Barak okays new West Bank settlement in return for evacuation of illegal outpost
By Ted Belman
This takes the cake.
According to an Haaretz article,
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In January 2008 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Barak informed the court they had decided to evacuate Migron within six months – in other words before August 2008. Olmert and Barak also said that they would take steps during that period to enable a voluntary evacuation, and that the Defense Ministry reserves the right to ask for an extension.
Apparently they have reached a deal with the Yesha Council as follows.
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Defense Minister Ehud Barak has agreed to approve the establishment of a new settlement in the Binyamin region in return for settlers’ agreement to evacuate the illegal outpost of Migron. The Migron settlers will move into the new 250-house settlement after leaving the illegal one they built on private Palestinian land.
Today there are 45 families living in Migron, with only two living in permanent housing and the rest in trailers.
The first stage of construction of the new West Bank community will incorporate 50 houses until permission is received for further construction. In order to build the settlement, a detailed construction plan incorporating 1,400 housing units will have to be approved.
The new site is a kilometer away from the built-up section of the Adam settlement, located east of the separation fence. The establishment of the new community violates the conditions of the Road Map, as well as Ariel Sharon’s commitments to President George W. Bush in 2003.
WOW. Here we have a government dedicated to withdrawing to the fence agreeing to build another 1,400 houses east of the fence in exchange for removing a settlement of 45 families.
I like it. But how can it be explained or justified to the supporters of Labour and Kadima who support mass evacuation?
But will the deal get by the Supreme Court?
This is the scenario and modus operandi we call settlement building aka nation building, haphazard,awkward and wasteful but it has placed 250 or more thousand people on the land in such contrived manner. It’s sort of like the Cha Cha! Shouldn’t surprise anyone, Israel began her formative years on the currency of Promissory Notes,(parallel currency) for our first ten years or so (Few had any real money.) Our famous bank overdrafts are hold over from that era.
I totally disagree with the term “settlements”. These are towns, cities, whole communities and, yes, the new growth.
When the United States was spreading west, did the government call Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake City settlements? Of course not, especially after city officials and police were installed.
Sparing a total disaster, Israel will continue to grow at a natural pace.
Thoughts of Sand Hill and Washitah come to mind: The US Govt forced the Cheyenne onto reservations twice, than moved in to massacre them. The odd thing is that in Israel, it’s the SETTLERS who are being treated like the Indians.
The US claims to be Israel’s ally, yet it continually denies Israel the right to exploit and settle its own land — land it has held for 42 of its 61 years as a MODERN state, not to mention hundreds of years of sovereignty in past generations. Someone like Yamit would turn this into a personal attack on Americans like me; but I have not supported these policies; though they have been promoted by my blood relative George Bush as well as my non-relative Bill Clinton. It’s a bum rap: Most White Americans love Israel more than the Jews do; and most White Americans were defeated in the last election. The Jews of America, along with their Black and Catholic allies, have chosen Barak Obama: Maybe we’ll see a new day in relations between Israel and my government; time will tell. Anything’s possible.
The above said, I think it’s ridiculous for Israel to claim that the US is keeping them from settling their country. There is a substantial percentage of Jews in Israel, who do not WANT to see the Biblical homeland settled, because they do not want to identify with the Jews of the Bible. That’s a psychological wonder that I won’t even try to understand. And one thing’s for sure: If the Christians of the US are in favor of settlements, the Jews are sure to be against them; and visa versa. We’re talking here about the most contrary people on earth. My advice to Barak is to just keep as far away from the place as he can. With any luck, the US economy will continue to be so bad, he’ll have a good excuse to focus on “America’s problems first”. Judging by history, that should mean good times for Israel.