Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories
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REPORT ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENT IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES A Bimonthly Publication of the Foundation for Middle East Peace Volume 21 Number 4 July-August 2011 POLITICAL STALEMATE AND SECURITY COOPERATION EQUALS CONTINUING OCCUPATION By Geoffrey Aronson the land (see pages 3 and 7), define the “Living in this country is overall environment. The ranks of the As the September date for consider- great. If you go to the Ben- ruling Fateh cadre are preoccupied not ation of the Palestine Liberation Gurion Airport you can’t find a only with endemic sniping between Organi zation’s UN bid for recognition Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and PLO luggage cart. If you go shop- and state membership approaches, the chairman Mahmoud Abbas, but more attention of Israelis, as well as many ping at the supermarket you ominously with a high-stakes internal Palestinians, is focused elsewhere. can’t find shopping carts. battle between Abbas and former Fatah The occupation is more distant from Everything is great here.” strong man in Gaza Mohamed Dahlan. everyday Israeli concerns than at any Nesher mayor David Amar, The PA’s financial troubles are also at time in the last two decades. Israelis are Yediot Aharonot, August 2, 2011 center stage; the vital salaries to PA protesting about internal domestic employees have been delayed. Top PA issues, from the price of cottage cheese officials in Ramallah are once again to the critical lack of affordable hous- warning that, in light of the failure of ing. In contrast, relations with ticularly those associated with state-sup- the Oslo process to bring an end to set- Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza ported “outposts” whose signature policy tlement and occupation, regardless of Strip, or the grinding expansion of set- is “price tag” attacks on Pale stinians. what happens at the United Nations, it tlements, hardly rate attention. Although Israeli forces continue to enter is perhaps time for the PA to disband The “calm” security environment is at Area A at will, as they have since and hand Israel responsibility for man- the heart of Israel’s national complacen- Operation Defensive Shield in April aging the occupation. Close supporters cy. As columnist Nahum Barnea wrote 2002, Israel’s first line of defense against of Fayyad are counted among those on July 15, “The situation that has been Palestinian opponents is the security expres sing such a view. created in the West Bank, in practice, is forces of the Palestinian Au thor ity. In Fayyad was the author, in mid-2009, a Palestinian autonomy under the aus- Gaza, the standoff between Israel and of a two-year blueprint for statehood— pices of the IDF. From the standpoint Hamas is played out through occasional “Palestine, Ending the Occupation, of the Israeli government, there is a deadly but nonetheless almost routine Establishing the State”—whose “sell-by” winning combination here: political confrontations. date is fast approaching. The plan was stalemate along with security coopera- The diplomatic calendar is preoccu- meant to respond to U.S.-led calls for tion. This was the heartfelt wish of pied with whatever action the United “bottom up” construction of the institu- Menachem Begin when he signed the Nations may take in Septem ber, but tions deemed necessary for statehood. Camp David Accords. This was the among Palestinians, indifference mixed Many diplomats compared Fayyad’s vision that he took from Jabotinsky. with a sense of foreboding prevails. The effort positively to Ben Gurion’s state- This is what they imagined when they stillborn reconciliation between Fateh building project during the British man- sang, ‘How shall they dwell in happi- and Hamas, and what President Shimon date. Fayyad argued that wining inter- ness, the son of Arabia, the son of Peres once described as the never-end- national recognition of the state-build- Nazareth and my son.’” ing contest for “staying power,” which, ing effort could tip the diplomatic bal- In the West Bank, the IDF is engag - as always, continues to be most graphi- ance against occupation, particularly in ed more frequently in confrontations cally expres sed in the ongoing struggle with settlers than with Palestin ians, par- between Arabs and Jews for control of OCCUPATION, continued on page 8 TO OUR READERS FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE The Obama administration is seeking a Washington’s objection to UN support way to avoid another diplomatic train for Palestinian self-determination through Merle Thorpe, Jr. wreck at the United Nations, where it has UN membership also ignores the UN’s Founder vowed to oppose a Palestinian bid for UN support for two states in its 1947 partition (1917–1994) membership. Following the U.S. veto in plan, celebrated in Israel’s Declaration of February, which contradicted the adminis- Independence, and that UN resolutions Philip C. Wilcox, Jr. tration’s own policy, of a Security Council have been pillars of U.S. peace efforts for President Resolution opposing settlements, another six decades. Israel’s claim that a Palestinian Geoffrey Aronson such confrontation driven by domestic poli- “unilateral” appeal to the UN is a betrayal Director, Research and tics rather than strategic interests would is even less persuasive, given Israel’s unilat- Publica tions, Editor, Report on further compromise American’s sinking eral—and illegal—settlement project, Israeli Settlement in the Occupied credibility as the lead mediator for a two- which is designed to cement its control in Territories state peace agreement. the occupied territories and avoid a genuine Nitzan Goldberger The U.S. claim that UN action for two-state peace. Waseem Mardini Palestinian membership would undermine In a rational world, Israel and the U.S. Editorial Assistants renewal of direct negotiations rings hollow. would applaud UN support for a two-state Exclusive reliance on direct negotiations in peace and a Palestinian state within the Tanya Malik recent years has failed because the U.S. and 1967 lines, thus burying the stubborn claim Ramzi Nimr Interns the international community have lacked that the real cause of the Israeli-Palestinian the will to create a level playing field for conflict is Palestinian rejection of Israel. IN MEMORIAM successful negotiations, and Israel has American opposition to Palestinian state- Peter A. Gubser exploit ed its advantage as the much strong - hood in this highly charged context would (1941–2010) er, occupying power. In any case, the be seen as an historic blunder, turning DIRECTORS Palestinian Authority has affirmed the Washington’s declared support for a two- obvious fact that UN membership, or some state peace on its head. Landrum R. Bolling kind of improved UN status, would not Calvin H. Cobb, Jr. preclude essential renewed negotiations. James J. Cromwell 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 nego tiated division of historic Pales tine. It publishes the bi-monthly Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories. Copyright © 2011 Sign up to receive the Report by e-mail, to be notified of events in Wash ing ton, D.C., and more. Visit us at www.fmep.org. 2 O Report on Israeli Settlement July-August 2011 NABI SALEH AND THE PRICE OF NON-VIOLENT OPPOSITION Near the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh is a natural spring, all of its forms, to defend our freedom and dignity as a people, Ein al-Qaws. Since 2009 settlers from the nearby settlement of and to seek justice and peace in our land in order to protect Halamish have prevented Palestinian access to the spring and our children and secure their future. surrounding land. In addition to mounting court challenges to the The civil nature of our actions is the light that will over- settlers’ action, residents from Nabi Saleh and the nearby village of come the darkness of the occupation, bringing a dawn of free- Dir Nizam began a series of Friday protests. Bassem Tamimi, a dom that will warm the cold wrists in chains, sweep despair leader of the popular protests, was recently charged by the Israel from the soul, and end decades of oppression. Defense Forces with inciting and organizing “unauthorized These actions are what will expose the true face of the processions” in the village. (See the article in Report Vol. 21 No. 3) occupation, where soldiers point their guns at a woman walk- Tamimi’s address of June 6, 2011, to an Israeli military court ing to her fields or at checkpoints; at a child who wants to follows. drink from the sweet water of his ancestors’ fabled spring; against an old man who wants to sit in the shade of an olive Your Honor, tree, once mother to him, now burnt by settlers. I hold this speech out of belief in peace, justice, freedom, We have exhausted all possible actions to stop attacks by the right to live in dignity, and out of respect for free thought settlers, who refuse to adhere to your courts’ decisions, which in the absence of just laws. time and again have confirmed that we are the owners of the Every time I am called to appear before your courts, I land, ordering the removal of the fence erected by them. become nervous and afraid. Eighteen years ago, my sister was Each time we tried to approach our land, implementing killed in a courtroom such as this, by a staff member. In my these decisions, we were attacked by settlers, who prevented lifetime, I have been nine times imprisoned for [a total] of us from reaching it as if it were their own.