REPORT ON IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

A Bimonthly Publication of the Foundation for Middle East Peace Volume 14 Number 6 November-December 2004

SHARON PURSUES DISENGAGEMENT, BUSH DEMANDS PALESTINIAN DEMOCRACY The government of Prime Minister the vote Sharon declared, during the elections and as Prime Sharon, ravaged by defections in Minister, I have repeatedly and publicly the and the ruling coalition, is “I know the implications and impact said that I support the establishment of proceeding undeterred along its estab- of the Knesset’s decision on the lives of a Palestinian state alongside the State of lished timetable for the evacuation of all thousands of who have lived in . I have repeatedly and openly said 17 settlements in the and the Gaza Strip for many years, who that I am willing to make painful com- four others in the northern were sent there on behalf of the govern- promises in order to put an end to this by the end of 2005. ments of Israel, and who built homes ongoing and malignant conflict between On October 27, the Knesset, by a there, planted trees and grew flowers, those who struggle over this land, and vote of 67–45, endorsed the Sharon and who gave birth to sons and daugh- that I would do my utmost in order to “disengagement” plan that was approved ters, who have not known any other bring peace. by his cabinet in June. Sharon’s parlia- home. I am well aware of the fact that I “And I wish, Mr. Chairman, to say mentary victory was an important step sent them and took part in this enter- that many years before, in 1988, in a closer to an operative Knesset endorse- prise, and many of these people are my meeting with Prime Minister Yitzhak ment of the settlements’ evacuation, personal friends. I am well aware of Shamir and with the ministers of the which continues to enjoy wide popular their pain, rage and despair. However, as Likud, I said there that I believe that if support. Like the earlier cabinet en- much as I understand everything they we do not want to be pushed back to dorsement, however, the Knesset vote are going through during these days and the 1967 lines, the territory should be did not explicitly authorize the physical everything they will face as a result of divided.” withdrawal of settlements and armed the necessary decision to be made in the forces from Gaza or the northern West Knesset today, I also believe in the In a successful effort to win the votes Bank. necessity of taking the step of disen- of a majority of recalcitrant Likud back In an often eloquent speech before gagement in these areas, with all the benchers and to admonish his oppo- pain it entails, and I am determined to nents in the religious right-wing, complete this mission. I am firmly con- Sharon invoked the hallowed name of See our website for recent vinced and truly believe that this disen- former prime minister Menachem articles, reports, maps, and gagement will strengthen Israel’s hold Begin as a way to affirm the priority of over territory which is essential to our his nationalist credentials and to caution pictures: www.fmep.org. existence, and will be welcomed and against religious messianism. Also in this issue: appreciated by those near and far, “I wish to end with a quotation from reduce animosity, break through boy- Prime Minister , who Israel’s New Roadmap 3 cotts and sieges, and advance us along at the end of December 1977, said on Settlement Time Line 4 the path of peace with the this podium (and I quote): Settlement Update 8 and our other neighbors. ‘I once said, during an argument with ——— ◆ ——— “I am accused of deceiving the peo- people from , that I love and Hebrew translations of ple and the voters because I am taking them today, and will continue to like recent Settlement Reports can be viewed steps which are in total opposition to them tomorrow. I told them: you are at www.fmep.org. past things I have said and deeds I have done. This is a false accusation. Both SHARON, continued on page 5 TO OUR READERS FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE The stars are never perfectly aligned for more aggressive diplomacy, including a set- a breakthrough toward Israeli-Palestinian tlement freeze. An Op-Ed in the New York Merle Thorpe, Jr. peace, but the environment today offers Times by former Secretary of State James Founder new opportunities. The death of Yasser Baker urged a stronger peace effort, and (1917–1994) Arafat has removed the “no partner” argu- there are other signs that a new initiative ment that Prime Minister from Washington would enjoy wide public Philip C. Wilcox, Jr. had used to avoid negotiations. Palestinian support. President presidential elections in January 2005 To lose this opportunity would be tragic. Geoffrey Aronson should give a new president stature to reen- Yet, as Jeff Aronson points out in this Director, Research and gage in peace talks and reform. Mahmoud Report, Sharon is still determined to pre- Publications, Editor, Report on Abbas, who appears likely to win, is a prag- serve Israel’s settlements and domination in Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories matic moderate. He opposes violence, and the West Bank and to defeat Palestinian is now seeking a cease-fire with . aspirations for a genuine, sovereign state. Ashely Brott Sharon now leads a minority govern- Although President Bush has promised to Editorial Assistant ment, and must rely on the Labor Party to work for a Palestinian state, he and his Joyce Ibrahim survive in office and implement his Gaza advisors are still emphasizing democratic Sharon Larsen disengagement plan. For the first time, reform as the key to statehood and peace. Interns Sharon has said he would coordinate the Thus far they have said little about the no plan with the Palestinians. less important need for evacuating settle- TRUSTEES Here at home, there is growing support ments and negotiating viable borders. for renewed American leadership. Leaders Lucius D. Battle of the two largest American Jewish syna- Landrum R. Bolling gogue unions and 71 other Jewish leaders Calvin H. Cobb, Jr. have written to President Bush supporting James J. Cromwell Peter Gubser Stephen Hartwell Richard S.T. Marsh Richard W. Murphy Jean C. Newsom Gail Pressberg William B. Quandt Nicholas A. Veliotes

The Foundation, a non- profit I.R.C. 501(c)(3) organization, supports peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians through mutual recognition and a negotiated division of historic Pales- tine. It publishes the bi- monthly Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories. Copyright © 2004

2 ❖ Report on Israeli Settlement November-December 2004 ISRAEL PROPOSES A SEPARATE ROAD NETWORK FOR PALESTINIANS

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is determined to leave a icant locales. The success of this program lead in 1984 to the legacy maximizing Israel’s territorial interests that his succes- publication of Road Plan 50, the crystallization of Israel’s sors will have no choice but to sustain. Settlement expansion intention to construct a dedicated network of roads to facili- throughout the West Bank and East remains his tate settlement expansion. enduring trademark. The disengagement plan for the Gaza In an unsuccessful objection to the plan before Israel’s Strip is another element in this strategy, as are the separation High Court, Palestinian attorney Raja Shehadeh argued that barrier, the emasculation of the Palestinian Authority, and the “the way the roads have been designed means that Palestinian closure economy imposed after Israel’s military reoccupation towns and villages will be greatly restricted in their develop- of Areas A and B in the West Bank in April 2002. ment, with many roads creating tight rings around their exist- In recent months, the Sharon government has without fan- ing boundaries.” fare proposed yet another element in this design—the Israel did not attempt to establish a security rationale for “Continuous Movement Plan” for Palestinians, which like the the plan in its arguments before the court. Indeed the court others noted above, aims at consolidating Israel’s permanent ruled, however improbably, that the proposed network of hold on about half of the West Bank and its strategic domina- bypass roads would benefit the local population. tion of the remaining territories conquered in June 1967. The Palestinian rebellion against Israeli rule that erupted The plan is meant to answer the strategic problem inherent in 1987 focused on attacking vehicles with stones. By in the territorial framework defined in the Oslo II agreement 1990, Road Plan 50 had evolved into the “intifada bypass” and exacerbated by the heightened security needs of many road plan. The uprising fortified the Israeli view of the neces- West Bank settlements resulting from the four-year-old sity to create a transport network for a growing settler popula- Palestinian intifada—how to enable Palestinians to travel tion separate and distinct from the one serving Palestinians. between the territorial islands formalized by Oslo—Areas A In 1990 100 kilometers of new roads were paved in the and B, comprising about 40 percent of the West Bank—on West Bank alone to serve settlements including Beitar, , roads not used by . Sharon has described his objective , , Kedar, , , Shani, and as assuring “transportation continuity” for Palestinians in Bet. these areas, where Israel favors a form of Palestinian self-rule By 1992, the Ministry of Housing and Construction’s and ersatz independence. Great Roads Plan—the new name given to Plan 50—outlined Sharon’s new plan for a separate Palestinian network out- 400km of new West Bank roads, including bypasses around lines 52 possible road projects and 16 new crossroads and , , , and . junctions, including bridges and underpasses spanning settler The Olso process dressed up the original bypass road plan thoroughfares. Israel describes it as “a social-political stabilizer in politically correct clothing, but changed neither the plan’s [that] creates an environment for support of the disengage- dimensions nor its objectives. What did change was the public ment plan.” rationale. No longer were these bypass roads justified by Israel The plan reveals Sharon’s intention to remain in all West for their value to Palestinians. Indeed there were suggestions Bank settlements with the exception of four small localities in that Palestinians would be prohibited from driving on them the Jenin area that are slated for evacuation in 2005 as part of altogether. The bypass road plan became part of the Oslo the disengagement plan. Turning a tactical decision to deny “peace” package, intended to increase settlers’ sense of security. Palestinians use of many West Bank roads into a permanent This idea was now viewed positively by some Oslo supporters strategic objective is yet another element in Israel’s ever- as a confirmation of Israel’s disengagement from parts of the evolving strategy of creating facts on the ground. West Bank. The Clinton administration considered these The road network in place when Israel occupied the West roads security-related expenditures and refused to deduct Bank in 1967 ran north-south down the region’s hilly central Israel’s investments in these roads from its loan guarantees. spine. Lateral roads ran off this central artery—Route 60— Veteran Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea reflected the from Jenin to Hebron. Ninety-three percent of all roads were views of those who rejected this complacent assessment. He paved. observed in an October 7, 1994, article in Yediot Aharonot that This transportation network reflected the requirements of the plan was an “absurd Israeli idea [that] shows how very the Palestinian community rather than those of an occupying deep Israeli pessimism runs concerning the entire peace army embarking upon creation of scores of Israeli civilian set- process. Israeli faith that any coexistence will be established is tlements. In 1970 Israel began construction of roads running so small that the Israeli establishment does not even believe east-west, as part of an integrated security package that aimed that Jewish settlers and Palestinians can share the same road.” at connecting Israel with new Valley settlements and The al-Aqsa intifada accelerated the separation inherent in facilitating its military control of the . the original Road Plan 50 and its successors . . . and more. Settlement expansion during the 1970s concentrated on establishing settlements in strategically and historically signif- ISRAEL, continued on page 7

November-December 2004 Report on Israeli Settlement ❖ 3 SETTLEMENT TIME LINE

July 2 Yerushalim reports that Jewish prop- July 16 Fifty families emigrating from plant at its core, and offers new options to erty owners in the Old ’s Jewish Quarter France are taken upon their arrival in Israel Russian immigrant scientists who have not —one thousand buildings on 137 dunams— to a language center in the settlement of found their place in Israeli society. The may now register their ownership directly in . (Yediot Aharanot) “ Battalion”, a group of officers who the land registry rather than in the name of served in the Russian army and volunteer to July 20 The IDF demolishes 12 Palestinian the government body that has administered reinforce West Bank settlements, as well as houses as part of the re-construction of the construction in the area since 1967. foreign investors, have also joined the proj- separation barrier closer to the ect. () July 4 Since the cancellation of special in eastern Barta’a. (Ha’aretz) incentives in March, the sale of dwellings in July 29 Head of the separation barrier decreased to 42 units from July 22 The Israel Land Administration project in the Israeli Defense Ministry, March to May, the lowest rate in three years. (ILA) sells 11 lots, zoned for 682 apart- Nezah Mashiah states that the new route for 320 units were sold annually in 2000 and ments, in the Har Homa settlement near the barrier will place the Etzion bloc on the 2001, rising to 482 units in 2003. (Ha’aretz) Jerusalem for $26 million, including devel- western (Israeli) side. The Etzion bloc is opment. The winners of the land tenders pay about 6 miles southeast of Jerusalem and has July 5 Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics an average of $38,000 per apartment. a population of 40,000. reports that the settler population in the West Bank (excluding ) and The ILA plans to sell 1,815 plots of land in The Hebrew University of Jerusalem sells Gaza Strip increased to 231,800 at the end the West Bank (-604, Har - almost 24 acres of land, located in the north- of 2003, an annual increase of 5.3 percent, 200, Ariel-214, -98, and Kiryat Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods of Beit higher than anywhere in Israel. (Ha’aretz) Arba-156) by year-end. Many Jewish fami- Hanina and , to a Palestinian Au- lies from southern Florida have expressed thority company for $1.1 million. (Arutz 7) At a news conference with Israeli foreign interest in relocating to a 200-unit housing minister Silvan Shalom, U.S. Secretary of project in , 5km from Ariel. (Ma’ariv) August 2 The Israeli Defense Ministry State Colin Powell criticizes Israel for the announces the approval of 600 new housing “disappointing” pace at which Israel has dis- July 23 The owner of an antiquities muse- units in Ma’ale Adumim. Prime Minister mantled settlement outposts in the West um in Hebron registers a claim against Israel Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Bank. Shalom says that Israel is working to for damages of $15,000 as a result of the Mofaz had approved the plan two months dismantle the remaining 28 unauthorized destruction of his museum by settlers in July earlier. (Ha’aretz) 2002. (Kol Ha’ir) outposts (according to government calcula- Defense Minister Mofaz declares that tions) “in the near future.” () July 25 One hundred thirty thousand Ma’ale Adumim and the Etzion bloc will be July 13 Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon Israelis protest the government’s disengage- included on the western side of the separa- acknowledges that Israel “has not yet ful- ment plan. (Ha’aretz) tion barrier. During a visit to the former, filled its commitment [to dismantle out- Mofaz is presented with a plan to double the July 27 A new plan issued by Israeli posts] in the best manner.” He promises that settlement’s population to 60,000 in three Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz and draft- it is Israel’s intention to fulfill these commit- years. He notes that the new route of the ed in conjunction with the Jewish Agency’s ments as soon as possible. (Ha’aretz) barrier north of Jerusalem will result in the settlement branch, calls for the planting of inclusion of 7,000 dunams west of the barri- Israeli police in Hebron open an investiga- 72,000 olive trees on 2,500 dunams of land er, not 24,000 dunams as originally planned. tion into settlers from Maon Farm suspected near settlements in order to exclude these (Ha’aretz) of poisoning a well in the nearby village areas from Palestinian control. The Agricul- Atwanna with animal carcasses. (Ha’aretz) ture Ministry will offer a financial incentive August 3 Israel’s Central Bureau of to those who plant and tend the groves. Statistics reports the sale of only 67 new pri- July 14 In preparation for disengagement “This is a way to hold the land and to pre- vate sector dwellings in the West Bank and from Gaza, the Israeli Housing Ministry vent its transfer to Palestinians,” explained Gaza Strip from January to May 2004. The freezes granting government mortgages for Katz. (Yedioth Ahronoth) figure represents a reduction of 40 percent apartments in the bloc. In addition, a compared to the same period in 2003. The freeze is put on the sale or rental of govern- Some of the 200 French immigrants to 170 settlement dwellings for sale total 1.5 ment housing apartments in the Katif bloc. Israel relocate to the West Bank settlement percent of all available new housing for (Yedioth Ahronoth) of Ariel, following the 2003 trend in which Israelis. (Ma’ariv) six percent of immigrants move to settle- July 15 The municipality freezes a plan for ments in the West Bank. (Ma’ariv) August 5 The end a the construction of 200 dwelling units in the month-long invasion of Beit Hanun, in the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of July 28 Plans are underway to establish a northern Gaza Strip, leaving more than as-Sawahra. A lawyer representing the vil- Russians-only settlement in an undecided 42,000 olive, citrus, and date trees uprooted, lagers complains that as a consequence “the location in the Jordan Valley. The World 4,405 acres of orchards, vineyards, and veg- dialogue between the residents and the city Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division etable fields flattened, 21 houses demolished will be conducted through housing demoli- and the Jordan Valley Regional Council both and 314 damaged, and 5 factories and 19 tion orders rather than through organized support the project, which envisions building planning.” (Kol Ha’ir) an industrial center with a waste recycling TIME LINE, continued on page 7

4 ❖ Report on Israeli Settlement November-December 2004 SHARON, continued from page 1 viewed unsympathetically in the Bush administration. Along with the Quartet, Washington is content to marry the disen- wonderful pioneers, builders of the land, settlers on barren gagement plan to the scheme Sharon meant it to replace. soil, in rain and through winter, through all difficulties. Elliot Abrams, Bush’s regional advisor on the National However, you have one weakness—you have developed Security Council, was reported on November 12 by Ha’aretz among yourselves a messianic complex. correspondent Aluf Ben to have told a senior Israeli security “You must remember that there were days, before you were official in November, “You have to get out of Gaza and then born or were only small children, when other people risked wait ten years for the growth of a new generation of their lives day and night, worked and toiled, made sacrifices Palestinian leaders.” Such views are not inconsistent with the and performed their tasks without a hint of a messianic com- similar if more colorful analysis by former Sharon aide Dov plex. And I call on you today, my good friends from Gush Weisglass, who said that in the wake of disengagement from Emunim, to perform your tasks with no less modesty than Gaza, the road map “will be preserved for a very lengthy peri- your predecessors, on other days and nights. od . . . in formaldehyde.” His comments forced Sharon to “We do not require anyone to declare his fidelity to the moribund supervise the Kashrut of our com- plan. mitment to the ! We Bush Pushes Democratization have dedicated our lives to the land When the prime minster says of Israel and to the struggle for its that we cannot continue to rule over More significant, President liberation, and will continue to do a foreign people, this means that I George W. Bush himself still so.’” am sitting here not by right but as seems convinced that the demo- cratic bone fides of a Palestinian Disengagement Progresses an occupier. If I am here as an occu- regime, rather than its territorial In the wake of the Knesset’s pier I cannot continue to live here dimensions, are the key point of endorsement, on November 3 the under any circumstances. If this is departure for U.S. policy. Asked at Knesset passed by a similar margin true today about [the West Bank a November 12 White House press the first (of three) votes on an conference with British prime min- evacuation-compensation law. settlement of ] Ariel, tomorrow it ister about U.S. interest These two votes signal a grow- will also be true about the entire in a settlement freeze, Bush replied ing political and operational state of Israel. with numerous variations on the momentum in favor of the plan’s , mayor of Ariel, need for “a free, truly democratic implementation, a reality that was Ma’ariv Friday Supplement, society in the not lost on the 1,500 settler fami- that become a state.” Blair’s lies who will be forced to relocate October 29, 2004 response evinced even less interest by September 1, 2005, whatever in the territorial dimension of their views of the plan. Ha’aretz Palestinian statehood: “What we’re reported that “many of the [settlements’] residents have begun really saying this morning is that [a] viable state has to be a to look for a solution to the day after [withdrawal]. Even democratic state.” ◆ those considered implacable opponents of the plan are today less determined to struggle. ‘Last week,’ one explained, ‘We lost our last opportunity to stop the plan.’” PLANNING FOR EVACUATION The death of PLO chairman has raised the prospect of a renewal of negotiations according to the road The Israel Defense Forces is devoting considerable map, the plan endorsed by international community as the resources to planning its operational deployment when the diplomatic vehicle for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Sharon evacuation of settlements begins next summer. These plans considers his disengagement plan as an Israeli substitute for include occupying more Palestinian land in order to facilitate this more onerous initiative. In a September 15 Yediot the evacuation of settlements and other Israeli-occupied Aharonot interview he explained, “[Labor leader Amram] locales. Some weeks ago the IDF presented a plan to create Mitzna suggested [during his unsuccessful campaign to unseat widened “security perimeters” around all settlements slated Sharon] to begin with the evacuation of and to con- for evacuation. According to Ha’aretz, “The IDF suggested tinue evacuating [settlements] according to the road map. that it conquer territorial buffers around settlements sched- This would bring Israel to a most difficult situation. To this I uled for evacuations, in order to remove them from the range did not agree. And today as well we are not proceeding of Palestinian fire.” IDF maps of these new “security perime- according to the Road map. I am not ready for this.” ters” were submitted to Defense Minister and Sharon’s public rejection of the road map went unnoticed. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who are reported to have ◆ His dismissal of the plan, however, was not unknown nor approved the plan.

November-December 2004 Report on Israeli Settlement ❖ 5 6 ❖ Report on Israeli Settlement November-December 2004 TIME LINE, continued from page 4 August 17 Ha’aretz publishes tenders the West Bank. The IDF removes two cara- issued by the Israeli Ministry of Housing vans from the Nofe Nechmia outpost. wells destroyed. Losses are estimated to be and Construction for the construction of 604 (Ha’aretz) as much as $93 million. (Independent) dwelling units in the settlement of Ilit, Israeli officials begin site visits to Gaza set- August 6 Israel signs an agreement with 214 in Ariel, 141 in Ma’ale Adumim, and 42 tlements to ascertain the value of settlement the European Commission to begin labeling in Karne Shomron. According to the acting assets. (Ma’ariv) all goods for export with their town of origin minister of housing, Tzipi , this settle- and nationality. Products from settlements in ment expansion is being undertaken in August 28 Ma’ariv reports the government the West Bank and Gaza Strip will be accordance with an understanding with the of Brazil’s refusal to approve the adoption of charged a duty, while goods made in Israel U.S. government about the continuation of Brazilian children by Israeli residents of the will remain duty-free under Israel’s free trade construction in large settlement blocs. occupied territories. agreement with the EU. (Arutz 7) August 19 For two hours settlers block August 30 The IDF opens the Kalkilya— August 7 Israeli Defense Ministry officials supporters of “Women Supporting the Evac- Habla tunnel to accommodate the construc- express concern that a drop in kindergarten uation of Gaza” as they attempt to leave the tion of the separation barrier and the inclu- enrollment in Palestinian villages near Jeru- Gaza settlement of . (Ha’aretz) sion of the settlement of Alfe Menashe on salem indicates the intention of tens of its western side. (Ha’aretz) August 20 Jewish landowners in East thousands of Palestinians to move to East Jerusalem’s Bet Safafa district announce the August 31 reports that Jerusalem so they will not be left outside the construction of a new neighborhood com- Alfe Menashe is building a new settlement separation barrier being built around the city. prising 200 dwelling units. One developer area, Nof Hasharon, three kilometers distant More than 70,000 Palestinians live in dis- did not rule out marketing the project to and next to the Israeli town of , from tricts that are to be outside the barrier. Palestinians. (Yerushalim) which it will draw services. Plots of land sell (Ma’ariv International) for $120,000 to $140,000, and ten buyers August 25 The Council publishes August 13 A Palestinian Authority para- have already placed deposits. Nirit residents a call for public opposition to the evacuation military police officer shoots and kills the oppose development of the area and the use of the Givat Assaf outpost near Bet El in security officer of . (Arutz 7) of their service infrastructure.

ISRAEL, continued from page 3 There is no more revealing commentary of the plan’s intent The extensive new Israeli network constructed during the than the matter-of-fact claim that “Wadi Nar is the main 1990s failed to make settlements entirely independent of the route connecting the north of the West Bank to the south.” historical network of West Bank roads. During the intifada, in Implicit in this observation is the Israeli view that Route 60— order to maintain a normal, everyday life for settlers, Israel from time immemorial the core north-south transit way has restricted and sometimes prohibited Palestinian travel on through Jerusalem, and a long-sought after objective of settle- many of these roads, a key feature of the “closure economy.” ments along its route, is now closed to Palestinians. The Wadi In order to protect settlers, Palestinians have been separated Nar route, which runs from Jerusalem to , is a dan- not only from the new bypass road network, they have also gerous, narrow two-lane road that Palestinians are forced to been denied use of roads as old as itself. use to travel north from Bethlehem. Israel’s solution to this untenable situation establishes yet Creation of separate road networks for Palestinians and another milestone along the long road of occupation. Having settlers is yet another element of a long-term program aimed constructed, at a cost of more than $2 billion, a bypass road at the permanent physical division of the West Bank. It aims network, which now includes major sections of the historical at subordinating Palestinian national and economic develop- system, most notably large sections of Route 60, the Sharon ment to the maintenance of an expansive and unrestricted government in August presented a plan for foreign donors to program of Israeli settlement in 60 percent of the West Bank, finance the rebuilding, construction, and establishment of and undermining the prospect of a territorially coherent state underpasses, overpasses, junctions, and roads throughout the of Palestine. West Bank as alternatives to routes on which the IDF has There is no doubt that a continuous, unobstructed trans- forbidden Palestinian traffic and to others cut by the separa- port network is vital to Palestinian political and economic life. tion barrier. A rational plan would modernize the venerable Route 60 as Like the original Road Plan 50, today’s Continuous the key to a regional road network. The ever-growing de- Movement Plan is presented as beneficial to Palestinians. The mands of the West Bank settlement enterprise however, pre- Israeli plan—which Palestinians have had no role in prepar- clude this logical option. Instead Israel is demanding the cre- ing—is portrayed as an instrument of Palestinian economic ation of a inferior system at great expense. The high price that revival made necessary because of the inadequacy of existing Israel is demanding from the international community, which infrastructure. No mention is made that the existing infra- Israel expects to fund this enterprise, and from Palestinians structure is inadequate principally because of Israel’s dracon- who are expected to permanently accommodate their daily ian closure policy and the denial of Palestinian use of major lives to Israel’s settlements, leaves one breathless. ◆ segments of the road network improved for settlers.

November-December 2004 Report on Israeli Settlement ❖ 7 PICTURES DON’T LIE PROMISES, PROMISES Based upon an “Israel will not finance the growth of the Jewish popula- Settlement Expansion, aerial survey in tion in and [the West Bank] from the public July-August 2004 August, settlement budget; it will not construct new communities and will freeze Settlement/Council Expansion (m2) expansion activity is construction in existing communities, except for construction Jordan Valley 1,755 under way at 80 within a line of existing construction (to distinguish from the Alfe Menashe 8,909 West Bank settle- [much larger] border of municipal jurisdiction); it will not Ariel 21,438 ments where 3,700 confiscate or take new land for settlement purposes in Judea, Ma’ale Adumim 30,790 dwelling units are Samaria, and the Gaza District.” 42,820 under construction. Reported by Dov Weisglass, cabinet bureau chief Betar Ilit 48,700 The total area to the government legal advisor , Etzion Bloc 62,358 involved in this June 12, 2003 after discussions with Shomron 105,169 expansion is about U.S. NSC advisor , Gaza Strip 202,490 808,000 square Ha’aretz, September 29, 2004 Benjamin 283,822 meters, a 60 percent Total 808,251 increase from a June survey, and includes new and continuing land development for settlement, new infrastructure, new and continuing construction, internal road works, and the place- ment of new caravans.

“The settlement outposts worry us a great deal, and we were happy to let the Americans lead the dialogue with Israel regarding upholding its commitments in the framework of the road map [evacuating all of the settlement outposts built since March 2001]. But not a thing happened. Ignoring for a moment the expansion of construction in Ma’ale Adumim, how is it possible to build a two-state model at a time that Israel is building infrastructures for additional settlements, paving a road from Ariel to the Jordan Rift, and linking Ma’ale Adumim to the Ben-Gurion Airport highway? How is all this compatible with the principle of a Palestinian state that is terri- torially contiguous?” Marc Otte, special representative for the Middle East peace process, Ha’aretz, October 29, 2004

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