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Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

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Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories REPORT ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENT IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES A Bimonthly Publication of the Foundation for Middle East Peace Volume 16 Number 1 January-February 2006 SHARON’S SUCCESSOR MUST CONFRONT HIS LEGACY Israel has been searching for a sus- outstanding issues, and cemented a new firmer leadership in this new, uncertain tainable framework for managing per- rationale for consolidating Israel’s still era. The Road Map has remained an manent occupation since Menachem considerable appetite for territory in the excuse for inaction, relevant only to the Begin’s 1978 embrace of Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem. extent that its ritual invocation assured “autonomy.” Sharon believed the “facts” that he that no plan of consequence challenged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s was creating would establish a twenty- Sharon’s vision. All major Israeli parties removal of all Israeli troops and settle- first century foundation for Israel’s agree, if not for the same reasons, that ments from the Gaza Strip in Septem- claim to contested territory: “hard” bor- the diplomatic framework championed ber 2005 signaled the emergence of a ders governing passage between Israel by the Bush administration is passé. new Israeli consensus. Sharon, like and Palestine along the separation barri- Sharon intended that Palestinians Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben er; settlement “blocs” claiming space and remain, as they were during Israel’s Gurion, was determined to shape the sovereignty over lands Palestinians con- retreat from Gaza, objects of his inten- permanent borders of the state. sider an inseparable part of their patri- tions, not partners in its conception and “Not everything will remain in our mony, with contiguity via bridges and execution. With his departure, they now hands,” noted a speech harking back tunnels as a substitute for the territorial have increased ability to influence the to Israel’s first leader that Sharon was coherence lost by Palestine to Israeli set- program that his undoubtedly less pow- to give in September 2005. “We have a tlements; and “security zones” in places erful and effective successor will unfold rightful and just dream, but there is a like the Jordan Valley. Sharon champi- in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. reality, and it is tough and demanding. oned a new paradigm that features While the principles Sharon wanted It’s impossible to hold a Jewish, Israel’s imposition of an ersatz sover- to implement are clear, the borders of democratic state and also rule all of eignty in the West Bank (as he already the map that he wanted to create were Palestine.” did in Gaza) upon unwilling Palestin- not. No one knows exactly how much of Before he was incapacitated by a ians in those territories Israel desires the territory conquered in June 1967 stroke, Sharon had begun to implement neither for security or settlement. Israel will claim for itself in the coming a “long-term interim agreement” that There are doubts that whoever succeeds months and years. A range of possibili- rejected negotiations with the PLO, Sharon in national elections in March ties exists, downward from 60 percent of opposed a final status resolution of all 2006 will have the desire or power to the West Bank—Oslo’s Area C—to the realize this outcome. Sharon’s successors 9.4 percent west of the separation barri- Please visit our website to see its may not champion it with his vigor or er. Areas of “United Jerusalem” have new look and improved navigation. effectiveness, but they will find his pro- already been placed on the Israeli side of Sign up to receive the Report by gram difficult to replace with an alter- the separation barrier. Additional parts e-mail, to be notified of events in native of their own. of the city could well follow. But if Washington, DC, and more. Visit Palestinians and the international com- us at www.fmep.org. The Bulldozer’s Agenda munity are to successfully demand a maximal Israeli retreat, including areas Also in this issue: Israelis will not be alone in seeking west of the separation barrier whose to chart a course without Sharon. An annexation is ostensibly supported by an Short Takes 3 international community that has Israeli consensus, they will have to Settlement Time Line 4–5 deferred to “the Bulldozer’s” diplomatic demonstrate greater capacity for diplo- It’s the Occupation Stupid! 6–7 agenda may be compelled to provide matic innovation and leadership. ◆ TO OUR READERS FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE Ariel Sharon’s historic legacy will not be unilateral actions by insisting, unrealistical- defined by the exaggerated praise he ly, that the Palestinians must dismantle ter- Merle Thorpe, Jr. receives today as a hero transformed from rorist groups before talks could resume. In Founder brutal warrior to “man of peace.” It will be the meantime, he strengthened Israeli con- (1917–1994) determined by whether Israel, the Palestin- trol in the West Bank through settlement ians, and the United States can now create growth and a separation barrier that frac- Philip C. Wilcox, Jr. a vision of peace that builds upon Sharon’s tures Palestinian lands and cuts off East President successes and repairs his errors. Jerusalem in ways that would foreclose a Geoffrey Aronson Sharon deserves credit for recognizing viable Palestinian state. ( Jeff Aronson Director, Research and that Israel’s territorial ambitions have lim- describes the fundamental anomalies of Publications, Editor, Report on its. His unprecedented withdrawal from Sharon’s plan on page 6.) Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories Gaza shattered the myth that settlements Sharon’s agenda was aided by grisly are irreversible. And he proved that the Palestinian suicide bombings, Arafat’s inep- Nitzan Goldberger much feared settler lobby lacks popular titude, lackluster leadership by Mahmoud Editorial Assistant support and is no match for a determined Abbas, Palestinian infighting, and a com- Maher Bitar Israeli government. pliant Washington. Now, elections and the Intern But Sharon leaves much damage to emergence of the radical Hamas raise new repair. He reinforced the misconception questions. But the formidable Ariel Sharon TRUSTEES that the conflict is solely about Palestinian is no longer in charge, and there is an terrorism and rejection, not also a harsh opportunity and a responsibility for Israelis, Lucius D. Battle occupation that defeats Palestinian hopes Palestinians, and the United States to chart Landrum R. Bolling for a sovereign state and provokes violent a new course. Calvin H. Cobb, Jr. rebellion. He avoided negotiations with the James J. Cromwell self-serving notion that Israel had no “part- Peter Gubser ner” for peace. And he bought time for 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 © 2006 Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz approves the construction of hundreds of housing units in key West Bank settlements, days before leaving the Likud party to join Sharon’s Kadima party. Yediot Aharonot, December 15, 2005 2 ❖ Report on Israeli Settlement January-February 2006 SHORT TAKES Life Under Siege in a Divided City not been a priority for the Palestinian Authority. Furthermore, the farmers have not received any attention, In recent years, more than half of the 2,500 Palestinians with many of them moving to the north to avoid harassment who lived in Hebron’s Old City have been driven out. by Israel, which has been appropriating their land for years. Palestinians are now barred from the main commercial road, The Israeli plan of taking over this important part of Shuhada Street, where shops are boarded up. Elsewhere they Palestine is taking place in a speedy manner and in a way sim- are permitted only to walk and not drive. The UN has count- ilar to what is happening in Jerusalem. Will the Palestinian ed 101 military roadblocks and checkpoints controlling the leadership wake up to the disastrous fate awaiting the Jordan movement of Palestinians in central Hebron. Valley before it becomes too late? The army says the measures are the result of a “complex Abdel-Naser-En-Najjar, Al-Ayyam, November 19, 2005 reality” created by the Palestinian intifada and more than 30 suicide bombers from Hebron, and a climate of anger fueled ————————————— by killings such as a Palestinian sniper shooting a Jewish baby Ma’ale Adumim Wants to Expand and a mob of settlers murdering a 14-year-old Arab girl. The settlers call the Palestinian exodus “a gift from heav- The mayor of Ma’ale Adumim, Benny Kasriel, has intensi- en.” But last year Jan Kristensen, who headed the European fied his efforts in recent weeks to annex the East Jerusalem monitoring team [TIPH] in Hebron, said it had more to do area of Kikar Sefra into the Ma’ale Adumim bloc in an effort with a strategy by the army and settlers to drive Palestinians to create a contiguous settlement area. out of the Old City. More than a hundred Likud officials signed a petition sub- “More and more people are leaving the area and it is effec- mitted to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon supporting Kasriel’s tively being emptied. The settlers’ activities, which are aimed efforts. In the letter, the signatories demand that Sharon at causing the Palestinians to leave, and the army’s activities, expedite the building of the neighborhood. “We imagine that which impose severe restrictions, create an irreversible reality,” now, after the completion of the withdrawal from Gaza Strip, he told Ha’aretz.
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