When I hear about these illegal Israeli settlements that the Palestinians want taken down, I picture buildings clustered together in the open desert, Mos Eisley-like, living a roughshod life. But, seems like something like that would be begging for attacks by Palestinian militants. And, Israel is a pretty darn modern society, so I’m not sure it would be as roughing it as I pictured.
So, what are these places like? And how are they NOT attacked on a regular basis?
I recall seeing pictures of some settlements a while back, and it seems they come in 2 flavors… fairly new ones, which appear to be comprised of what we in the US would consider Trailers, and established ones, with more actual buildings.
This is going from my admittedly fallible memory. There are at least 2 Israelis who post on the Dope, so I’m sure they’ll be along at some point.
It depends. You have places like Ma’ale Adummim, which is made up of about 32,000 people, and is pretty much like any other city of 32,000.
On the other hand, you have a place like Rechalim, which is about 60 people. The settlements range in size, level of development, etc.
I have been to Efrat, a West Bank settlement near Jerusalem. An American friend was living with his aunt and uncle and their family there (they were modern Orthodox Jews from Tennessee, btw, while I was there the dad gave his son a lecture on how “in this house you wear a kipa!” Imagine this spoken with a southern accent). It was pretty sweet, not unlike a suburban area in the US. Apparently a huge proportion of the population was made up of immigrants from the US, Canada, and Britain, which probably explains the “Efrat Little League” schedule I saw on the fridge.
In Israel proper, most people live in small apartments. The houses in Efrat were HUGE. I could definitely see the appeal.
Incidentally, the bus I rode out there had extra-thick glass to protect us from thrown stones. Yay!
That these settlements are “illegal” is an allegation that belongs more in Great Debates than General Questions. And it isn’t needed to get your answer.
Some pictures of settlements on the West Bank are here: writable.site
Heh, sounds like SOMEONE has an opinion on this matter. :dubious: I’m just going by what’s widely reported in the media, and admitted to by the Israeli government itself. And yes of course there are plenty of non-illegal settlements out there too.
Nice pics though!
In Israeli parlence, “illegal settlements” are settlements set up without Israeli government approval. Usually a bunch of radical kids with trailers or tents.
Most settlements are considered legal by Israel, illegal by most everyone else, and are thus a matter for GD. Illegal settelments are considered legal by no-one and are safe for GQ.
one part of this question is simply a linguistics problem: the word “Settlement” just doesn’t make sense in English. In English, there are cities, there are towns, there are even trailer courts…but there is no generic word in English to describe “a place where people live”.
But that is exactly what it means in Hebrew: just a place where people live-- and not only in controversial places like the West Bank.
There are lots of ways for people to live together in–cities, like the ones mentioned in this thread (Maale Adumim and Efrat), smaller towns, small rural groups of a few hundred homes surrounded by farmland, and , yes, there are some settlements that consist of a few mobile homes on a hilltop. (but even those are usually nicely kept and landscaped)
Housing in the West bank is cheaper than in central Israel, so the houses there tend to be larger and nicer than the typical high-rise condos that most Israelis live in.
So when you hear about “Settlements” in the news, try to ignore the confusion caused by word itself. Look around your own city. Physically, the settlements look like any typical place where people live near you, --large, medium or small.
(And they don’t look like war zones, either.)
Thanks for the link, but the text intro to the photos certainly has a POV, if that concerns you. :dubious:
Many someone’s have opinions on this matter. Differing opinions. Which they are likely to express, thus sidetracking your original question. That’s why it’s best to keep such ‘loaded’ terms out of a question posted in this thread.
This sounds incredible to me, coming from the wide open praries of the Midwest USA. If you tried to tell people around here that they needed “government approval” to set up a settlement on their own land, there would be a rebellion.
Of course they wouldn’t. You can’t just build a house wherever the hell you want; you need to own the land. The U.S. government isn’t going to let you build a house next to an Interstate, or in a national forest, or pretty much anywhere you don’t hold a deed.