Paula R. Stern - Why Do I Live in the “Settlements”?

Paula R. Stern..
Times of Israel..
05 September '12..

In a lot of ways, writing the introduction to this blog was easy. This is who I am; accept me as I accept you. That’s simple. The next question someone might ask is why do you live there?

I had a choice when I moved to Israel – the whole country was open to me. It wasn’t like I had family living in a place they expected me to move to or any other compelling reason to choose one place over another. I knew what I didn’t want; I knew what I did. So let me explain.

There are two major reasons why people choose to live in the areas known as Yehuda and Shomron, Judea and Samaria, the West Bank. The first was/is economics. It’s usually cheaper (not always) to live in a settlement. When we moved to Israel, I could buy a small apartment in an Israeli city, or I could buy a beautiful house located on a nice-sized plot of land. Economics.

Nope, I didn’t make my choice based on where it was cheaper – I went for the house in the yishuv (settlement) not because of the house, but because of the yishuv. I had a garden that I loved – I planned it out myself. My husband kept asking me what the plan was…and I would look at him and say – an orange tree here, please. Oh, a lemon tree there. I want a mango tree on this side. Flowers, I want flowers. And grass, let it swirl this way around these rocks. I loved my garden. There wasn’t a room without at least one curved or angled wall. I was enchanted.

(Read full "Why Do I Live in Settlements"?)

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