REPORT ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENT IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES A Bimonthly Publication of the Foundation for Middle East Peace Volume 22 Number 2 March-April 2012 DON’T SHOOT, WE’RE SETTLERS By Geoffrey Aronson of the police and security forces, and to upon discipline. An army without swell the ranks of religious conscripts discipline and the willingness to execute “During the next decade, our goal is prepared to follow the rulings of their commands and to fulfill a mission is an for the religious Zionist population to rabbis rather than their commanders institution in crisis. The Israel Defense be able to feel comfortable serving in the on issues related to settlement evacua- Forces and civilian police have, when police forces,” explained Nachi Ayal, a tion, and more recently, the presence of called upon, obeyed decisions by Israel’s top official in the right-wing National women in their ranks. political leadership to evacuate settlers Home Party and leader of an organiza- and settlements, beginning with the Likud Succeeds Labor tion working to increase the presence evacuation of the Sinai and the 2,500 of Israel’s religious and ultra-orthodox Four decades ago, Menachem Begin settlers from Yamit in 1982. More communities in the country’s national declared his intention to assure the recently, however, the effective imple- police forces. “So that those serving will preeminence of the Likud Party, long mentation of two politically controver- know what it means to send forces in a perennial parliamentary outcast, by sial decisions—that of the government order to evacuate settlers. Who decided establishing a natural and permanent of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005 that the police belong to only one sector electoral majority based on settlement to evacuate 17 Gaza settlements and of the nation and not another? I am part throughout the occupied territories. He their population of 7,000 and another of the state and it is incumbent upon me aimed at repeating the success of Israel’s by the government of Prime Minis- to also be part of the police. Labor establishment, which before 1967 ter Ehud Olmert to demolish a few “My goal is that in another ten to rose to political prominence by creat- permanent homes (but not the settle- twenty years, the police commander in ing an electoral majority rooted in the ment) at the unauthorized outpost of Judea and Samaria will be a religious country’s rural settlement movements. Amona in 2006—was accompanied by person, a resident of Judea and Samaria, The goal of today’s two-pronged effort politically potent indications of isolated and in the higher ranks there will be is to broaden the front committed to opposition within the ranks, abetted by four or five kippot-wearing [religious] settlement expansion throughout the political leaders and prominent rabbis, commanders representing us.” West Bank by increasing the representa- to executing military orders considered For the time being, these new recruits tion of national religious officers in the to represent a repudiation of the political are not being posted in the West Bank, military’s top ranks so that settlers and and religious dictates of Greater Israel. explicitly because of concerns not to their interests are treated even more While a large majority of Israel’s Jew- force a potential confrontation centering benevolently than is now the case, and ish citizens favors Israel retaining a Jew- on their religious convictions support- to raise the specter of wide-scale refusal ish majority, many Israelis do not accept ing settlement. This effort is emblem- by conscripts and lower-ranking officers the view that Israel’s control of the occu- atic of increasing numbers of Israelis, to implement orders to constrain or pied territories poses a threat to this ob- drawn primarily from the growing evacuate settlements. A recent study jective. The West Bank, including East settler community and its allies in the revealed that while only 13.7 percent of Jerusalem, has been occupied by Israel ruling right-wing coalition, who hope all soldiers graduated from state religious for almost half a century. It is viewed by to harden today’s political consensus fa- schools, almost one-third of infantry many Israeli Jews as an unremarkable voring settlement in key Israeli security officers are religious, with the proportion part of the fabric of Israel’s communal institutions. Their objective is to increase jumping from only 2.5 percent in 1990 and national existence. Israel’s security the numbers of religious settlers and to 31.4 percent in 2007. like-minded Israelis in the officer corps An effective military force is built SETTLERS, continued on page 6 TO OUR READERS FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE As hope for a two-state Israel-Palestine since two-state peace diplomacy has thus peace fades, advocacy for a “one-state solu- far failed, the vastly more ambitious project Merle Thorpe, Jr. tion” is growing. The ideal of a binational, of one state could succeed? Founder democratic state in which Jews and Pal- The binational “solution” reflects pro- (1917–1994) estinians live in harmony and equality is found frustration and despair, not clear theoretically attractive. But this is a case of analysis. It is no surprise that no one has Philip C. Wilcox, Jr. the perfect as the enemy of the good. defined a practical process to accomplish it. President Who can imagine that Israelis would Some argue that Zionism is doomed agree to abandon their century old struggle since it embodies territorial expansion and Geoffrey Aronson for a Jewish state in favor of secular bina- inequality and that Israel‘s founding goal Director, Research and tionalism, especially as the prospect of a of a Jewish, democratic state and equal- Publica­tions, Editor, Report on Palestinian majority looms large? ity for all its citizens is quaint artifact. But Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories Why would Palestinians, whose real- Zionism remains contested and undefined. ity has been for almost fifty years ade Other nations have overcome through Nitzan Goldberger facto one-state in which Israel forcibly and painful and convulsive struggle deeply Waseem Mardini systematically denies them equality and unjust and entrenched policies like Israel’s Editorial Assistants democracy, believe they would fare bet- post-1967 occupation and settlement of James Andrew Lionberger ter with their powerful neighbor in a de Palestinian lands. And many former mortal Zeinab El Tobgui jure binational state? In practice, wouldn’t enemies have made peace that combines Interns formalizing one state without agreement on mutual sovereignty and thriving cooperative issues that would have enabled two states institutions that enrich coexistence. IN MEMORIAM only internalize the current struggle over But this vision alone is not enough to equality, resources, identity, refugees and avert further tragedy. Only an unprec- Stephen Hartwell Jerusalem? edented combination of wise, determined (1915-2011) Who can conceive that most of the international—and especially U.S.—diplo- DIRECTORS international community, especially the macy, and bold new Israeli and Palestinian United States, would do anything but reject leadership can turn the tide. Landrum R. Bolling a one-state initiative if this notion gained Calvin H. Cobb, Jr. any traction? Arthur H. Hughes Do one state advocates really believe that Richard S.T. Marsh Richard W. Murphy —————— u —————— Jean C. Newsom Gail Pressberg William B. Quandt Nicholas A. Veliotes Philip C. Wilcox, Jr. MApS 1947-2012 The Foundation for Middle East Peace has prepared a set of maps illustrating the evolution of the conflict from the UN Partition Plan in 1947, and the growth of Israel’s occupa- tion and settlements from 1967 to the present. To download visit: fmep.org/resources/ publications-1/Map_progres- sion_1947_2012 Israel’s High Court invalidated a March 11, 2012 agreement between the ­government and settlers as inconsistent with the Court-ordered demolition of Copyright © 2012 the illegal settlement. [See Short Takes, page 7.] 2 v Report on Israeli Settlement March-April 2012 SETTLEMENT THRIVES AS DIPLOMACY STALLS “There is no need to look any further,” crows a newspaper informal discussions earlier this year in Jordan, the Israeli team advertisement jointly published by Israel’s Land Authority and had suggested that any solution creating a Palestinian state the Ministry of Housing and Construction. “More land, More needs to “preserve the social and economic fabric of all com- apartments, More possibilities.” Permits for 6,000 dwelling munities, Jewish or Palestinian.” In other words, Israel wants units are listed, including 500 in the settlements of Har Homa settlement interests to be acknowledged and preserved as part (East Jerusalem), 180 in Givat Ze’ev, and 351 in Betar Illit. of a final status agreement. The threat to Israeli settlement expansion posed by the “The only negotiations that Netanyahu implemented Barack Obama administration’s initial demand for a settle- was the Hebron agreement [of 1996],” explained Palestinian ment freeze has long passed. Recent figures published by negotiator Nabil Sha’ath. “He didn’t do anything after this. I Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics show a complete recovery don’t believe that Netanyahu is ideologically a radical. He is from the limited and short-lived effects of the U.S. policy. pragmatic. He believes that one day he will need to return to The Jewish population in the West Bank soared to 342,414 the peace process, but until then he will take as much land as last year, representing an annual increase of 4.3 percent. Not possible in order to establish facts on the ground.” included in this figure are more than 200,000 Israelis living in On March 28, 2012, more than 100 settlers moved into a East Jerusalem.