Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest circulation newspaper, today publishes an interesting investigative piece on the state of settlement construction in the West Bank. If you closely follow Peace Now's reports on settlement construction, you are probably familiar with the data -- at least with the general trends.
Here is Yedioth's story:
by Ofer Petersburg and Zvi Singer
They are the focus of President Obama’s interest in the Middle East and are even liable to cause a head-on collision between Israel and the US. But what is really going on in the settlements—are more housing units being built? Are plans being frozen? And how many new houses are being built at any given moment? Yedioth Ahronoth presents: Judea and Samaria, the situation today.
Settler representatives claim that the goal of the construction is to meet the natural growth needs of the population. On the other hand, left wing organizations claim that massive construction serves new settlers. But they all—from Amana, the settlement branch of Gush Emunim in Judea and Samaria to Peace Now to the Defense Ministry and the Housing Ministry, agree on one datum: in recent years there has been more growth in the settlements than in all the Israeli governments ever before.
When Olmert became prime minister, there were 250,000 residents in Judea and Samaria. When he left, the number was more than 300,000. The immense construction boom of the previous government still continues, although in the last half year, since Binyamin Netanyahu assumed office, not a single new tender for construction was issued in Judea and Samaria. For comparison’s sake, many tenders were issued in recent years for up to thousands of housing units a year. The Housing Ministry attributes the lack of new tenders to American pressure. In the meantime, there are also no instructions for new tenders in the Housing Ministry. Netanyahu and Lieberman agreed during coalition talks to promote construction in E-1 between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, where about 3,000 housing units are planned, and to thereby connect the two cities. As a result of strong American opposition, this is unlikely to happen.
According to figures of the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2008 no fewer than 3,200 new housing units were under active construction throughout Judea and Samaria. And indeed, a comprehensive tour of a number of Judea and Samaria settlements attests more than anything else to this: heavy machinery works constantly to flatten and prepare areas for construction, and Palestinian laborers work hard on completing the construction of dozens of new housing units. For example, the capital of Samaria, Ariel, suffered in the past from a deep freeze on construction until a short time before the end of his term, Olmert approved the construction of 170 apartments that are now in the process of being built. The industrial zone also received a green light, and at this time 27 new plants are being populated. Not far from there, in Barkan, a new neighborhood of 50 housing units is being built. But Ariel Mayor Ron Nahman is not necessarily pleased: “I see no future, because now we will need approval for new neighborhoods from Obama, from Hillary Clinton and from King Hussein, and I don’t think that will be easy.”
“Israel has flagrantly violated the American administration’s restrictions on construction in the territories
in the past year,” says Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer. Conversely, Settlers Council Director
General Pinhas Wallerstein is not overly excited about the large extent of construction: “All these housing units
have already been sold. There is not a single available apartment. They do nothing to solve the shortage created by
natural growth. The minimum needed for natural growth in Judea and Samaria is about 2,500 housing units every year.
The absolute majority of construction starts are in areas that are in the consensus, and there is no reason that
this not continue.”
The Numbers:
Revava: 52 houses under construction
Yakir: About 10 houses in the final stages of construction
Ariel and Barkan:
1. Expanding the Ariel-Barkan industrial zone by 27 new plants, now under construction
2. 220 houses in Ariel under construction.
3. 50 houses in Barkan under construction
Maale Shomron: Villa neighborhood under construction
Elkana: 52 houses under construction
Beit Aryeh: Dozens of villas under construction
Halamish: 24 houses. Construction was stopped last week because of a Peace Now petition to the High Court of Justice
Modiin Illit: 617 houses under construction
Mevo Horon: A number of new villas under construction
Beitar Illit: 327 houses under construction
Hebron: A ten story building next to Beit Romano is being planned
Sansana: 68 houses are planned
Efrat: Dozens of new villas under construction
Tekoa: Dozens of new villas under construction
Shilo: 40 houses. The tender was frozen by the defense minister two weeks ago
Ofra: Ten houses under construction
Givat Zeev: about 750 houses are under construction and will be populated in August
Maale Adumim: About 900 houses are under construction. The majority have been completed
Keidar: The ground is being prepared to build 42 houses
Nokdim: infrastructure work has been completed for a new villa neighborhood
This is good news, but I hope they will increase it further. The only hope for peace is large scale Jewish settlement in Judea/Samaria, because only this will convince the Arabs that Israeli is here to stay. When Israel destroyed Gush Katif, it convinced them that Israel was, in Nasrallah's words, nothing more than a "cob web" and on the verge of collapse. HAMAS and HIZBULLAH said "you see, we were right, Israel is going to go under so support us because we will keep up the pressure. Today they flee Gush Katif, tomorrow they will flee Sederot after we fire enough rockets on it, the day after they will leave Tel Aviv!". HAMAS won the Palestinian elections on this basis and they increased their rocket fire on Israel. This perceived weakness led to the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit and two subsequent wars. The settlements are the best investment in Israel's future. Once the Arabs give up their dream of eradicating Israel, then the future of Judea/Samaria and the situation of the Palestinians there can be settled in a spirit of good will without the Jews giving up their natural rights to live in the area, which is the Biblical cradle of the Jewish people and the source of Jewish rights to live anywhere in the Land of Israel, including Tel Aviv.
It is interesting that the Bible Old Testament, a historical novel that is accurate in many ways but a novel nonetheless, is used as jusification for
expansion. The Jews are, perhaps, the most imaginative and creative goup on the planet. However, their behaviour towards the Palestinians is not in the best tradition of Jewish idealism. Yahweh did not appear during the holocaust although the Bible assures us that he threw plagues on the Egyptians who, compared to the Nazis, were relatively benighn.