Why do people live so close to volatile borders?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Upfront I deplore what Hamas is doing and the horrific violence.

My question is why people choose to live so close to a border with a hostile “nation”. Is there something about that area that is compelling, or some industry that is located there? Not just here but a village along the DMZ in South Korea, or really any other place so close to an enemy.

I think I would feel very unsettled and unsafe all the time but maybe I am just very risk averse. Does anyone have friends or family who have made that choice?

Because in a war over territorial dispute, leaving the disputed territory unoccupied is a gift to your enemy because they can claim that it is a free territory for them to take, they can claim you abandoned it. The one who occupies it and lives there for generations can claim it's theirs.
This is why the Israeli government has encouraged and incentivized the occupation by its population of every single piece land in that region. Once they have settled there and lived for generations, it will be harder to ask them to leave.

Exactly! And my understanding is (I am neither Jewish nor in any way middle eastern) that this tactic was used even since before 1947.
Come over, settle in, de facto be the local.

But, then the govt is putting their people in danger by having them live near a border where there are people who want to hurt you on the other side of the border. Seems like a recipe for disaster. And, here we are.

Hm, it’s almost like the government doesn’t have its people’s interests at heart!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is they are there largely because the Israeli government has encouraged and incentivized it.

Yes. This is the cause of conflict

We need to stop all Aid to Israel and Egypt.

I am 60 year old white man in US and I detest what Israel has done.

This is your takeaway after terrorists slaughtered a bunch of Israeli families?

Simp for hamas as hard as you want-- it won't win any mercy from them. They will kill you all the same for being American, whether you agree with them or not. And they will kill Palestinians, or put them in danger to further their cause. I invite you to go live over in the middle east for a while (as I did) and figure it out- these thugs do not represent the Muslim culture and bending to them doesn't save you, the Israelis, or the Palestinians. I'm not even a man, and I need you to man up. Bending to murderers is a form of evil.

DP. Of course Hamas is evil. No one is denying it. They need to be eradicated.
However all of Israel is basically living on the edge. Plopping a country in the middle of not so friendly neighbors and expelling those that don’t belong is a recipe for disaster.
Even if it’s justified by what supposedly happened in Biblical times.
The whole country drank the koolaid of the “but it’s the holy land!” and now here we are.

Hindsight is always useful but hindsight has to factor in the reality of post WWII and the realization that the civilized Europe saw the near extermination of its Jewish population. One can fantasize that a slice of Canada was set aside for a new Jewish state. But one also has to realize that there was already a growing Jewish population in Palestine (in pre Israel days people used to taunt Jews by chanting "go back to Palestine!" And now they're told to leave Palestine! Can't the world ever make up its mind?!) Which in turn was greatly enlarged by the expulsion of Jews from all across the Middle East and North Africa, countries where they had lived peacefully for centuries, by the post-colonial Arab governments. WWYD. Tell Jews to forever be nomads moving to a new country every few centuries?

I would gladly welcome every Israeli to the United States, the one other country that is perhaps the most safe place for Jews in the world. But a decision was made in the late 1940s and we can't undo it. Nor can we tell Jews they can't have a country of their own, especially not these days.

Of course they should have their own country. The problem was that they wanted it to be in Palestine (and the western world encouraged the sentiment). It’s almost like Europe and the US didn’t want the Jewish people? Hmmmm
Of course they should have also stayed in Palestine but it shouldn’t have become a Jewish state. It was doing relatively well under the British mandate; the mandate should have stayed with UN or a level headed European country or US or Canada
Palestine is a hotbed and no local forces could rule it with the necessary level headedness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is they are there largely because the Israeli government has encouraged and incentivized it.

Yes. This is the cause of conflict

We need to stop all Aid to Israel and Egypt.

I am 60 year old white man in US and I detest what Israel has done.

This is your takeaway after terrorists slaughtered a bunch of Israeli families?

Simp for hamas as hard as you want-- it won't win any mercy from them. They will kill you all the same for being American, whether you agree with them or not. And they will kill Palestinians, or put them in danger to further their cause. I invite you to go live over in the middle east for a while (as I did) and figure it out- these thugs do not represent the Muslim culture and bending to them doesn't save you, the Israelis, or the Palestinians. I'm not even a man, and I need you to man up. Bending to murderers is a form of evil.

DP. Of course Hamas is evil. No one is denying it. They need to be eradicated.
However all of Israel is basically living on the edge. Plopping a country in the middle of not so friendly neighbors and expelling those that don’t belong is a recipe for disaster.
Even if it’s justified by what supposedly happened in Biblical times.
The whole country drank the koolaid of the “but it’s the holy land!” and now here we are.

You're wrong. Lots and lots of people are denying that hamas is evil, including the pp I responded to that thinks Israel is the problem.

We could be accused of the same thing by Indian tribes. They could walk into your house and slaughter your family, because America was settled 200 years ago. It's not different. The only difference is that native Americans haven't formed a terror group and they don't define their existence by trying to wipe America off the map and reclaim their lands. We are in a glass house while throwing stones.

Israel just got extremely unlucky
By messing with a culture that isn’t exactly known for its peaceful and democratic traditions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is they are there largely because the Israeli government has encouraged and incentivized it.

Yes. This is the cause of conflict

We need to stop all Aid to Israel and Egypt.

I am 60 year old white man in US and I detest what Israel has done.

This is your takeaway after terrorists slaughtered a bunch of Israeli families?

Simp for hamas as hard as you want-- it won't win any mercy from them. They will kill you all the same for being American, whether you agree with them or not. And they will kill Palestinians, or put them in danger to further their cause. I invite you to go live over in the middle east for a while (as I did) and figure it out- these thugs do not represent the Muslim culture and bending to them doesn't save you, the Israelis, or the Palestinians. I'm not even a man, and I need you to man up. Bending to murderers is a form of evil.

DP. Of course Hamas is evil. No one is denying it. They need to be eradicated.
However all of Israel is basically living on the edge. Plopping a country in the middle of not so friendly neighbors and expelling those that don’t belong is a recipe for disaster.
Even if it’s justified by what supposedly happened in Biblical times.
The whole country drank the koolaid of the “but it’s the holy land!” and now here we are.

Yikes, victim-shaming. At the very least you could understand that children can’t choose their parents. I mean, your children couldn’t avoid being born to a conscience-less narcissist like you, right?

Not shaming the victims. But please understand they are the victims of propaganda that portrayed living in Holy Land as something worth dying for
It’s sad that many Israel supporters can’t stomach that someone isn’t ENTIRELY supportive of their cause

[Anonymous]

Well I have a friend whose family is still in Donetsk very close to the Russian border (or actually there is no border crossing anymore as they are now “new Russia”).
They not only stay there but also buy and renovate properties there. I don’t know what their thinking is, but they could have immigrated (via my friend) many years ago yet they didn’t. It’s like there’s no tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

*In Donetsk region, not Donetsk proper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is they are there largely because the Israeli government has encouraged and incentivized it.

Yes. This is the cause of conflict

We need to stop all Aid to Israel and Egypt.

I am 60 year old white man in US and I detest what Israel has done.

This is your takeaway after terrorists slaughtered a bunch of Israeli families?

Simp for hamas as hard as you want-- it won't win any mercy from them. They will kill you all the same for being American, whether you agree with them or not. And they will kill Palestinians, or put them in danger to further their cause. I invite you to go live over in the middle east for a while (as I did) and figure it out- these thugs do not represent the Muslim culture and bending to them doesn't save you, the Israelis, or the Palestinians. I'm not even a man, and I need you to man up. Bending to murderers is a form of evil.

DP. Of course Hamas is evil. No one is denying it. They need to be eradicated.
However all of Israel is basically living on the edge. Plopping a country in the middle of not so friendly neighbors and expelling those that don’t belong is a recipe for disaster.
Even if it’s justified by what supposedly happened in Biblical times.
The whole country drank the koolaid of the “but it’s the holy land!” and now here we are.

Yikes, victim-shaming. At the very least you could understand that children can’t choose their parents. I mean, your children couldn’t avoid being born to a conscience-less narcissist like you, right?

Not shaming the victims. But please understand they are the victims of propaganda that portrayed living in Holy Land as something worth dying for
It’s sad that many Israel supporters can’t stomach that someone isn’t ENTIRELY supportive of their cause

Well, it’s legit to call you out on your ENTIRELY narcissistic and antisemitic AF behavior. No doubt doubt your kids will spend lots of time unpacking the former in their therapy sessions as adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I have a friend whose family is still in Donetsk very close to the Russian border (or actually there is no border crossing anymore as they are now “new Russia”).
They not only stay there but also buy and renovate properties there. I don’t know what their thinking is, but they could have immigrated (via my friend) many years ago yet they didn’t. It’s like there’s no tomorrow.

OMG. People love their home. Their homeland as well. Not everyone just wants to pick up and leave from their roots, can you appreciate this?

Why do you live where you live? If you were capped by budget, religion, nationality, etc, I'm pretty sure you would have no choices. If your choice was to leave your home entirely and never return or live somewhere you wish you didn't have to but at least was the option to the former, I bet you'd consider it.

This thread is full of those ignorant and judgmental - shame on you! There are so many in this world who aren't able to choose the way entitled Americans are able to do so. There is no perfect place to live, there really isn't.