REPORT ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENT IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES A Bimonthly Publication of the Foundation for Middle East Peace Volume 12 Number 5 September-October 2002 NEW “OUTPOSTS” LEAD SETTLEMENT EXPANSION By Geoffrey Aronson of the road. the hilltops and to show the flag, after I visited Tal Benjamin in November which the government cleans up after A sidebar in the July 30, 2002, edi- 2001, walking the kilometer or so from them in triplicate, laundering all the tion of the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv Ofra, up a dirt road and past Ofra’s new business, approving it ex post facto. No reported, “Tal Benjamin, a military out- residential development of tidy, red- one has the strength to do the right post established next to Ofra eighteen roofed homes before passing through thing, that is, to evacuate our good months ago after the murders by Pale- groves belonging to Ayn Yabrud resi- friends from the land.” stinian gunmen of Benjamin and Talia dents, who dared not try to tend to If Ofra symbolizes one end of the Kahane [the son of Meir Kahane and them in the months after the IDF’s scale of Israel’s dynamic settlement his wife], has been transformed into a arrival. Home sales at the new develop- enterprise and Tal Benjamin the other, civilian location. This week [Minister of ment have been slowed by the intifada then Emmuna lies somewhere in the Defense Benjamin Ben Eliezer] decided and by Israel’s recession. Even so, Ofra’s middle. Emmuna, situated on a hilltop to respond positively to the settlers’ population increased by 6 percent, to overlooking Ofra to the west, was request to civilianize the outpost.” 2,000, in 2001. The new neighborhood among the first of the settlement out- Settlers from Ofra had claimed the boasts its own synagogue, which some posts established in 1996, when the lat- site immediately after the Kahane kill- long-time residents view as yet another est chapter of this method of settlement ings before turning it over to the Israel indication of Ofra’s bittersweet transfor- expansion began. The road to Emmuna Defense Forces (IDF). Tal Benjamin is a mation from an intimate cluster of like- leaves from Ofra, climbing to the top of short walk from the “mother” settlement minded zealots into a successful town. a hill that boasts splendid views east to and overlooks Road 60, the main north- Ofra traces its own origins to an Jordan and north to the next hilltop, south thoroughfare through the heart of “unauthorized” outpost settled in 1976, Ba’al Hatzor, where the IDF operates an the West Bank, opposite the Palestinian and in that sense Tal Benjamin is a important intelligence-gathering site. village of Ayn Yabrud on the other side throw back to Ofra’s own beginnings. In Over the years, young singles gave November 2001, Tal Benjamim was lit- way to 18 married couples living in tle more than a fortified observation ramshackle caravans. On my last visit a Also in this issue: point with a storehouse, a mangey dog new playground had just been built. or two, and a canopy covering the twen- Development of Emmuna was to From the Israeli Press 3 ty chairs used by Sabbath worshipers have been “frozen” under an October Settlement Population Update 8 from Ofra. 1999 deal between the settlers and ——— N ——— When I next visit Tal Benjamin, I Prime Minister Ehud Barak that “legal- expect that the first mobile homes will ized” 32 of 42 outposts established in Visit our website, www.fmep.org, for back issues of the Settlement Report, be in place. This template for its expan- contravention of Israeli planning proce- maps, and current analyses and sion has been used by settlers and their dures. commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian government and military supporters for When one of Emmuna’s residents conflict. more than three decades. met the Prime Minister Sharon recently, “There is here a long-term, timeless he asked, “Why haven’t you begun to The first in a series of Arabic cooperation,” explained a senior construct permanent housing? You’ve and Hebrew translations of the Settlement Report can be viewed Defense Ministry official to Ma’ariv. already been there for quite a while.” at www.fmep.org. “The settlers have grown accustomed to creating facts on the ground, to capture OUTPOSTS, continued on page 7 TO OUR READERS FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE President Bush’s policy of demanding, as security apparatus and replaced it with the price for U.S. reengagement in peace Israeli occupation forces, is surreal. So is Merle Thorpe, Jr. diplomacy, the ouster of Yasser Arafat, an Bush’s demand that Palestinians create a Founder end to Palestinian violence, and Palestinian democracy and choose new leaders while (1917–1994) reform, while asking little of Israeli Prime Israel’s harsh military occupation persists. Minister Ariel Sharon, is not working. The Bush Administration has criticized Philip C. Wilcox, Jr. Palestinian terrorists have recently killed the IDF’s new assault on Arafat’s com- President over ten Israeli civilians after six weeks of pound, which threatens U.S. efforts to win Geoffrey Aronson “relative calm.” (69 Palestinians, including support for UN action against Iraq. But Director, Research and Publica- civilians, have been killed during this peri- basic U.S. policy is unchanged. The White tions, Editor, Report on Israeli od.) Sharon’s decision to virtually imprison House keeps quiet on settlements, and Settlements in the Occupied Territories Arafat, further humiliate him, and destroy Secretary Rumsfeld muses about “so called the remnants of his shattered Authority occupied areas,” which Israel “won” in war. Mallika Good have boosted Arafat’s waning popularity Meanwhile, Israelis and Palestinians con- Editorial Assistant and curtailed nascent reform efforts. tinue to bleed, America’s stock in the Holly Byker Drastic curfews and controls have frag- region sinks to a new low, and the war Intern mented the West Bank at huge human and against terrorism, which requires, above all, economic cost. And Sharon continues help from the Arab and Muslim world, is ADVISERS expanding settlements, pouring fuel on the at risk. Lucius D. Battle flames of Palestinian anger and despair. Landrum R. Bolling Washington’s expectation that Arafat Peter Gubser can crack down on terrorism, now being Jean C. Newsom carried out mostly by his Islamist enemies, Gail Pressberg after Sharon has virtually destroyed Arafat’s Nicholas A. Veliotes N —————— —————— TRUSTEES Ben Eliezer and the “Dummy” Outposts Peter M. Castleman Chairman Lucius D. Battle Calvin H. Cobb, Jr. James J. Cromwell Stephen Hartwell Richard S.T. Marsh Richard W. Murphy William B. Quandt Sally S. Thorpe 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. Ben Eliezer Copyright © 2002 Ha’aretz, July 2, 2002 2 ❖ Report on Israeli Settlement September-October 2002 FROM THE ISRAELI PRESS The Chief of Staff Speaks grasp the essence, it’s clear to you what you have to do. You have to fight for your life. Ya’alon: The campaign is between two societies that are Ha’aretz: Does that mean that any move involving unilat- competing for territory and, to a certain degree, for existence. eral withdrawal before the confrontation is resolved and I don’t think that there is an existential threat to the Palestin- before the violence ends is dangerous? ian society. There is an existential threat to us. In other words, Ya’alon: Of course. That would give a push to the struggle there is asymmetry here, but it is reversed: Everyone thinks against us. Even if tactically it appears right to withdraw from we are Goliath and they are David, but I maintain that it is here or from there, from the strategic perspective, it is differ- the opposite. ent. That was my argument when the question arose of with- The War of Independence was the most important event drawing from Joseph’s Tomb [in Nablus]. It was clear to me in our history and this war was the second most important that leaving the tomb would be an incentive for the Palestin- event. ians, whereas others thought that leaving the site would neu- Ha’aretz: Even more important than the Six-Day War or tralize a point of friction. But those who thought in those the Yom Kippur War? terms were thinking like Israelis, not like Palestinians. Ya’alon: Of course, of course. Because we are dealing with Ha’aretz: So that means that in the present situation, an existential threat. There was an Israeli attempt to end the leaving settlements would be a mistake with potentially cata- Israeli-Palestinian conflict by means of a territorial compro- strophic implications? mise, and the Palestinian reply was war. So this brings us back Ya’alon: Of course. I’m not talking about the political to the confrontation of the pre-state period, the partition pro- solution. I am not saying what will be right and what will not posal and the War of Independence. The facts that are being be right after the violence ends. That’s not my affair. When determined in this confrontation—in terms of what will be asked, I will give my security recommendation. But today, any burned into the Palestinian consciousness—are fateful. If we such departure under terrorism and violence will strengthen end the confrontation in a way that makes it clear to every the path of terrorism and violence. It will endanger us.