as an american, i am ashamed to say that my country supports any action that decreases the rights and freedoms of the israeli nation. i believe that palestinians should find a place to live in the other nations around israel. that is, those who have encouraged and supported the war of palestinians against israel. god gave the land to israel, and will judge those who move against the israelis. furthermore, the israelis have a right to defend themselves, and it is not our business to take sides against them. we need to take care of our own land where we have homeless and needy people. also, as a nation, under god, we will come under the His judgment if we meddle against israel. they are still the favored nation of god.

Vast majority of settlements were illegally built. They then became "legalized".. you know.. like some countries legalize prostitution in order to stop it being an underground hidden problem. They build outposts illegally, live in it, then it becomes a kfar of some sorts, then the gov has to take more money out of the negev so that these people can live a tax free life in an extremely cheap extremely green place. Aw i'm so touched. They were built illegally, they got lots of funds while we who lived in Beer Sheva lived with constant power cuts and water cuts, they were given green communities (not natural, but man made - or gov made) that were refered to as heavenly. All this from illegal construction. I know people who tried to build a small extension in their place and it got knocked down. They took their chances being illegals, law-breakers. Now it's come back to haunt them. Some of us law-abiding knew it was only a matter of time even if they managed to temporarily (for 20 years) legalize their work and their pirate radio stations and other things they do. Let there be no state. Israel has built everything those people have, Israelis have protected it. Now they want to simply break away? Forget it. Pay what you owe. The billions that we in the negev never had.

I think this is utterly hilarious. Without the overwhelming military might of the Israeli state for the settlers to hide behind, they would become nothing more than one more faction in the West Bank and wouldn’t last a month. Obscenities like Kiryat Arba would fall within a week and what settlers survived would come crawling back into Israel Proper looking like total idiots. This is obviously a lot of utterly meaningless claptrap, but it does go to show how insanely delusional these Right-wing settlers are.

Defending it is another. If Israel (the original one) pulls out of the territories, how are they going to keep Israel (part two) away from the Arabs who will want to move in ?

It is part of Eretz Yisrael. I prefer itto stay part of present day Israel, but if its separate so be it, as long as there are Jews in Judea and Samaria, peace is possible. Forcing Jews from Eretz Yisrael is racist and should never be tolerated.

Let's give Tel Aviv to the Arabs!!!!

Tragically it has come to this, but there is NO other alternative to saving our homeland. The anti/post zionist leadership have brought this upon themselves and upon the nation. They are TOTALLY responsible for the outcome. The initiative will definitely work as long as the backbone of the IDF-its regular recruits-commit to NOT destroying one more Jewish community to hand over to the enemy, regardless of what the regime states. The allegiance of zionists is NOT to those who wield the power in the regime, but to upholding the Jewish historical heritage in our homeland. Since it has come to pass that this is IMPOSSIBLE under those who currently hold power, then.....

go fight your own war and let the rest of us live in peace

have we not heard this doctrine before when the survivors from the Shoah were given a state in 1948, ''they would not last a month'' and 59 years on........John, never underestimate people with strong belief and ideology, the gush emonim are a beacon to the Jewish people and will definately not be crawling anywhere.

Most of these freeloading losers who call themselves settlers don't work and are rude, arrogant and extremely racist, so Israel would be better off if it could discard the settler trash by dumping them somewhere else, but the Occupied West Bank will not be that dumping ground this time around. Actually, Israel should not wait for the settlers to make their declaration, but instead give them a month to come home to Israel voluntarily and receive some compensation or have their Israeli citizenship revoked permanently. Once the grace period is over, withdraw the IDF and let the Palestinians deal with the rest of them, as I'm sure the Palestinians will treat them with the same kindness and respect that the settlers have shown for the Palestinians all these years, and who knows, perhaps letting the Palestinians release their anger upon them will make peace just that much easier.

Mr. Simon from Tel Aviv, Israel, you are not very inteligent, or honest. Which is it? The Holy Land was conquered by very religious people at the time of Yehashua and was meant to observe Torah and Mitzvot. Eretz haKodesh was bequethed to the Jewish people for a religious keepsake. This is historical fact. Just as Mattan Torah is, or the leaving of Egypt with Moshe Rabbeiniu. If you deny this you have no right to live in Eretz haKodesh.

....."we all are going to make our own country"? Nice stretch and spin. Besides it says in Torah that once Israel is united again it will never again be divided into 2 kingdoms. Unfortunately we are stuck with this mess we live in.

You write: "John, never underestimate people with strong belief and ideology" - and this certainly includes the majority of the native Palestinians in the West Bank as well. As I said, without the overwhelming military superiority of the Israeli state to cower behind, the settlers would be nothing more than another small, geographically separated, militant faction in the West Bank and one that ALL the other factions (the Palestinian factions) would be opposed to. They wouldn’t last a month without the ability to suckle on the teat of the Israeli state. However, I will agree with the notion that the settlers “won't be crawling anywhere” because a) we know that is no possibility of the settlers in the OPTs separating from Israel and b) we all know Israel really isn't going to leave the West Bank. So all said, its much ado about nothing.

May God be with you. With His help, your actions will shame your government into finally getting serious about resisting jihad. If so, it may shame my government into doing the same.

Think about it: The State of Israel is a "settler state". It is not a state of its inhabitants. It is not a state of its citizens. It is a state of the settlers who were brought in by a colonial-settler movement, and those settlers who that movement still hopes to bring in the future. (Encouraging "aliya"). The State of Israel is tainted in the same way as was the settler state of Rhodesia. Hopefully, it will be replaced by something better than Zimbabwe.

I wonder if you used your real name but at any rate you are a true nazi with an added bolshevist stalinist idea.Your e-mail stinks with hate I hope you will choke on your venom.

Most settlers are there for economic reasons and virtually all work. Maybe you are confusing them with your namesake and his mates. The only ounce of work they ever did was killing 10s of millions of Soviets.

My heart felt best wishes to you, Your writings represents the clearest True Zionist views. God bless you and help you to continue.

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html See the monkey wearing the most zionist kippa ever?

The idea is just plain not a good one. History has already shown this not to be a good idea. Ah but if that is not enough, here are a few words. Firstly, the two states (Israel and East Israel) would develop a different set of interests over time. This in the end, would lead to division, and possibly fighting among our own. Not a good position to be in when we're surrounded by enemies. Secondly, the new country would be quite small, and dependent on Israel for some time until it could develop its own defenses, economy, etc. Sure, it's one thing to live halakhically, it's another thing to make this fit into mechanisms necessary for the functioning of a nation state. This would take some time. There's no reason why bretheren, even very religious Jews, should have the need to leave Israel. If you can't do military services, then at least you too can do some type of civilian service around the halakhic schedule. There's no reason why it can't be worked out. You wouldn't even have to move away from home. Evicting Jews any more from the Territories will only embolden the enemies of Israel & the West. See what happened in Gaza? That should be enough reason not to repeat the mistake over on the West Bank. One thing for sure, the capital of the new East Israel would not be Jerusalem-probably it would be Ariel or Modi'in. I highly doubt Haredim and Datim would want to give ready access to Jerusalem up. The proper place for Jews in the region to be is together with each other. We're in this together.

There were some Jews living in the West Bank long before European Jews arrived and there will surely be some there again in the future, but the Israeli settlements and citizens will have to go for the time being because; (1) they are part of an armed occupation force of a foreign nation. (2) They are Israeli citizens and thus will not be allowed to live in Palestine unless the Palestinians choose to allow them to remain. (3) Because the settlers have treated the Palestinians nearly as bad as the Nazis once treated the Jews, I doubt the Palestinians would want many to remain, although there obviously are some exceptions to every rule. A lot will also depend on how Israel handles the separate issue of the refugees who were forcibly denied the right of return to in order to ethnically cleanse non-Jews from Israel, as I'm sure that it will affect the generosity of the Palestinians.

Your ludacris...you think just because someone is right wing / religious they cant do things eh? Sorry but the settlement enterprie is run 1000 times better than in the green line.. Can you tell me when they went on strike here? Government ubsidies you say? Maybe so, but our taxes go to pay for arab socialist programs and healthcare.. with the avrage income in the territory's higher than in the green line.. We are better educated, managed, focused and tuned society. We make up the IDF, Business, Medical and volunteer core of Israel.. Sorry to say, but your all dreamers.. kick out the hareidim and dati leumi and you left with a 1 child per couple birth rate maybe.. Your left with wild youth, who dodge army service and make yerida..

Maybe youve never been here, or dont read statistics.. or fail to register the numbers. Settlers / religious soldiers make up the core of IDF officers / combat troops.. the numbers would be higher except for 2 factors.. #1 the army religious profiles to keep the numbers lower and #2 refusal to serve in a surender army. Sorry, the arabs whom you refer to as pali's cant fight for shi*, just that Israeli is so scared of its image they dont actualy "fight em" Israel's tahor neshek "purity of arms" is the most lunatic suicidal thing.. I legaly carry conceald when I am in florida visiting.. I am copying the law: "When can I use my handgun to protect myself? A. Florida law justifies use of deadly force when you are: Trying to protect yourself or another person from death or serious bodily harm; Trying to prevent a forcible felony, such as rape, robbery, burglary or kidnapping. " http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/weapons/self_defense.html Sorry, Israel does not believe in self defense, the right to bear arms or anything ... Additionaly, 100% of eligble males would serve.. The arabs are cowards who fight to be macho and to brag (and BS)

MAZALTOV-MAZALTOV !! I've been suggesting this for the past several years. I've written to everyone I can think of , including this newspaper, and in countless letters to the other papers, answering or commenting on articles. I wrote to Rabbi Wolpe about this over a month ago.Like I'm doing NOW. Let's make damn sure to stay on track, and NOT be derailed by cunning politicians. There will be HUGE Aliya from both Israel and overseas.

AS FOR the suggestion that NEW young soldiers make written reserrvations when they go into the IDF about not evicting Jews.... I'd try to form that in a different way, using a thoughtful, wise rabbinic phrase, which cvould be open to interpretation, like so many rabbinic dictums, because, until the State if formed, we NEED as much military training as we can get. From wherever we can get it. We've paid enough taxed so let's get something back for it....if we can.

As the rebbe zacht.....It's OBVIOUS...that Simon lives in Tel Aviv, for a long time now the cesspit of the Mediterranean.

Are you asure you're not John Denver of S.???because that's what you sound like, one of his stupid songs. DON'T YOU REALIZE that a good proportion of the 5-600,000 living in the Golan, Yesha and E. Jerusalem, are in the IDF, or have been, and many are the IDF elite troops................One little thing folks. Those who've been referring to the new State of Judea, surely mean "Judah".???? Judea was the Roman name that those destroyers gave us.

Annapolis was a glorified luncheon, and SOS responds by claiming to want a new state? Dividing up an already small minority is a recipe for disaster. Even talking about this nonsense is hurtful to the very cause SOS claims to espouse. We must hang together, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, or we will most assuredly hang separately.

David, I have spent several months in Kiryat Arba "defending" the settlers in the early 90s. I know enough that the militarized setting of Kiryat Arba has poisoned the minds of the young Jews you are trying to raise. All you Brooklyn born settlers treated me like crap. You even built a monument to the dog Baruch Goldstein. Now that is disgusting. The settler doctrine is dead. Come home to the State of Israel where we can be friends.

Just tell me how I can help