One of the things I love about Modi'in is the variety of people who live there.
Modi'in has all types of religious, social, ethnic, and political outlooks living in relative harmony.
This includes some of the most extreme political activists. For example, Larry Derfner describes himself as "an ultra-liberal Zionist". He has repeatedly spoken out against the "Occupation", and last year was fired as a columnist for the Jerusalem Post when he justified a terrorist attack against Israelis ("I think the Palestinians have the right to
use terrorism against us”).
I disagree strongly with almost every thing that Larry has ever written ("almost" because actually a couple of years ago I did agree with a column he wrote about the importance of Jews and Arabs interacting).
Anyway, a common theme of the extreme left is that all of Israel's problems are directly or indirectly the fault of "The Settlers" or "The Occupation". I'm not sure what the definition of "Settler" is; the 48 cease fire line is not clearly demarcated on any maps, and is not recognized as a political border by the Israeli Government or the Palestinian Authority, I think that the only bodies that place any significance on the '49 cease fire line are groups like the European Union.
Now that the EU has declared Modi'in to be part of the disputed territories, will left-wing activists like Mr Derfner move, or is his opposition to the "Settlers" only apply to other people, not liberal minded people like him who should be entitle to keep their home in Israel-Occupied Modi'in.
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6 comments:
Firstly, I think you mean the '49 ceasefire lines. Any ceasefire which happened in 1948 has been relegated to the dustbin of history.
Secondly, Derfner is probably still sleeping soundly at night. First of all, the EU's decision identified three ZIP codes in Modiin, covering Maccabim and parts (maybe all) of Buchman. AFAIK, Derfner lives far from the zone.
Most importantly, this classification by the EU has nothing to do with the occupation; it's entirely about the preferential tariff status given to good produced in Israel. For some reason, they offer this status to goods manufactured in areas which were under Israeli administration prior to June 1967. Which means that the West Bank is out. It also means that the tiny area of what was then no-man's land is out as well. Not that it's illegally occupied, just that the land had to be under Israeli administration at a certain time. The no-man's land was not; this does not mean that they're saying that it's illegally occupied.
Thanks Yoni, updated the "49 Cease Fie line".
Not sure which zip code Defrner lives in, but if the EU regard the status of parts of Modi'in as undetermined, how is Modi'in any different from other towns who's "status will be determined by final negotiations".
The EU hasn't regarded any parts of Modiin as "undetermined". In drafting the agreement regarding preferential status for reduced tariffs, Israel agreed to exclude what as no-man's land from getting this status. the EU is just trying to implement this agreement.
Should read "what was once no-man's land".
If there was some way for them to declare any areas allocated to "Palestine" under the 1947 partition agreement as occupied territories, the EU would.
Larry will stay where he is, he will just make sure his foot doesn't step over the line as defined in this here discussion.
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