Ed Miliband, the new Labour British Foreign Secretary, has announced that the United Kingdom will boycott goods made in Israeli communities over the Green Line, which he calls “settlements.” In a joint statement with the foreign ministers of 11 other countries, including Canada, France, Ireland, and Spain, he explained his reasons. This action is in response to, in part, “settlement expansion, including the unacceptable decision to publish tenders for the E1 settlement project,” on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and to protect the possibility of a two-state outcome between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Together,” the foreign ministers say, “we are resolute: the two-state solution must be protected … The Government of Israel must immediately halt the expansion of settlements.”
What, though, does this really mean? Reading between the lines, what are Miliband and his friends really saying about the prospects for peace in the region when they claim that Jewish settlements will prevent a Palestinian state?
About 2 million Arabs live as citizens in Israel, or about 20% of the population, with full civil rights and equality under the law except with respect to the draft. (Many Arabs enlist voluntarily.) About 300,000 Jews and about 4 million Muslims live as minorities in the U.K. Obviously, many minorities live peacefully in the United States.
So when Ed Miliband says that settlements are “undermining the possibility of a two-State solution,” what he means is that Jewish settlements can never become a part of a Palestinian state. His unspoken assumption is that Jews will never be able to live peacefully as a minority, protected under the law, in a future state of Palestine.
No one can predict the future, of course, but there is good reason to believe this is likely true. Historically, Jews who lived as minorities in Muslim lands lived as second-class citizens known as dhimmis: “Dhimmis were excluded from public office and armed service, and were forbidden to bear arms. They were not allowed to ride horses or camels, to build synagogues or churches taller than mosques … to pray or mourn in loud voices-as that might offend the Muslims. … The dhimmi was not allowed to give evidence in court against a Muslim, and his oath was unacceptable in an Islamic court. … This left the dhimmi with little legal recourse when harmed by a Muslim.” Eventually, about 850,000 Jews were expelled from Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Libya, and other Arab countries.
Christians were treated as dhimmis as well.
Today, the “moderate” Palestinian Authority continues to send payments to terrorists who murder Jews, and PA schoolbooks promote antisemitic content. In areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, it is illegal to sell land to a Jew.
Those who assert, as so many both in the U.S. and the U.K. do, that Jewish settlements prevent a Palestinian state should be clear about the assumptions underlying that claim. What they are really saying is that they don’t believe Palestinians will be willing to absorb and tolerate a Jewish minority.
Moreover, even when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to uproot some West Bank settlements at Camp David in 2000, that offer was rejected. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, too, offered to remove settlements outside of the major blocks in a proposal rejected by Mahmoud Abbas.
Of course, to say that Gaza is a cautionary tale is an understatement. Israel evacuated Gaza in 2005, removing Jewish settlements and pulling out every Israeli civilian and soldier. The people of Gaza had independence. In 2005, there was no occupation, no blockade, and no settlements. They elected Hamas, which seized permanent control and started one war after another with Israel, culminating in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Uprooting settlements, therefore, still is not enough to convince Palestinian leaders to accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
DOWNPLAYING ANTISEMITISM AND DEMONIZING ZIONISM: HOW RUTGERS REPLACED INQUIRY WITH ACTIVISM
After Oct. 7, it’s true that there is not much appetite in Israel or among its supporters to find out what can be achieved by ceding further land, as Israel ceded Gaza. Those who do still support this idea, however, need to grapple with the unspoken assumption that underpins their claim that settlements will prevent a two-state solution and what that means for the prospects of two states side by side in peace.
Instead of merely repeating by rote, as so many have, that settlements will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, the British Foreign Secretary and others need to ask, how and why is that the case? Why can’t those cities and towns become part of a future Palestine? Only once they understand the answer to these questions can they play any constructive role in bringing actual peace to the region.
Karen Bekker is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Truth About Israel, a new organization dedicated to combating false information about Israel and the Jewish people.