Word: settlements
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These residents’ status as indigenous, even, seems dubious. Although the Galapagos were discovered in the sixteenth century, the islands were left abandoned and uninhabited until 1832, when Ecuador, the nearest mainland nation, claimed possession. Settlement before some 30 years ago was on a piecemeal scale. Several plantations cropped up, but they were fueled mostly by forced and temporary convict labor...
...Galapagos Islands have provided a perfect setting for the evolution of specialized seabirds, finches, and lizards. They are not, however, a naturally forgiving environment for human settlement. Only the relatively recent rise of tourism has brought fishermen and others to live here. Thus, one does not see the traditions and specific culture so critical to indigenous cultures on islands settled less recently, such as Hawaii...
...negotiated solution to the crisis. But as it turns out, the aerial spectacle may have aided their cause: it finally coalesced hundreds of thousands of Zelaya supporters on the ground and helped prompt Honduran coup leaders, already facing international condemnation, to reconsider their hard-line stance against any brokered settlement. (See pictures of violent unrest in Honduras...
...that “we can stop pregnancies or not build kindergartens where required.” Well, fine. That makes sense enough for the time being. But what happens in 5 years? In 10? In 50? As Ha’aretz’s projection of 50 new settlement homes potentially turning into 1,450 suggests, Barak’s use of the nebulous term “where required” is a dangerous loose end, one that only serves to complicate the issue rather than coming anywhere close to solving...
...Settlements, like all cities, experience population growth and the consequent need for civic resources like the kindergartens Barak mentions—that’s hardly the issue at hand. Continued rapid expansion is. And the U.S. should not accept hazy promises that could prolong a rapid rate of Israeli settlement expansion, perhaps the largest current impediment to peace between Israel and its neighbors. It’s one thing for the U.S. to deny in word alone the carte blanche that Israel enjoyed during the Bush administration, and another to take some sort of action. With regard...