How comfortable is your god with ethnic cleansing?

This kind of profile of Jewish settlers brings me back to an old entry about scenarios that can only lead to death.

If you're still having trouble understanding this conflict at this point, look at a quote (from the NYT article) from Noam Rein, a father of 10, looking at Ramallah, a major Palestinian city which he calls “temporary:

“The Torah says the land of Israel is for the Jewish people. This is just the beginning. We will build 1,000 homes here. The Arabs cannot stay here, not because we hate them, but because this is not their place.”

You agree with that? Then you believe in ethnic cleansing. End of the story. I don't care much whether you support ethnic cleansing because of your beliefs in the Torah, Hashem, Jesus, the Bible, the Quran, Enlightenment, the US Constitution, the Tooth Fairy, or just because you're racist.

You believe in ethnic cleansing? You are part of the evil of this world which I must stand against--even if you're really nice to your pets, even if your grandfather was a victim of no matter what, even if you once met 'someone from a lesser race' and were nice to her, and even if you have a plan for a nicer softer form of ethnic cleansing. It may well be that trauma from the past, personal or collective, has negatively influenced your view of the world. It's also possible that President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan was not breastfed enough as a baby. And if there's a way to deal with him and you that is more charitable, God bless the Peacemakers! But let's be clear: you are for ethnic cleansing? Then you are an enemy of your human brothers and sisters, you are the enemy of your neighbor, you are a dangerous person, your actions and your intentions are evil and must be opposed.

I'll add one thing: the god you worship is an ethnic god, a mere idol or figment of your self-centered fears and arrogance.

The issue Mr Obama must deal with is not the freeze of settlements, it's their removal or their integration within a Palestinian state (waiting for settlers to raise their hand to volunteer for that).

Elrig

Clear here for the NYT article.

Photo: Givat Egoz, near the Neria settlement, was inaugurated as American emissaries visited the region.
Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times