under Hamas, PLO and Abbas is better than the life they had under Israel's military administration since 1967?. What Israel provided for the Arabs after 1967 was a vast improvement than they had experienced under Jordanian rule before 1967. The only humane solution to the Jewish Arab issue on this is, that the International Community honor the 1922 partition, it is law. With that, we can apply Israeli law to these areas, and give the Arabs living there the same rights and privileges that the Arabs in Israel have.
Settlements are not an obstacle to peace, special subsidies that have been provided to make housing there more affordable, bringing in professionals and skilled labor and encourage industry to set up shop here that will grow the economy in the region, providing opportunities and benefits for Arabs that live there to work and live.
The Palestinian Authority, have outlawed all work in Israeli factories across the Green Line. The law bans and criminalizes any trade of Israeli settlements’ goods and products, and prohibits Palestinians from working in the settlements. Palestinian workers are forced to seek employment in Israeli settlements,as the Palestinian Authority has failed to create viable alternatives, putting themselves in harms way. The Settlements are the best solution for Palestinian life in these areas, because, neither the International Community or the PLO can pull through to help these people.
Palestinians are employed in settlements because they need work. According to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2015, the workers' daily wage in the West Bank amounted to 94 shekels, $24 compared to 61 shekels, $15.50 in the Gaza Strip, while in Israel and the settlements, it reached 196 shekels per day, $50.50.
Settlement leaders have called on the Palestinian leadership to admit that the settlements benefit Arab workers, saying workers likely made even more than double the average wage. "Palestinian workers in our factories are making closer to three times the wages they would be making in the PA.
There is so little external support from world leaders. Our neighboring countries are facing changes and turmoil. After 22 years Oslo, is not working. So, what does anybody believe they can do, that has not already been tried? The dysfunctional and stalled peace process is the incubator for incitement that will continue the current hostilities, until we take the stand on our own to stop it. The settlements and their economy with Israels leadership provide the opportunity where Palestinians will have no need for a two-state solution, to murder, to throw stones, or to burn cars. Life in Israel will always be better than a life in a second state.