I Hate to See Women And Children Being Dragged from Their Homes, But Why Are There Polling Stations in Efrat?

In a recent post, I argued that the settlements don't make me safer. I didn't make any explicit indication of what policy I was actually advocating. Some of my Dear Readers may have come away with the impression that I advocate the immediate evacuation of all Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Look, I realize that such a move might be a bit drastic, a bit impractical, and, let's say, tactically imprudent.

I hate seeing women and children being dragged from their homes. Everyone does.

I'd like to see an Israeli government that publicly declares that the settlements were a historic mistake. I'd like to see the government issue a call to all the Zionists out there in the West Bank to do the Zionist thing and come home.

I'd like to see government compensation and incentives for settlers who do come home, a move that has been proposed by some Labor MKs.

I'd like to see Knesset elections without a single polling station in the West Bank. Israelis who live in New York and Los Angeles can't vote unless they hop on a plane; the very least that the settlers can do is hop on a bus. The West Bank isn't part of Israel, right? (At least, so the Israeli government claims; that's the excuse for not giving Palestinians Israeli citizenship.)

I'd like to see an end to construction in the settlements. For those who already have construction permits, let them finish, of course, and then stop granting permits. Does that mean that some young couples won't be able to live in the same settlement as their parents? Believe me, I feel very sorry for these young couples, but BSD they'll be OK, especially if we enter them all in a sweepstakes where one lucky couple will win a Glatt Kosher Romantic Getaway in the South of France.

Finally, I have to admit that I would like to see an immediate evacuation of all the illegal settlements. The date of evacuation should be made public in advance, along with a promise that anyone still in the illegal settlements on the date of evacuation will go to jail. Anyone who is willing to leave beforehand can get generous government assistance. Subsequently, anyone who tries to build a new settlement will also go to jail. This would, of course, involve some women and children being dragged from their homes; criminal women who dragged their children into a Holy War over Greater Israel.

All of these initiatives are common sense. I didn't make them up (except for the one about the polling stations).

They won't get rid of the settlements overnight. But they might start things moving in the right direction.

They won't make the Europeans love us overnight. But maybe our leaders will finally be able to say the word "democracy" with a straight face.