israeli frozen, but still cooking

8/9/2019 Israeli Frozen, But Still Cooking

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http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/israel-and-palestine/100721/israeli-settlement-freeze

Israeli settlements: frozen, but still cookingBy Matt Beynon Rees Created July 22, 2010 06:40 Subhead: News analysis: Peace talks hinge on extension of settlement freeze.Byline: Matt Beynon Rees

JERUSALEM Palestinian negotiators said again this week theyd refuse to re -enter

direct peace talks with Israel unless the current partial freeze on construction in Israeli

settlements is extended when its term runs out in September.

But as a report released this week by the Israeli human- rights organization BTselem

reveals, a real settlement freeze would have to be a very, very big chill.

BTselems report [2], called By Hook or By Crook: Israeli Settlement Policy in the West

Bank, documents the massive scope of Israels settlement operation. It say s that

hundreds of millions of dollars are being paid to settlers, real estate developers and

settlement municipalities as incentives to expand the settlements. It also highlights the

manner in which every layer of Israeli bureaucracy continues to be involved in an

expansion project that successive Israeli governments have pledged in international

forums to halt.

For the human rights group, the issue is not political. Jessica Montell, BTselems

executive director, said that the inequality of life in the West Bank rather good if

youre an Israeli and pretty bad if youre Palestinian is the most objectionable upshot

of the settlements, which she adds are illegal under international law.

In the West Bank, your rights are based on your nationality, she sa id.

The Palestinian negotiators, who said this week that direct talks would have to wait for a

renewal of the construction freeze, would agree. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu agreed last November, under U.S. pressure, to a 10-month partial freeze on
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/israel-and-palestine/100721/israeli-settlement-freezehttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/israel-and-palestine/100721/israeli-settlement-freezehttp://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/201007_By_Hook_and_by_Crook.asphttp://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/201007_By_Hook_and_by_Crook.asphttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/israel-and-palestine/100721/israeli-settlement-freeze


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construction. But he has refused to commit to a renewal of that freeze even though the

United States has coaxed the two sides into indirect negotiations.

BTselem officials note that the settlement freeze will have been almost worthless

unless its ex tended. When the freeze was initiated, Netanyahu gave exemptions to2,500 housing units. The Israeli authority which governs the West Bank adds that there

have been 400 instances of illegal construction during the freeze, only a few of which

have been torn down.

The main problem is that the freeze is too short, says Montell. The planning process

is long and many buildings were started before the freeze or received permits before the

freeze. If the freeze continues, then youd see the effect.

If construction restarts in September, Israel would likely restart an operation of

staggering proportions. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, under which

Israel was supposed to halt construction in the settlements, the West Banks settler

population has risen from 110,000 to 301,000. (Add the dozen Israeli neighborhoods in

East Jerusalem and youre up to 500,000 Israelis living on land deemed occupied by the

international community, out of a total population of 7.3 million.)

Though Israel repeated its promise to halt building in the settlements to President

George W. Bush under his 2003 Road Map, Israeli governments have continually

provided massive subsidies, which in effect encourage Israelis to move to the

settlements in contravention of the policy Israel claims to propound. Since Israel signed

onto the Road Map, the settler population is up 30 percent.

Over 20 percent of the growth in the settlement population is by migration from Israel

itself. It isnt the natural growth Israels government frequ ently cites, meaning the need

to house people born in the settlements. Thats twice the rate of growth of the most

vibrant areas within Israels border.


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how much the Ministry of Construction and Housing was giving to the settlements, said

Eyal Hareuveni, the reports author.

Some observers argue that the number of settlers is now simply too large for them to be

moved in a future peace deal. Montell disputes that.

She argues that if the financial incentives were reversed, many settlers would happily

move back inside Israels borders. She cites settlements on the eastern side of Israels

separation barrier that is, those on whats often thought of as the si de which will one

day be part of a Palestinian state where residents have been quoted in Israeli media

as saying theyd like to leave. They cant leave, however, because their property values

have dropped and a comparable home in Israel is too expensive. If, she argues, such

people received aid to move back to Israel, many settlements would empty out.

You could put in place policies for providing disincentives for living there, Montell said.

People would leave if these were the conditions.

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct an error: The BTselems report [2],

called By Hook or By Crook: Israeli Settlement Policy in the West Bank, says that

hundreds of millions of dollars are being paid to settlers, real estate developers and

settlement municipalities not hundreds of billions.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/201007_By_Hook_and_by_Crook.asphttp://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/201007_By_Hook_and_by_Crook.asphttp://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/201007_By_Hook_and_by_Crook.asphttp://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/201007_By_Hook_and_by_Crook.asp

israeli frozen, but still cooking

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