Settlement Monitor
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SETTLEMENT MONITOR EDITED BY GEOFFREY ARONSON This section covers items—reprinted articles, statistics, and maps—pertaining to Israeli settlement activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Unless otherwise stated, the items have been written by Geoffrey Aronson for this section or drawn from material written by him for Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories (hereinafter Settlement Report), a Washington-based bimonthly newsletter published by the Foundation for Middle East Peace. JPS is grateful to the foundation for permission to draw on its material. Freeze Failure Moving Beyond a Settlement Freeze ................................... 184 Semiannual Report on Settlement Construction, by Peace Now (excerpts) ..... 186 Support for Settlers Influential Israeli Army Judge Says West Bank Land Belongs to Jews, by Meron Rapoport (excerpts) ................................... 187 Israel May Retroactively Legalize Settlement Construction, by Chaim Levinson . 188 U.S. Group Invests Tax-free Millions in East Jerusalem Land, by Uri Blau (excerpts) .......................................... 189 FREEZE FAILURE Mitchell to win from Israel the imposition of a complete cessation of settlement ex- MOVING BEYOND A SETTLEMENT FREEZE pansion in the West Bank, including East From Settlement Report, September– Jerusalem and tangible demonstrations of October 2009 normalization with Israel from the Arab The administration of Barack Obama world. is setting the stage for the resumption It was Obama’s decision to place settle- of talks, if not necessarily formal nego- ments at the heart of his administration’s tiations, between Israeli and Palestinian opening diplomatic effort. Highlighting leaders. Washington hopes that a tripar- settlements and Arab confidence building tite fall meeting of Pres. Barack Obama, measures as the twin points of engagement Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was understood by the Obama team as the and PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas will policy option most likely to impress upon mark the inauguration of a new phase in Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the in- Obama’s Middle East policy. ternational community, the intention and If Obama succeeds, the negotiations the ability of the new American leadership may be headlined by an Annapolis-like to end occupation, create a Palestinian summit conference that Russia and others state, and normalize Israel’s place in the re- are vying to host, leading to a resumption gion. Obama seized the policy initiative by of bilateral talks aimed, according to U.S. declaring in Cairo “the illegitimacy of con- officials, at “advancing a two-state solu- tinued Israeli settlements” (see Doc. D2 in tion where Israelis and Palestinians can JPS 153). Washington’s demand for a set- live side by side in their own states with tlement freeze overshadowed Netanyahu’s peace and security.” To embark on this ef- effort to focus on “economic peace” and fort, however, Obama must move beyond the interwoven crises between Israel and the diplomatic effort led during the last Hamas in Gaza that dominated the agenda three months by his special envoy George before Obama’s inauguration. The new Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. XXXIX, No. 2 (Winter 2010), pp. 184–189, ISSN: 0377-919X; electronic ISSN: 1533-8614. © 2010 by the Institute for Palestine Studies. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: jps.2010.XXXIX.2.184. SETTLEMENT MONITOR 185 president won a quick affirmation from Ne- Jerusalem, refugees and disarmament. This will also tanyahu in support of the principle (if not clarify whether Obama will be able to force the the content) of a two-state solution and parties to follow through on whatever agreement boosted Palestinian confidence that recog- they make. Everybody is monitoring the battle with regards to the Israeli settlements, and construction nition of their oft-repeated demand for im- is ongoing. So long as settlement building contin- position of a settlement freeze was at last ues under the pretext of expansion and vertical in sight. construction, nobody in the region will believe that Netanyahu’s anticipated response to Obama is capable of handling these weighty issues. U.S. demands will not meet this test. Israel is prepared, at most, to impose a tempo- Obama is proving no more successful rary moratorium on certain types of set- than his predecessors in winning a com- tlement expansion, an action similar to plete freeze, and he has been stung by Ne- restrictions agreed to by Menachem Begin tanyahu’s ability to reframe Washington’s in 1977. It will complete more than 3,000 demand as a challenge to Israel’s presence new dwellings in West Bank settlements, in East Jerusalem. By the end of July, Wash- enough to increase the settler population ington found itself engaged in detailed of 500,000 by 12,000, and exclude East discussions of the minutiae of settlement Jerusalem from any building limitations. construction and expansion. U.S. negotia- Such an outcome, after months of high- tors asserted that the talks were aimed at powered U.S. diplomacy, risks being seen closing settlement expansion “loopholes.” as conferring an ambiguous U.S. “stamp of Israeli leaders, initially stunned by Obama’s approval” and further evidence of the in- demands, were also confident. They had ability of diplomacy to challenge the set- concluded that Obama’s “bark was worse tlement enterprise. Despite the failure to than his bite.” The potential for a crisis win a credible suspension of all settlement in relations over settlements had been activity, Obama still commands the inter- averted and the evolving terms of a limited national arena and he retains a powerful settlement moratorium were well within ability and interest in setting the terms of manageable limits. In a reflection of this Arab-Israeli diplomacy. A vigorous Ameri- cold-blooded Israeli view, Israeli columnist can effort that supersedes the spurned Nahum Barnea wrote on 14 August, “De- demand for a comprehensive settlement fense Minister Ehud Barak was the honey freeze appears to be the White House’s trap and special envoy George Mitchell next move. took the bait. He is now negotiating over the [settlement moratorium’s] time- table, the conditions, the numbers and the The Unrequited Demand for a exit points.” Settlement Freeze Arab visitors to Washington from Egypt, The complete cessation of all facets of Jordan, and Saudi Arabia offered equally settlement activity everywhere, defined by insistent advice about the shortcomings of Secy. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as the administration’s pursuit of a settlement “a stop to the settlements. Not some settle- freeze, calling for renewed diplomacy on ments, not outposts, not natural growth ending the occupation and creating a Pal- exceptions,” remains Washington’s stated estinian state. In a 31 July press conference policy. This demand is the standard for with Clinton, Saudi foreign minister Prince success against which Obama’s settlement Saud al-Faisal stated: policies are being judged, by those who wish the new president well and by oth- Incrementalism and a step by step approach ers who want to empty Obama’s two-state has not and we believe will not achieve peace. vision, and the necessity of massive settle- Temporary security, confidence building measures ment evacuation, of real content. will also not bring peace. What is required is a com- Leading Arab commentator Abdul Rah- prehensive approach that defines the final outcome man al-Rashed noted in al-Sharq al-Awsat at the outset and launches into negotiations over on 8 July 2009: final status issues: borders, Jerusalem, water, refu- gees, and security. The battle to stop the [Israeli] construction of settlements is a personal battle for Obama, and one As the summer wore on, Obama him- that will reveal whether the U.S. president is capa- self grew visibly impatient with seemingly ble of dealing with the larger issues, such as [Israeli interminable discussions on a settlement Palestinian] negotiations over territory, borders, freeze that were now delaying the opening 186 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES of much anticipated negotiations. Having to complement this process by promot- declared the status quo “unsustainable,” ing policies that address the unsustain- Obama was anxious to move off what he able humanitarian and economic crisis in himself acknowledged was “the rut that Gaza and encourage Palestinian political we’re in currently.” reconciliation. Beyond a Settlement Freeze SEMIANNUAL REPORT ON SETTLEMENT A meeting with Netanyahu and Abbas CONSTRUCTION (EXCERPTS) would be Washington’s first achievement in moving beyond a narrow discussion of This report by Peace Now was pub- a settlement freeze to Obama’s strategic lished in August 2009 and details meth- objective of a final status agreement in ods through which the settlement freeze which settlement evacuation stands to fea- is being circumvented. ture prominently. Israel’s leaders are well According to a Peace Now inspection, aware that they will face this challenge. To construction within the “settlement blocs” meet it, they are continuing efforts begun continues as usual, with no freeze to be seen by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to reach bi- on the ground. Conversely, construction lateral understandings with Washington on at isolated settlements