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Palestinians have an unbeatable weapon. Even Israel, with its formidable military arsenal, cannot blunt the impact of this weapon. This is the No. 1 reason why Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon desires to vacate Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and in the northern reaches of the West Bank.
What is this weapon the Palestinians wield that makes Israel fearful?
Sharon and his military leaders know they can not defuse a Palestinian demographic time bomb. Yasir Arafat shrewdly observed that the womb is the most effective weapon the Palestinians possess. Their birthrate continues to skyrocket. In occupied territories where Israel has erected settlements, Palestinian birthrates dwarf those of Israel.
Writing in Atlantic Monthly Magazine (May 2005), Benjamin Schwartz reports the grim statistic about soaring Palestinian fertility that Israel cannot stop. "Today Israeli Arabs (that is, Palestinians living within Israel's pre-1965 borders and in East Jerusalem) have one of the highest population-growth rates in the world (among Israeli Arabs in the Negev, specifically, it is the highest), and they now make up about 20 percent of Israel's population; demographers project that they'll compose nearly a quarter of the population by 2020, and as much as 30 percent by 2050."
Let's assume that most of these Palestinians apply for Israeli citizenship. They vote. The democratic process advocates one person, one vote. The Palestinians will hold all the cards in voting booths. They will rule over the democracy that Israel created for Jews since the state was established in 1948. The womb gives Palestinians dominance in the future within Israel. Israel's deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert, admits, "We will lose everything."
To fend off this probable Palestinian future takeover at the ballot box, Sharon appears to be generous. He promises that Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and within the northern West Bank will be demolished. This is really a survival tactic. Both these geographic areas teem with Palestinians. Give them this territory, figures Sharon, so that they are independent of Israel. As non-citizens, they cannot vote in Israeli elections. This assures the Jews that they will continue to have the upper hand in their democracy.
Sharon recently met with President George W. Bush at his Texas ranch for a mini-summit on settlement policy. Sharon rejected Bush's plea to stop settlements in one of Israel's biggest building projects. Named Maale Adummim, it sits in the West Bank five miles from eastern Jerusalem. Sharon wants to build suburbs from Maale Adummin reaching to Jerusalem.
When this building is completed, it will effectively diminish any Palestinian hope of developing their own state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Maale Adummim is a burgeoning city of 30,000 Israelis. Filling in the open space between this metropolis and Jerusalem with 3,650 houses will divorce the Arab section of Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
After their conversation, Bush made it very clear to Sharon that the U.S. road map will develop sinkholes if Sharon keeps building east of Jerusalem. Our president announced, "I've been very clear. Israel has an obligation under the road map. There's no expansion of settlements."
Sharon stiffed President Bush. A few days after their talk, construction within the disputed settlement started booming.
Of course, many political leaders in the Republican Party side with Sharon. They believe that God wants Israel to have this land, even though Palestinians have lived there for centuries. So many within U.S. conservative political ranks look to the Bible to legitimate Sharon's land grab. The Bible records many promises given to ancient Israel about how much territory God wants them to occupy in the Promised Land. "From the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea," Deuteronomy 11:24.
House Majority leader Tom DeLay takes the attitude that if God says he wants the Jews to have this land, and Sharon is willing to take it, why bother about the Palestinians? They're not in God's real estate game plan. Mr. DeLay forgets that the devil habitually quotes scripture for his own self justification.
The word "settlement" that Sharon and President Bush use, along with the media, sounds rather tame. Pioneers form settlements. They are temporary places, usually quite small. "Settlements," as the word is customarily used, describes out-of-the-way places lacking permanence.
Israel euphemistically dubs as "settlements" those sites carved out of barren wilderness where Israeli pioneers plan to set down roots, live for generations, and leave a family legacy. Most observers call these places cities.
One of my classmates at Princeton Theological Seminary, Don Luidens, has distinguished himself for a quarter century as professor of sociology at Michigan's Hope College. Don was born in Bahrain to Dutch Reformed missionary parents. He writes in Perspectives Magazine (March 2005) about metropolitan Maale Adummim that he has visited.
Describing its shopping malls, public parks and "peace" fountain, Luidens zeroes in on Maale Adummim's "claim to the entire expanse from the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives down the Judean hills to the outskirts of Jericho - a swath of territory that divides Palestine right down the middle. Plans are under way to expand its 50,000 current residents by another 20,000 within the next five years, further securing this 'settlement.'" And ripping apart Bush's road map, too. All because "God wants it that way."
The Rev. Dr. Jack R. Van Ens is a Presbyterian minister who heads the nonprofit, tax-exempt Creative Growth Ministries, enhancing Christian worship through storytelling and dramatic presentations. Van Ens' book, "How Jefferson Made the Best of Bad Messes," is available in local bookstores for $7.95.
Vail, Colorado
What is this weapon the Palestinians wield that makes Israel fearful?
Sharon and his military leaders know they can not defuse a Palestinian demographic time bomb. Yasir Arafat shrewdly observed that the womb is the most effective weapon the Palestinians possess. Their birthrate continues to skyrocket. In occupied territories where Israel has erected settlements, Palestinian birthrates dwarf those of Israel.
Writing in Atlantic Monthly Magazine (May 2005), Benjamin Schwartz reports the grim statistic about soaring Palestinian fertility that Israel cannot stop. "Today Israeli Arabs (that is, Palestinians living within Israel's pre-1965 borders and in East Jerusalem) have one of the highest population-growth rates in the world (among Israeli Arabs in the Negev, specifically, it is the highest), and they now make up about 20 percent of Israel's population; demographers project that they'll compose nearly a quarter of the population by 2020, and as much as 30 percent by 2050."
Let's assume that most of these Palestinians apply for Israeli citizenship. They vote. The democratic process advocates one person, one vote. The Palestinians will hold all the cards in voting booths. They will rule over the democracy that Israel created for Jews since the state was established in 1948. The womb gives Palestinians dominance in the future within Israel. Israel's deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert, admits, "We will lose everything."
To fend off this probable Palestinian future takeover at the ballot box, Sharon appears to be generous. He promises that Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and within the northern West Bank will be demolished. This is really a survival tactic. Both these geographic areas teem with Palestinians. Give them this territory, figures Sharon, so that they are independent of Israel. As non-citizens, they cannot vote in Israeli elections. This assures the Jews that they will continue to have the upper hand in their democracy.
Sharon recently met with President George W. Bush at his Texas ranch for a mini-summit on settlement policy. Sharon rejected Bush's plea to stop settlements in one of Israel's biggest building projects. Named Maale Adummim, it sits in the West Bank five miles from eastern Jerusalem. Sharon wants to build suburbs from Maale Adummin reaching to Jerusalem.
When this building is completed, it will effectively diminish any Palestinian hope of developing their own state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Maale Adummim is a burgeoning city of 30,000 Israelis. Filling in the open space between this metropolis and Jerusalem with 3,650 houses will divorce the Arab section of Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
After their conversation, Bush made it very clear to Sharon that the U.S. road map will develop sinkholes if Sharon keeps building east of Jerusalem. Our president announced, "I've been very clear. Israel has an obligation under the road map. There's no expansion of settlements."
Sharon stiffed President Bush. A few days after their talk, construction within the disputed settlement started booming.
Of course, many political leaders in the Republican Party side with Sharon. They believe that God wants Israel to have this land, even though Palestinians have lived there for centuries. So many within U.S. conservative political ranks look to the Bible to legitimate Sharon's land grab. The Bible records many promises given to ancient Israel about how much territory God wants them to occupy in the Promised Land. "From the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea," Deuteronomy 11:24.
House Majority leader Tom DeLay takes the attitude that if God says he wants the Jews to have this land, and Sharon is willing to take it, why bother about the Palestinians? They're not in God's real estate game plan. Mr. DeLay forgets that the devil habitually quotes scripture for his own self justification.
The word "settlement" that Sharon and President Bush use, along with the media, sounds rather tame. Pioneers form settlements. They are temporary places, usually quite small. "Settlements," as the word is customarily used, describes out-of-the-way places lacking permanence.
Israel euphemistically dubs as "settlements" those sites carved out of barren wilderness where Israeli pioneers plan to set down roots, live for generations, and leave a family legacy. Most observers call these places cities.
One of my classmates at Princeton Theological Seminary, Don Luidens, has distinguished himself for a quarter century as professor of sociology at Michigan's Hope College. Don was born in Bahrain to Dutch Reformed missionary parents. He writes in Perspectives Magazine (March 2005) about metropolitan Maale Adummim that he has visited.
Describing its shopping malls, public parks and "peace" fountain, Luidens zeroes in on Maale Adummim's "claim to the entire expanse from the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives down the Judean hills to the outskirts of Jericho - a swath of territory that divides Palestine right down the middle. Plans are under way to expand its 50,000 current residents by another 20,000 within the next five years, further securing this 'settlement.'" And ripping apart Bush's road map, too. All because "God wants it that way."
The Rev. Dr. Jack R. Van Ens is a Presbyterian minister who heads the nonprofit, tax-exempt Creative Growth Ministries, enhancing Christian worship through storytelling and dramatic presentations. Van Ens' book, "How Jefferson Made the Best of Bad Messes," is available in local bookstores for $7.95.
Vail, Colorado
