it would have been ideal if they could have served the purpose of being a genuine bridge for communication and negotiation between the Palestinians and Israelis.
they're not interested in that at all; their interpretation of jewish law would preclude them participating in any kind of official "secular" process.
I read that NK followers feel that the state of Palestine should be formed, including current Palestinian land and Israel, and the Jews should live under a Palestinian government.
you can see what a useful propaganda tool they have been to arafat and anyone else that wants to make this point. actually, i personally think that this will eventually be part of the resolution of the settlements - after all, if they are concerned about inhabiting the biblical land of israel, the nature of the state should be irrelevant. also, i don't see why anywhere in the world should have the right to say "no jews" (or "no arabs" for that matter) and, in the long run, this applies just as much to hebron or wherever. but this is not a vision that is easy to articulate in today's climate of hatred and intolerance. think how much things will have to change before any jews, let alone militant settlers, would consider trusting a palestinian state to protect them and their families. and there's the rub.
I wonder what citizenship the NK followers holding this view and living in Israel have. I read that some of those who live in Israel do not take any help from the government.
this is often said, not only by NK, but by other anti-zionist ultra-orthodox groups. it's a useful PR point for them, although what happens in practice is they start off by not paying any taxes and then find ways in which it is permissible to take state handouts. it's part of why the haredim (ultra-orthodox) are not at all popular in some sectors of israeli society.
I am not sure how it is possible to not take anything from the government while living in a country - e.g., you use a road that the government maintains, then you are using something that the government provides.
precisely!
By the way, is the word 'anti-semitic' being used in place of anti-Jew? I read that both Jews and Arabs are semitic by race. But 'anti-semitic' seems to be used often to describe something or someone against Jews.
this is a common misconception based on the term "semite". however, the correct dictionary definition of antisemitism is hatred of jews, not hatred of semites. some arab propagandists use this particular technique ("i'm a semite too! how can you call me antisemitic?") to enable them to deny that they are anti-semitic (since it is this that is denounced in national and international law and institutions) whilst promoting jew-hatred to the best of their ability. there are corresponding terms "anti-arabism" and "islamophobia". this is also not helped by the tendency amongst many right-wing jews to characterise all criticism of israel as antisemitic. israel-bashing (as i call it, rather than anti-zionism, which is far more of a technical definition if you ask me) us becoming more and more of a problem as the israelis start to care less and less what the outside world thinks of them as they think they will be criticised and condemned whatever they do, so why bother?
P.S. 'Shalom' means peace - right? What does b'shalom mean?
"in peace". a bit pretentious i know, but hey.
b'shalom
bananabrain
