Happy Face 29 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) On a hilltop in the Northern West Bank, not far from the large Palestinian city of Nablus, I met 17-year-old Yair Lieberman. A part-time labourer and student, Yair's home was a makeshift canvas-covered structure, only slightly more solid than a tent, which he shared with three other young men. The bed was a tangled mess of sheets, in the style of a conventional teenager's, and hung around the dwelling were posters - though not of pop groups, but of favourite rabbis. Outside, in the neighbouring lots, was a scattering of fifteen or so caravans and trailers - the outpost of Havat Gilad. Like the settlements up and down the West Bank, Havat Gilad is illegal under international law. It lies miles inside the territory won by Israel in the 1967 war and the vast majority of the surrounding population is Palestinian. But Havat Gilad is also illegal under Israeli law. Electricity comes from a generator. Water is trucked in. Yair moved up to Havat Gilad a couple of years ago. On a tour around the hilltop, I asked him why he'd decided to make his life in this ramshackle encampment, at the end of a dirt road, on an inhospitable hilltop among Arab olive groves. "If we're not here there's a [Palestinian] city and we don't want another [Palestinian] city," he said. What, I wondered, would be so bad about another Palestinian city? "Because it's my land! It's the land of Israel. It's not the land of Palestinians." Yair's beliefs are shared by a hardcore religious nationalist fringe of Jewish Israelis who have chosen to make their home up and down the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. They say that those areas belong by right to the Jewish people - a title claim based mainly on the bible. The fact that there are nearly ten times as many Arabs as there are Jews in the West Bank, with their own dreams of a national homeland, they regard as a side-issue. I was making a documentary about these ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers, called The Ultra-Zionists. For several weeks I'd been spending time in some of the most hardcore and uncompromising sections of the Israeli nationalist community - the Jewish enclave in Hebron, in the hilltops in the north of the West Bank, and in the crowded Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem - choosing to come at a time when peace talks were ongoing and the extreme settlers were therefore more embattled. Continue reading the main story Find out more Louis Theroux's report, The Ultra Zionists, is on BBC Two at 2100 GMT on Thursday 3 February The Ultra Zionists For many years I'd been fascinated by extreme nationalists - and I'd hoped the issue of the West Bank and its settlement by extreme religious Jews would be a chance to understand this mindset at first hand. The day before meeting Yair I'd travelled up to the nearby outpost of Givat Ronen, known to be, if anything, an even more radical and nationalistic community. Early that morning I'd learned that the Israeli army had taken the fairly unusual step of actually enforcing the law against the extreme settlers and dismantling a small house and a goat shed. Given that the whole community was illegal under Israeli law, the army's action was somewhat tokenistic. But even this was enough to set off local Jewish settler youths who reacted by stoning the shops in a nearby Palestinian village and setting fire to the hillside. It might be easy to write off these "ultra-Zionists" as people on the fringe of a fringe in terms of their outlook and beliefs. And it is true that many, if not most, Israelis say they would be happy to pull out of most of the occupied territories if they were confident it would lead to peace. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote The anger and despair of the Palestinians at the settling of foreigners in their midst is palpable” But what makes the extreme settlers more troubling is that they also enjoy a degree of support from the Israeli state. Surprising as it may seem, many illegal outposts like Yair's are protected by the Israeli army. And in East Jerusalem and Hebron the Jewish presence is fully legal under Israeli law and underwritten and guaranteed by a vast security force. The anger and despair of the Palestinians at the settling of foreigners in their midst is palpable. Many say they would be happy to have Jewish neighbours but not while they don't enjoy the same rights or have the same sovereignty. Towards the end of my stay, one of the settler security guards in East Jerusalem shot and killed a Palestinian man. Rioting was widespread and it seemed clear to me the country was close to a third intifada. Not long after that I left Jerusalem, but not before I visited Yair again. Once again I found him friendly, likeable, and yet profoundly lacking in perspective of how his national aspirations were trampling on the rights of millions of Palestinians. With the very vague possibility of peace on the horizon, I asked if he wasn't worried about being told to leave. "If they want they can take me by power and I'm going to come back illegally," he said. "This is our land. You can come and kill us and do whatever you want. We're going to die for this country." 2 days left to watch... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ybyxp Edited February 8, 2011 by Happy Face Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Besty 4 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) All because of religion. Watched it the other night, they're as bad as eachother. Edited February 8, 2011 by Besty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesperateDannyB 0 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 JEW HATER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Besty 4 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 That Australian? bloke in it was proper weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idioteque 0 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Watched it, wasn't too impressed not enough action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 they're as bad as eachother. The Jews and the christians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Theroux is epic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 22542 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 (edited) the settlers are fucking nobjockeys tbh. just as bad as the islamist fundamentalists on the other side. the extremists on both sides that are the reason why there will never be peace in the middle east. Edited February 9, 2011 by Dr Gloom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 the settlers are fucking nobjockeys tbh. just as bad as the islamist fundamentalists on the other side. the extremists on both sides that are the reason why there will never be peace in the middle east. The handful of nutjobs inhabiting the settlements and surrounding areas aren't the problem for world peace. They're just pawns. The illegal settlements are advanced by a nuclear superpower, and accepted by THE world superpower. No other country dares do anything about that....or could (as countless UN resolutions show). In those terms one side is much worse than the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I watched it. It was good but thoroughly depressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I'm just watching it now. It's already pissing me off no end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 22542 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 the settlers are fucking nobjockeys tbh. just as bad as the islamist fundamentalists on the other side. the extremists on both sides that are the reason why there will never be peace in the middle east. The handful of nutjobs inhabiting the settlements and surrounding areas aren't the problem for world peace. They're just pawns. The illegal settlements are advanced by a nuclear superpower, and accepted by THE world superpower. No other country dares do anything about that....or could (as countless UN resolutions show). In those terms one side is much worse than the other. I actually don't think the settlers are quite as bad as islamist nut jobs that are willing to blow themselves up in an public places with the aim of killing as many Israeli citizens as possible but their actions are similar in that they want to provoke the extremists on the other side and prolong the conflict that most moderates on both sides have had enough of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spongebob toonpants 4183 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 the settlers are fucking nobjockeys tbh. just as bad as the islamist fundamentalists on the other side. the extremists on both sides that are the reason why there will never be peace in the middle east. The handful of nutjobs inhabiting the settlements and surrounding areas aren't the problem for world peace. They're just pawns. The illegal settlements are advanced by a nuclear superpower, and accepted by THE world superpower. No other country dares do anything about that....or could (as countless UN resolutions show). In those terms one side is much worse than the other. I actually don't think the settlers are quite as bad as islamist nut jobs that are willing to blow themselves up in an public places with the aim of killing as many Israeli citizens as possible but their actions are similar in that they want to provoke the extremists on the other side and prolong the conflict that most moderates on both sides have had enough of. I think they are worse, but I refuse to justify my position Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 That estate agent was a fucking bellend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Besty 4 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 That estate agent was a fucking bellend. Aye, that's who I meant up there (^), reet dodgy fucker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolly Potter MD 0 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 (edited) Over the years [since the creation of the Jewish State] there have been almost as many extreme right-wing Zionist groups as there have been Islamic fundamentalists ie. The Irgun group [who bombed the King David Hotel] and the JDL among others. The late Rabbi Kahane was the Zionist equivalent to Yassin. Edited February 10, 2011 by Year Zero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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