Everyone Loves Settlements except one

Settlement, land grab and expulsions are typical phenomena following war. Here are some examples.
1. Estonia and Latvia received large-scale immigration of industrial workers from other parts of the Soviet Union and changed the demographics of these countries dramatically. Lithuania also received immigration but in a smaller scale.

2. The hostilities between the Soviet Union and Finland ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland ceded 11% of its pre-war territory and 30% of its economic assets to the Soviet Union.


3. The presence of German speaking populations in Central and Eastern Europe is rooted in centuries of history, with Germanic Peoples settlement in north-eastern Europe predating even the founding of Roman Empire. The presence of the independent German states in the region (particularly Prussia), and later the German Empire but also in other multi-ethnic countries such as Austria-Hungary, Poland, Imperial Russia, etc demonstrates the extent and duration of the German speaking settlement.

The number of ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe dropped dramatically as the result of the German exodus from Eastern Europe. However, there are still a substantial number of ethnic Germans in the countries that are now Germany and Austria's neighbors to the east—Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia. In addition, there are or have been significant populations in such areas as Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia. From 1774-1786 the systematic, but also in parts spontaneous, settlement of German craftsmen and farmers into existing villages increased.

4. Provisions of the Potsdam Agreement from 1945 signed by victorious Western Allies and the Soviet Union led to one of the largest European migrations, and the largest in the 20th century. It involved the migration and resettlement of close to or over 20 million people. The largest affected group were 16.5 million Germans expelled from Eastern Europe westwards. The second largest group were Poles, millions of whom were expelled westwards from eastern Kresy region and resettled in the so-called Recovered Territories (German area that were now allocated to Poland). Hundreds of thousands of Poles, Ukrainians (Operation Vistula), Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians and some Belarusians, were expelled eastwards from Europe to the Soviet Union.

5. Operation Vistula was the codename for the 1947 forced deportation of southeastern post-war Poland's Ukrainians carried out by the Polish Communist authorities in order to crush the Ukrainian underground resistance. About 200,000 innocent civilians, residing in southeastern Poland were forcibly resettled to the new territories in the north and west of the country. After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the operation was condemned by some Polish and Ukrainian politicians and historians. It has been described as an ethnic cleansing and Western sources as well as by Ukrainians

6. French and Italian migration to Tunisia dates from the French military occupation of 1881. There were 255,000 Europeans in Tunisia in 1956, but most have since left the country.


7. Pied-Noir ("Black-Foot") is a term used to refer to colonists of French Algeria until the Algerian independence in 1962. Specifically, Pieds-Noirs were French nationals, including those of European descent and settlers from other European countries such as Spain, Italy and Malta, who were born in Algeria. From the French invasion in 18 June 1830, until attaining independence, Algeria was considered a part of France. By independence, the Pieds-Noirs accounted for 1,025,000 people, or roughly 10 percent of the total population.

8. Saddam Hussein's regime drove hundreds of thousands of Kurdish, Assyrian families out of their homes in Kirkuk after a Kurdish revolt, and gave their homes to Arab oil field workers as well as to other non-Kurdish people whom Saddam moved from southern Iraq to the city. This violent campaign of Arabization was an attempt to transform the historically multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk into an Arab city. Kurdish families were left with no homes after being evicted forcefully by Saddam's Iraqi soldiers, and therefore had to migrate to refugee camps. After the fall of Saddam's regime, many Kurdish families came back to Kirkuk.

9. In the 1930s, Turkish government policy has aimed at forcible dissimilation and Turkification policies of the local Kurds. Today's presence of Kurds is a testimony that many have resisted these measures.

10. The whole American continent is a collection of European settlement of the continent. The USA is essentially an English settlement that started in Plymouth Rock and continued by taking over Indian lands. Canada is similar with the addition of French participating in stealing Indian land. From Mexico down to Chili and Argentina, with the exception of Brazil, Indian land was taken over the Spanish and their descendants.

11. Similarly, Australia was settled by the British making the Aborigines second class citizen almost forever.

There are no protestations or campaigns involved in old or recent land grabs all over Europe and the Americas. Practically everyone made peace with these practices many of which still go on. The Native Americans are still treated as second class citizen. In the US they are pushed into poverty infested “reservations” that are nothing but Ghettos. There is very little if any attempt to redress the situation and absolutely no condemnation except for the victims.

The only case in which European and American political and media organs find settlement of military occupied land objectionable is Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This is where typical activity that is the result of a war “becomes” obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. People may have different explanations for this singling out, but once again, somehow, Jews are again treated as second class citizens.