There is much talk already in Israel, about providing compensation for settlers removed from Gaza or the West Bank (should they ever be removed). Gideon Levy has some interesting thoughts on the subject.
” For what exactly should we be compensating the settlers who will be evacuated from Gaza? For the damage they caused the state for decades? For the scandalous economic price of their living in Gaza? For the blood needlessly spilled over them? Most settled in the territories for the chance of cheap housing on tempting terms. Others went there out of messianic ideology. Some settled there legitimately, as it were, with government approval, while others did so through land-grabs. All knew ahead of time that the land they were settling was politically disputed and its future uncertain, so it is they who are responsible for the decision they took.”
I have related elsewhere on this blog the following story, which is quite relevant to the Levy piece. In 1986, when we decided to move to Kokhav Yair, a town inside the “Green Line,” some friends questioned this decision. They asked us why we didn’t move to a West Bank settlement which would be far cheaper.
Keep in mind this was before the first Intifada and before my army service. I had never been to the West Bank or Gaza. At the time, I was not yet as radical in my thinking as I am now. Politically I was like most Labor voters then – oppossed to the egregious abuse of Palestinians, but believing that at best, the Palestiains would get some sort of autonomy along the lines proposed in the Camp David accords.
Nonetheless, I told my friends that I believed some day Israel would have to return the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians. They laughed at me and called me a “naive American.” Well if a naive person like me could easily see way back in 1985 that the settlements were not going to last forever, I have to agree with Levy. Why should the more “sophisticated” Israelis who moved there be compensated for their foolish mistake?