In the West Bank & Israel, Again by Paul Alexander When you visit the Palestinian Territories and Israel once, you think you can write a book. When you visit the Palestinian Territories and Israel twice, you think maybe you can write an article. When you visit the Palestinian Territories and Israel three times, you realize it’s too complicated to say much at all. Having just returned, again, here’s what I think is clear. 1. Jewish cities should not be built on Palestinian land. What we call “settlements” are thriving cities built on Palestinian land for Jewish citizens of Israel: 500,000 Jewish people live in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. This is illegal, since under international law, occupying states are forbidden to move citizens into occupied territory. This is clear: if the state of Israel wants to build cities for its Jewish Israeli citizens it should build them in the state of Israel, not in the West Bank—especially if it’s disputed territory. Not a single additional stone should be laid for Jewish housing in East Jerusalem or the West Bank. 2. The wall is built in the wrong places. The US is building a wall along its Mexican border. While the need for or usefulness of this wall can be disputed, its legality cannot. It’s legal because it’s being built on the internationally recognized border. The wall is not being built on Mexican land. If the US built the wall inside of Mexico then the Mexican government and people could rightfully call it “illegal” and “unjust” and question whether the motive was to keep immigrants out or to confiscate Mexican land. The wall being built by the State of Israel is not on the internationally recognized border: 88% of it is being built in the West Bank—effectively transferring thousands of acres of land and hundreds of thousands of people to the Israeli side of the wall. This is clear: if Israel wants to build a wall, they should build it on the Green Line, the 1949 Armistice line that is the internationally recognized border. If Israel needs help tearing down the existing (mostly illegal) wall, perhaps a troop of 5,000 grandmas could take a hummus and falafel picnic to the soldiers and the grandmas could start chipping at the wall with hammers and picks. And perhaps the rest of us could eat the wall, one very tiny bite at a time, while the soldiers eat apple pie and baklava. 3. Beyond mere existence: security for a thriving Israel Israel does not need to militarily control the West Bank nor sell its resources in order
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