Israeli settlers seek asylum with PA

"If the state of Israel doesn't want us, we don't want it," 28-year-old Drori Stuan told Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. His family has lived in the Kadim settlement in the northern West Bank since 1983. It is one of four small settlements in the West Bank that the Israeli government is planning to evacuate later this year. Drori's family has applied for political asylum in the Palestinian Authority: "We are people who intend to carry on living in Samaria under Palestinian rule and not under Israeli rule." He continued: "Palestinian sovereignty does not scare us. We believe that everything will be OK and we will live in security like other Jews around the world."

I think this is an incredible positive development, though I doubt the PA will be able to grant the request, given that its authority is heavily limited by Israel. The desire of religious Jews to live in areas of historical significance is understandable - providing they do not do so at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian population, as is currently the case. If the Stuan family is truely prepared to live as Palestian citizens, rather than as agressive and exploitative colonialists, then this is the attitude which could finally bring a lasting peace.

The only long term solution, in my opinion, is a single pluralistic state, perhaps called something like"The Holy Land of Palestine & Israel", in which all citizens have equal rights and a fair distribution of wealth. There is a precedent in the 1 million Israeli Arabs, decendents of the Palestinians who remained within Israel during the Naqba (the 1948 war), who in theory have the same rights as Jewish Israelis. The barrier to the establishment of this state has always been Isarelis democraphic fear of living in a country with a majority Palestinian population, as well as the economic benefits they gain from exploitation of Palestinian land and water. But it looks like some settlers are finally realising that their ability to live in the Land depends on a good relationship with Palestinians, and that it is okay even to live under the authority of a majority Palestinian governmetn.

Please pray that the Stuan family could indeed become citizens of the PA and thereby demonstrate to other settlers and Israelis that there is nothing to fear from Palestinians when they are treated with justice and respect. May this lead to a lasting peace in which Palestinians are granted full citizenship rights in a new united state.