November 27, 2009

[Harel and Eldar seem to be cribbing from my notes]

Settlers have been working for months to undermine construction freeze
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu owes much gratitude to the Yesha Council and the members of the rightist flank in Likud. Were it not for their public opposition over the past two days, someone might have suspected that the decision to freeze settlement construction permits for 10 months was an even smaller Israeli concession than it originally appeared to be.

There can be no doubt: Under heavy U.S. pressure, Netanyahu crossed an ideological Rubicon from his point of view. The announcement to freeze settlements joins the Bar-Ilan declaration, in which the prime minister agreed to a two-state solution. But in practice, analysis of the situation on the ground suggests that there will be nearly no change in settlement construction, at least not in the coming months.

According to Defense Ministry data, there are currently some 2,500 housing units under construction and contractors are entitled to complete them. The construction of a further 490 units was recently approved in an unusual move by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Netanyahu’s declaration is not catching the settlers by surprise. The government’s intentions have been known for five months, and during that time the settlers have stepped up new construction in an effort to get ahead of the restrictions. Hundreds of new housing units are in the process of construction, among other places in Bracha, Yitzhar, Eli, Shilo, Betar Ilit, Elazar, Carmel and Ma’on.

Since in some of the settlements, like Eli, there is no approved master plan, the construction cannot possibly be authorized. While it is true that the Netanyahu government has not been generous in approving plans for construction, mostly in areas far from the separation fence, there is still a significant amount of new construction in the territories.

The best example of this is the prefab home factories that have been set up in different parts of the territories. Because the Civil Administration has been enforcing restrictions on the moving of prefab homes between settlements, these are being set up from within settlements - and thus precious construction time is saved. It is hard to believe that the settlers will accept the decision to freeze construction at this time. Those who set up dozens of illegal outposts will not halt for Netanyahu, especially when many rightists elements ignore the Yesha Council, which they blame for their failed struggle against the disengagement in 2005.

There is also the issue of public buildings. Thursday, in parallel with the order to freeze construction, the Defense Minister authorized the construction of 28 new public buildings in the settlements. This too was a way of appeasing the settler leadership. At a time when private construction is frozen, it is still possible to blow off steam through the authorization of public projects, educational institutions, and synagogues. These meet the basic needs of the settlements, but will also serve as compensation in the eyes of settlers for the construction hiatus.

Keeping an eye on new construction is not especially difficult. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz warned Thursd that there are insufficient numbers of inspectors working for the Civil Administration - only 14. But the defense establishment and many left-wing groups, not to mention the Americans, have sufficient means, technological and otherwise, to paint a cogent picture of what is happening.

‘Settlement freeze’ won’t bring about peace
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

Newspaper headlines across the world this morning will trumpet the courageous and unprecedented initiative of Israel’s prime minister. Who could have imagined that the right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the settler Avigdor Lieberman would lend a hand to freezing settlement construction? How the settlers’ fuses will blow. Now Daniel Ben Simon can end his love affair with the Labor rebels and go back to being faithful to Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Indeed, from Israel’s point of view, the government took a major step yesterday. Prime Minister Netanyahu says the move is designed to return the Palestinians to the peace talks. If this is really his intention, the prime minister has managed (temporarily) to pass the hot potato to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. No peace process will come out of it.

It is hard to decide what would cause greater harm to whatever is left of Abbas’ status in the Palestinian public - American pressure to settle with the deal Netanyahu offered him yesterday, or the prisoner-exchange deal that the prime minister is offering his great enemies in Hamas. It is unlikely that Netanyahu really believed Abbas would thank Israel’s government for deciding to temporarily freeze the settlements in the West Bank, praise it for building synagogues and new schools, agree to the completion of 2,500 partially-built housing units and the construction of 492 new apartments.

It is unlikely Netanyahu thought that on the eve of Id al-Adha the Muslim leader would adopt the Jewish people’s position that East Jerusalem is part of the State of Israel. Is Netanyahu really expecting Abbas to recognize Israel’s sovereignty on Gilo, not to mention Sheikh Jarrah and the Temple Mount?

The really important question, which interests Netanyahu more than anything, is how U.S. President Barack Obama will view his proposal. This is not the first time an Israeli government has committed to freezing settlements. Tomorrow it will be two years since prime minister Ehud Olmert announced in Annapolis his commitment to open negotiations on the basis of the road map.

In that detailed document, the Sharon cabinet undertook in May 2003 to suspend all activity in the settlements, including construction for natural growth.

The list of 14 reservations attached to the cabinet decision said that the settlements in the West Bank would not even be discussed “except for freezing the settlements and removing the outposts.”

Freezing West Bank settlements, even temporarily, has become a necessary condition for saving the two-state solution and the Palestinian faction supporting it. Necessary, but by no means sufficient. In the absence of basic trust between the parties, even if Netanyahu continues to shove building permits into the drawer, as he has been doing since he returned to the prime minister’s desk, it won’t suffice.

Today’s newspaper reports about the settlements are more important than what is actually happening in them. In this situation, the ball - a ball of fire - has returned to the White House’s course.

Israel okays 28 new settlement buildings, despite freeze

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday ordered the IDF to issue a temporary freeze order, but at the same time allowed the construction of 28 new public buildings in settlements.

Meanwhile, Haaretz has learned that the state is expected to ask the Supreme Court for more time to evacuate illegal outposts. The State Attorney’s Office is expected to update the Supreme Court by next week on three court rulings that have not been carried out, for the evacuation of outposts at Eli, Horsha, and Netiv Ha’avot, as well as six other locations in the West Bank.

Haaretz also learned that in discussions on the matter between security and law officials, the state intends to ask the court for more time in order to prepare a suitable policy for razing the illegal outposts, in view of the developments related to the freeze in settlement construction.