Settlement Monitor Author(s): Geoffrey Aronson Source: Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Winter, 1997), pp. 135-142 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2537799 Accessed: 26-02-2015 18:11 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of California Press and Institute for Palestine Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Palestine Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 108.45.56.202 on Thu, 26 Feb 2015 18:11:19 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SETTLEMENT MONITOR EDITED BY GEOFFREY ARONSON This section covers items-reprinted articles, statistics,and maps-pertaining to Israeli settlementactivities in the Gaza Strip and the WestBank, including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Unless otherwise stated, the items in this section have been written by GeoffreyAronson directlyfor this section or drawn from material written by him for Report on Israeli Settlementin the Occupied Territories(hereinafter SettlementReport), a Washington-based bimonthly newsletterpublished by the Foundation for Middle East Peace. JPS is grateful to the Foundation for permission to draw on its material. Major documents relating to settlementsappear in the Documents and Source Material section. Raising Settlements' Public Profile Netanyahu Steers SettlementPolicy Toward Confrontationwith the Palestinians...... 135 A New SettlementBloc Near Ramallah?by Barton Gellman ...... ................... 136 Flashpoints of the September Explosion: Settlementsand Roads ..................... 138 New Jerusalem-EtzionBloc Road Opens ............ ................................ 140 Settlement Chronology ................ .......................................... 140 Loan Guarantees Update ClintonAdministration Offsets 80 Percent of the 1996 SettlementPenalty ..... ....... 142 RAISING SETLEMENTS' PUBLC tiniansare all characterizedby extensive PROFILE Israelicivilian settlement. They include: * Jerusalemeast to thesettlement of Ma'ale NETANYAHU STEERS SETrLEMENT POLICY Adumimand northto thesettlement of Givat TowARD CONFRONTATION WITH THE Ze'ev; PALESTINIANS * theJordan Valley, in thebroadest mean- ingof thatterm; From SettlementReport; November 1996 * theEtzion Bloc settlements:Efrat, Betar, Sincehis electionin June,Prime Minister and othersettlement communities south of BenjaminNetanyahu and his government, Jerusalem; unliketheir Labor predecessors, have proven * otherblocs of settlementsin theWest incapableof "buildingquietly." In theshort Banksimilar to theKatif Bloc in theGaza timesince his election,Netanyahu has been Strip. determinedto changethe context in which The Oslo II map,which presages these Israeli-Palestiniandiplomacy is conducted. preferences,is almosta mirrorimage of Ariel He has raisedthe public profile of Israel's Sharon's"cantonization" plan, which envis- commitmentto settlementin theoccupied ages thecreation of noncontiguousPalestin- areas,placing an internationalspotlight on ian administeredcantons in theWest Bank thissubject and embitteringrelations with and Gaza Stripsurrounded by Israelisettle- Palestinians,who doubthis commitmentto mentsand roads. the dialogueestablished during the Labor Netanyahubelieves that settlements are a years.Despite these changes, Netanyahu has centralfactor in determiningIsrael's borders yetto departfrom the pace or directionof and in limitingthe extent of Palestinian colonizationfollowed by Labor. autonomouscontrol in theoccupied territo- ries.He opposes Palestinianstatehood, Rabin's View althoughhe is morewilling to concede The areas of theWest Bank and Gaza powersto thePalestinian Authority (PA) in Stripthat Rabin intended to annexto Israel Gaza thanin theWest Bank. Like Rabin and as partof a finalsettlement with the Pales- Peres,Netanyahu supports a Palestinianpol- Journalof PalestineStudies XXVI, no. 2 (Winter1997), pp. 135-142. This content downloaded from 108.45.56.202 on Thu, 26 Feb 2015 18:11:19 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 136 JOURNALOF PALESTINE STUDIMES itythat is "lessthan a state."But he cannot processand thehealth of Israel'sLabor conceive,as Labordid, that the Palestinian governmentsoutweighed the damage caused leadershipwould agree,in thecontext of a by Israel'ssettlement actions, and he worked finalsettlement, to theextensive limitations to defusepopular anger. The Netanyahu on statesovereignty that Israel demands, election,and his government'sactions and Netanyahusupports the concept of settle- wordssince June, have made thisunderlying mentblocs thatare at theheart of Labor's presumptionfar more difficult to maintain. settlementvision-a strategythat was first Palestinianconcessions concerning settle- articulatedin thesettlement plan introduced mentsand a hostof issuesthat were once by thegovernment of MenachemBegin one rationalizedas necessaryway stationsalong monthafter the Camp David summitin 1978. theroad to eventualindependence, now are He intendsto makethese blocs territorially viewedfar less charitably.Netanyahu has contiguousthrough the expansion of hous- removedeven thepretense that Palestinian ing,industry, and commercialdevelopment statehoodwill be a diplomaticallynegotiated along thebypass roads and maineast-west optionat finalstatus talks not yet begun. arteriesrunning through the West Bank. The Netanyahugovernment continued to Netanyahuviews the territories as divided delaythe IDF's redeploymentfrom Hebron, intothree areas: areas with a Palestinian followingthe precedent established by his population,others with Israeli settlement, predecessors,until forced to do so by the and therest "unpopulated" or "empty"areas. crisisthat erupted in September.The rede- For thoseisolated settlements that cannot be ploymentin thecity only marginally will fittedinto this framework, he intendsto modifythe protections afforded to thecity's followthe precedent established at Netzarim, fourhundred settlers and theconsolidation thetiny settlement in theGaza Stripthat has of a territorialbridge among the various been a flashpoint for conflict despite exten- areasof Israelisettlement in thecity that sive protectionsestablished in cooperation were agreedupon by Israeland Palestinian PA withthe negotiatorslast spring. PrimeMinister Netanyahu intends to claimlarge parts of area C-the 70 percentof Iftoday the PA longsfor the golden days theWest Bank where settlements, military of Peresand Rabin,it is because Labor installations,and statelands are located-by convincedthe Palestinian leadership to ac- definingthe sought-after portions as security cept theseductive concept that peace and areas.He intendsthat new settlementseven- settlementswere not mutuallyexclusive. The tuallywill be establishedin theseregions. currentIsraeli government, in contrast,has The twelvenew settlementscalled forin a no interestin mollifyingits erstwhile Pales- $4 billionplan to increasethe settler popula- tinianpartners, and makesno secretof its tionto a halfmillion by 2000,presented to oppositionto Palestinianindependence any- Netanyahuby settlerleaders, were approved wherebetween the Mediterranean Sea and duringthe Shamir era. Prospectivenew set- theJordan River. tlements,like the anticipatedexpansion of In thisenvironment, settlements have existingsettlements, are to be locatedon been transformedinto a battleground. lands thatwere eitherdeclared "state lands" by theShamir government or thatfall within A NEw SETTLEMENT BLOC NEAR RAMALLAH? themaster-plan boundaries of existingsettle- Barton Gellman, "FromSettlement to ments. City on the WestBank: Planned Expansion The Negotiating Environment Would Put Jewish Metropolis in Prime Arab- Onlya fewmonths into his term,Netan- Inhabited Area' yahu'ssettlement record is limited,but in The day afterPrime Minister Benjamin contrastto movesduring the Labor years, his Netanyahuwas electedlast spring, this West marginalalterations of Israel'ssettlement pol- Bank settlement[Nachliel] posted an exul- icies have occurredin a politicalcontext tantsign at itsgate. Beginning immediately, characterizedby a steadilydeteriorating itsaid, Nachliel's "Torah community" of stalemate.When PA ChairmanYasir Arafat OrthodoxJews would buildand sell sixty- was forcedto respondto Israel'ssettlement eightnew apartmentsalongside the sixty-one activitiesduring the Labor era-at Hebronin alreadyhere. March1994, Efrat in January1995, and Jerusalemin May 1995-he consistently maintainedthat the continuation of theOslo * Washington Post, 9 December1996. This content downloaded from 108.45.56.202 on Thu, 26 Feb 2015 18:11:19 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SEmEmENT MONrrOR 137 DoublingNachliel's housing stock, a pro- A fewmiles southeast of here,settlement jectfor which construction starts next month, leaderPinhas Wallerstein showed how Nach- is thesmallest of theambitions revived here liel could be linkedwith other settlements to by Israel'srightward electoral shift. Over a forma thickcolumn of Jewish-inhabited color-codedmap as big