Israeli Settlers try to invoke memory of holocaust

In the latest news concerning Israeli settlers who are against the disengagement and the recent closing of the Gaza Strip due to security concerns, they have taken to writing their ID numbers on their arms to symbolize what Jews went thru during the Holocaust.

Needless to say this is causing some outrage by Israelis who do not share the belief that what is happening to the settlers is comparable.

According to Haaretz:

Security forces are requiring Gaza settlers to display their ID cards before allowing them into the settlements.The trend began during a Wednesday night protest against the closure, when a woman who lives in Gush Katif refused to show her ID card to security forces at Kissufim crossing. Instead, she showed him her arm, on which she had written her identity number, in a simulation of the Nazi practice of branding numbers on the arms of concentration camp inmates. Security forces checked her identity and let her through the checkpoint.

Since then, several other Gaza settlers have tried the same tactic, although previous comparisons to the Holocaust - including the use of orange Star of David badges - have provoked controversy.

"This is a way of protesting against our being placed into ghettos," said Y., 20, from the Gush Katif settlement of Neveh Dekalim. "They want us to show our ID card - here is our ID card."

The Yesha Council has asked Gaza settlers - whom it called "a population that has been supremely brave over the last five years" - to stop the practice, but said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to close off the Strip was to blame.

Call me unsympathetic but given the fact that the average settler will walk away with over $300,000, not to mention all of the other financial support they received from the US and the Israeli government before the disengagement; I seriously doubt any real worries of being placed into a ghetto.

Under the plan, a couple with two children who have rented a home in a settlement for the past 15 years would receive $230,000. A similar family that owned a home would get about $300,000.

The amount is to be calculated on the basis of family size, property and length of residence in a settlement.

Families who own farmland or businesses or who agree to move to development zones in the Negev desert or the Galilee would receive extra money.

Palestenians who have had their homes destroyed in most cases have gotten nothing. So I'd say over all? The settlers have had a much better time of it, and will continue to do so after this is over, thanks to the US government and US citizens donations. Heck I'd be happy to move for $300,000, too bad there is no disengagement in Ohio.

:-)