A better word for settlers is colonists.
“JERUSALEM, Aug 25 (Reuters) – The United States says Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank threaten any peace between Israel and the Palestinians — yet it also encourages Americans to help support settlers by offering tax breaks on donations.
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Pro-settler groups say they are entitled to the tax breaks because their work is ‘humanitarian’, not political, and reject any comparison to Palestinian charities, some of which face U.S. sanctions over suspected links to Islamist groups like Hamas.
The full extent of tax-exempt U.S. funding for settlements is unclear because so many groups are involved and their spending practices are not always transparent. But a review by Reuters of U.S. tax records found 13 tax-exempt organisations openly linked to settlements that have raised more than $35 million in the last five years alone.
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In one example, when settlers took over a new building in the flashpoint city of Hebron last year, a tax-exempt New York organisation sprang into action to solicit funds for renovations to accommodate more families.
The Hebron Fund, which raises an average of $1.5 million a year to support Jewish settlers in the city, and other groups said they were as entitled to tax exemptions as other charities.
‘Are you saying you can get a charitable deduction for helping starving people in New York City but you can’t get a charitable deduction for helping starving people in Judea and Samaria,’ said Sondra Oster Baras, president of Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, using an Israeli term for the West Bank. ‘That’s an argument that doesn’t make sense.’
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Ian Lustick, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, played down the chances the tax breaks will be rolled back. ‘It’s a political hot potato,’ Lustick said, citing the clout of U.S. pro-Israel groups to block any change.”
SEE ALSO:
–Occupation by Another Name: Meron Benvenisti in an excellent article mentions the “success of the propaganda campaign known as ‘negotiations with the Palestinians,’ which convinces many that the status quo is temporary.”
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