Independent Media Center, Israel http://indymedia.org.il Dear YakovThursday 02 Jan 2003 author: John Veldhuis

As the Palestinians have as much right to peace and security as the Israeli's, I don't think there can be any attempt to peace until the last settler returns from Gaza or the West Bank to Israel. The presence of colonists on Palestinian land is an act of violence and terrorism in itself. I can understand the necessity of the presence of Israeli troops, but never the presence of civilian colonists. The establishment and continuation of colonies outside of Israel is a sure way of drawing fire, not all of which may be called terrorism, but a lot of which can be called justifiable self-defence. If you want to make Israel safer from Palestinians, remove your colonies. Of course Israel will not become any safer from the colonists, as they have learned that Israeli state doesn't treat them as it should (like criminals and terrorists), and they usually get away with anything.

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