Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[sarai]

If that is the strategy, is Israel willing to bargain the issue of settlements for peace, and what is the disposition of settlements when, and if, peace is ever to be attained?

And why not call a spade a spade? Many, if not most, of the settlers are hardcore, asecular religious fundamentalists who claim via divine mandate a right to live in the areas of the West Bank and Gaza. Arabs will never accept that specific divine mandate. Nor should they be expected to. Many settlers are actually American citizens, as we are. The settlements are essentially gentrification of the disputed land. The resolve on each side is strengthened with time, so both sides try to break the resolve of the other - or wear eachother down, as we are seeing now - which is also a standard tactic of conflict.