Word: settlement
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Itai Harel, 32, founded the Migron settlement in 2002, on his honeymoon. Harel and his bride were fulfilling a dream: Jews repossessing the biblical land of Judea and Samaria, nearly 2,000 years after they were exiled. It matters little to Harel and the other Israelis who have settled in Migron that they are living on land that much of the world believes belongs to the Palestinians, in homes that many of their own countrymen would just as soon see abandoned. In fact, the residents of Migron seem to pride themselves on being among the biggest loners in the Middle...
Settlers were once considered the golden pioneers of Zionism, the force behind the creation of Israel and, later, the occupation of territory seized after the 1967 war. But the future of the settlement movement, and the settlers themselves, has never seemed more uncertain. More than 270,000 Israelis live beyond the Green Line, as the old border is called, most in walled-in suburbs like Ma'aleh Adumim outside Jerusalem, which could be an estate of southern California condominiums if it weren't for the 300-year-old olive trees implanted in the traffic circles. The vast majority of Israelis...
...easy. Polls show that a thin majority of Israelis want to get rid of settlements. But Olmert's dismal approval ratings have forced him into a marriage of convenience with the pro-settlement right wing. A large-scale campaign to evacuate Jewish settlers could produce more clashes like the one that erupted last January in an outpost called Amona, when an army effort to dislodge a few families left 200 soldiers and settlers injured. Another outbreak of violence could bring down Olmert's centrist government, which would probably hand power to hawkish parties who are in no mood to make...
...Israel to escape from having to occupy the West Bank indefinitely. The opportunity is that Israel could (as the Saudi plan of 2002 suggested) then establish normal relations with the moderate Arab states, and the new military alliance could provide the security guarantees that could make any Israeli-Palestinian settlement work...
...situation" develops or to take "armed action if and when the talks break down." An early failure of the truce is not unlikely. Last week the outlawed Communist Party called the cease-fire period "much too short and the obstacles still too great" to lead easily to a negotiated settlement...