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Aug 15, 2012
Modiin residents Are Settlers. Mazel Tov!
According o the European Union, residents of Modiin are not living in Israel proper, but are "settlers". I congratulate them on acheiving this new status.
The EU has decided that products manufactured in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut will no longer be considered to have been made in Israel, as Modiin was built on what was in 1948 a strip of no-mans land. So, while it is not "occupied" territory, Israel still does not have the right to it. The EU, by doing this, is saying that anything from that area will not be granted the tax-free status when imported into Europe.
(source: IH and INN)
Being that Modiin is now considered a settlement, residents need to make a decision whether to stay and accept their new status as a settler, or whether to leave to avoid being a settler. Staying in Modiin will require a change in lifestyle to one more commensurate with the settler lifestyle and appearance. We also now will begin to await the day when the Israeli government will decide to evacuate Modiin of its Jewish reidents and disengage from the entire area.
Thank you European union for your attempt to bring sanity, or even just balance, back to the Middle East.
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The EU has decided that products manufactured in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut will no longer be considered to have been made in Israel, as Modiin was built on what was in 1948 a strip of no-mans land. So, while it is not "occupied" territory, Israel still does not have the right to it. The EU, by doing this, is saying that anything from that area will not be granted the tax-free status when imported into Europe.
(source: IH and INN)
Being that Modiin is now considered a settlement, residents need to make a decision whether to stay and accept their new status as a settler, or whether to leave to avoid being a settler. Staying in Modiin will require a change in lifestyle to one more commensurate with the settler lifestyle and appearance. We also now will begin to await the day when the Israeli government will decide to evacuate Modiin of its Jewish reidents and disengage from the entire area.
Thank you European union for your attempt to bring sanity, or even just balance, back to the Middle East.
------------------------------------------------------
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Look, the EU really thinks all 6 million Jews in Israel are settlers on Arab land. They're just incrementally working towards admitting it.
ReplyDeleteI took a slightly different angle on this Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
ReplyDeleteCute comment. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteVery Proud to be a Settler in Zionist-Occupied Modi'in.
ReplyDeleteModi'in has been under Zionist Occupation since 1948, just like Tel Aviv, Beit Shemesh, and Western Jerusalem.
Seems that when the EU call for an end to the "Israeli Occupation" they don't just mean Chevron, Kfar Tapuach, and Shchem.
It'll be interesting to see what anti-settler residents of Modi'in do now, I asked that question here:
http://betweenjerusalemandtelaviv.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/is-larry-derfner-now-settler.html
Firstly, we're not talking about all goods manufactured in Modiin, just those from three ZIP codes (which are almost all residential addresses, so the effect is pretty negligible).
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I noticed you put "occupied" and "settlers" in quotes. That leads me to believe that you think that the EU actually used these terms. They did not. What they did do is publish a list of ZIP codes which are not entitled to a preferential status for tariff purposes. Their standard, has been on the books for years, is that any land not under Israeli administration before June 1967 is not entitled to the preferential status. No-man's land wasn't under anyone's administration during that time.
You can make the argument that the language should have been drafted to include no-man's land. Possibly, but the fact that it wasn't doesn't mean that the EU thinks that those areas are illegally occupied. In fact, the most obvious reason is that they get to collect tariffs on goods manufactured in these areas.
What's most disturbing about this is that it's not new. The agreement between Israel and the EU, in which no-man's land is in the same boat as the West Bank, was agreed to by Israel years ago. All they had to do was look at a map to determine that parts of Modiin are on what was then the no-man's land. Why they're getting all upset about it now is beyond me.
I did not see the EU using those terms. I used quotes because I am cynically applying those terms, terms I dont believe in or agree with. Someone living in the SHomron is no more or less a settler than someone living in New York or Melbourne or London or Bet Shemesh or neve Daniel or Cairo. A person living anywhere is settling the land, hence is a settler. the common use, in a pejorative context, is what I dont agree with, but what would come out of the EU report is that people living in modiin would be "settlers" (though not occupiers).
DeleteHave they considered it Israel until now and not collected taxes, and only now applied this policy? that is the impression I am under.
The policy hasn't changed (and again, it's not all of Modiin, just three ZIP codes thereof, covering North and South Buchman, as well as Macabbim; residential, not commercial, areas). I read that they published the list due to a difficulty in enforcing the policy. Again, Israel was aware of (and agreed to) the policy vis-a-vis the no-man's land. They knew it covered parts of Modiin. Why all the sudden fuss? Seems a bit suspicious.
Delete