West Bank Settlements Continue
Despite Israel’s claims of a freeze on settlements, new homes - and tensions - continue to rise
Every few days, Israel’s prime minister repeats his commitment to freeze West Bank settlements and remove illegal outposts. Such commitments and statements from successive Israeli governments have been a part of our lives since the 1993 Oslo agreement.
However, since then, the number of the settlers in the occupied territories has more than doubled. Palestinians interpret that surge as proof that Israel doesn’t really want peace. Otherwise, they say, why would it continue to build in areas it intends to evacuate? This was one of the factors behind the deep Palestinian frustration that fed the eruption of the second intifada in 2000.
And now, yet again, our government is announcing that this time, settlement construction will really, sincerely be frozen. Is Prime Minister Ehud Olmert serious? And if he is, what does he really mean by “freezing” settlements?
“Freezing” can mean one of three things. The simple, natural meaning is the cessation of all construction: Any bulldozer currently moving earth in a settlement would cease and desist, pending the final political accord between Israel and the Palestinians. The second meaning is that only construction that has not begun - including construction that has passed the government authorization process - will not go forward. The third meaning would be to avoid planning for future construction.
The first option clearly is not what Mr. Omert has in mind. In almost every construction site, work continues today, more than two months after the Annapolis summit. Pay a visit to Maaleh Adumim, Beitar Illit, Karnei Shomron, Neve Daniel, Alon Shvut or Barkan, and you will witness concrete being poured and trucks delivering bricks and shingles.
The second option - freezing new construction - apparently isn’t what Mr. Olmert has in mind, either. Immediately after the Annapolis conference, the Ministry of Housing issued a tender for building 307 housing units in Har Homa and another 440 units in Talpiot East, both in East Jerusalem. In the new state budget, which was recently approved by the Knesset, more than $4.3 million was approved for new housing in Maaleh Adumim and Har Homa.
Another important test for freezing construction is that of Givat Zeev: Nine years ago, a plan was authorized to build about 600 housing units. A lack of demand at the site, though, forced investors to abandon the project. Recently, marketing of homes at this location was renewed, although new building permits are required. The government’s position on this building project is not yet clear.
So we remain with the third option: avoiding future planning only. But even if Mr. Olmert really means to implement that option, construction in the settlements will continue. The head of Israel’s West Bank Civil Administration recently declared that there were plans for thousands of new housing units that had been approved long ago. These units have passed all the licensing procedures; construction can start at any moment.
Add to that existing plans in the process of being approved and you have a robust settlement push with tens of thousands of new residents - negotiations or no.
In practice, only when we see the bulldozers turn back and leave the settlements would we know the freeze is real and the government is seeking peace.
And what about the settlement blocs on the western side of the separation fence, which Israeli leaders said they intend to annex to Israel in the future and which they have been hinting are not included in the freeze? Construction there, before the conclusion of peace negotiations, strengthens the Palestinian militants who claim that talking to Israel only leads to more settlement expansion.
Israel’s interest is to prove that it pursues peace and to strengthen the moderates who still seek dialogue. There will be enough time to build in these blocs after an accord is reached, in agreed-upon areas, subject to land-swap arrangements. Until then, the freeze should be applied there as well.
Now, about those illegal outposts …
Hagit Ofran is the director of Settlement Watch, a project run by the Israeli group Peace Now. Her e-mail is hagitofran@gmail.com.
Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun
I am grateful that Hagit Ofran stands for peace and justice in the Israeli Palestinian conflict and grateful too to the Baltimore Sun for making her thoughts known to me and others.
I write as someone who lost grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins in the holocaust and feel great pain that my people, having known such violence themselves, should oppress another people.
We must make our voices and opinions heard in this country which is a main source of money and arms to those in Israel who inflict hardship on Palestinians.
Like some us keep shouting - the conflict is NOT about religion or Israel’s right to exist - it’s about land and water and the Zionists determination to steal by any means possible(including murder and mayhem) all the land and water from the righful Palestinian owners, whose land rights go back for centuries in many cases.
They act as a group with the mentality of an abused child who doesn’t know any other way but to commit abuse to achieve it;s goals. Too bad they follow the axiom that children of abusers usually commit even greater abuses, because they have learned so well.
My SWAG is that the abuse at the hands of the Nazi regime may be the source of this conundrum, but I could be wrong.
It’s too bad they did not ever learn how to share - only grab.
Thats rude and its bullshit. The best example is that Al Aqsa is still standing and being used by Muslims only today. I doubt you know any Israelis at all. 70% of the country supports land for peace, its too bad that like in Gaza, land for peace means nothing to those certain Palestinians who want all the land and no peace. When have Palestinians ever honored their agreements??? In Gaza, Israel honored its pledge to drag its people from their homes only to have the war front moved up to their doorsteps, valuable infrastructure destroyed, and no appreciation whatsoever. As for the self hating holocaust survivor relative, you could martyr yourself in the name of unconditional forgiveness of violence ( a christian theme if I ever heard one) but Jews by religion are obligated to defend their own lives because it is a gift to them from god. Maale Adumim is not a settlement, its a city, of mixed race, where West Bank Palestinians make a huge living in construction, eduaction, and business,and often live intermingled. It is racist and illegal in the US to create a restrictive covenant of who should live in a place by their religion. And both the right wing Israeli, less than 20% of the nation, and the racist wing of Palestine, are dead wrong to try to dictate what religious group the land belongs to. If Palestine can guarantee religious freedom for Jews, as Israel has safeguarded all Muslim holy sites and allowed for mosques to stay open and practice freely, then we might get a solution to this mess. But Jews who feel the land is sacred have a right to be there side by side with Muslims.
As for the person who likens Jews to Nazis, that is the most disgusting analogy and it completely belies the fact that Jews never once attacked the Germans, never. You’re a moron. And a racist of the ilk that Hitler would be proud. Take your SWAG, flush it and get an actual education instead. Israelis shared technology, money, and education with everyone in Palestine and Israel who was willing to accept their friendship and not attack them. Just ask the Druze. Or better yet, just find out what that is first. It amazez me how illogical people can be. How they so often blame the victims, and not the 22 other countries who have attacked them.
israel is the forward position of me occupation by the anglo-american alliance. this must be the main theme of any useful analysis of me affairs.
You forgot that the Israelis are excavating under the Temple Mount in violation of all agreements.
Also having spent time in Israel, the Zionists would get rid of the Muslim shrines if they thought they could get away with it. Especially if they got in the way of more illegal Israeli settlements.
And let me quote rsterling’s comments in answer to your rants on another thread since you are committing the same slanders here.
“Is that true? Then what do you call this …..
American Jews who have never even been to Israel (let alone being born there) can automatically get Israeli citizenship and a host of benefits. Meanwhile there are other people who were born in Israel-Palestine, their parents and grandparents were born there and they cannot get citizenship or live there. Some of them cannot even visit!
The above is just one among many facts which evidence a real apartheid based on ethnicity and selective religious elements.
As one wise Israeli said, “There is no such thing as a Jewish democracy. We need to be really democratic - everyone treated the same.”
The Boers did it in South Africa. Jewish Israelis can too. They will be a lot more respected as a result.
As for the slurs against Hamas …. have you ever considered that you might be brainwashed? You believe a lot of things that are not true? The Israeli Amira Hass talks about that in her book on Gaza. Facts:
1) Hamas has offered ceasefire numerous times.
2) Over the past 7 YEARS there is a grand total of 14 unfortunate Israeli deaths due to Quassam rockets. Average TWO PER YEAR.
3)Meanwhile Israel has killed 15 or more in the past 48 HOURS. For the past several months they have killed more than two per day. Keep track at www.imemc.org and www.pchrgaza.org ”
Get your facts straight!! and stop treating us like we are a bunch of stupid goyim you seem to despise.
thank you CD for posting this article….
curmudgeon99, thank you for the 2 leads
mymicz February 28th, 2008 4:46 pm
a great crime (re invasion of gaza by idf) is about to occur…
how much blood for your divinely inspired right to take others land ???….
is this ‘god’s’ will ???
http://www.imemc.org/article/53162
“This announcement comes after three days of massive bombing on the Gaza Strip, in which 35 Palestinians have been killed, including several infants and small children. In the past 3 months alone, the Israeli army has killed more than 200 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip - one of the most densely-populated areas of the world. In comparison, one Israeli has been killed by Palestinians in that time period.”
———
also the comparison to nazi attitudes is legitimate. yesterday israel’s deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai threatened palestinians in gaza using the language of the holocaust (nazi tactics).
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9354.shtml
“Speaking to Israeli army radio today, Vilnai said, “the more Qassam [rocket] fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves.”
A report on the BBC News website headlined “Israel warns of Gaza ‘holocaust’” noted that the word “holocaust” — shoah in Hebrew — is “a term rarely used in Israel outside discussions of the Nazi genocide during World War II.”
…peace……………….
Thanks for the posts curmudgeon and Iowablackbird.
Its amazing to me that Israel apologists always come up with hollow posts based on values and morals without looking at the facts and figures. And ofcourse there is the usual “you’re an anti-semite” rhetoric. People in the US are scared to death of being labeled an anti-semite so they choose to ignore the plight of the palestinians. So much for a country which PROMOTES freedom!