Recently in Settlements in Focus

Bibi Govt Establishes 3 New Settlements: What You Need to Know

By Lara Friedman on April 26, 2012 4:43 PM | 2 Comments

On April 24th the Israeli Government issued a brief press release (Hebrew) stating: "The Ministerial Team that was nominated by the Government, decided to legalize the settlement points of Sansana, Rechelim and Bruchin, which were established during the 90's based on previous governments' decisions."

With this decision, these three outposts become new "legal" settlements in the West Bank, with all the benefits that entails, including the right to plan and expand.

This is the first time a government of Israel has formally established even a single new settlement since the Shamir Government in 1990. Moreover, all Israeli governments have promised to remove the illegal outposts (as required, for example, under the he Roadmap). However, until now, no real outpost has been ever removed.

Continue reading Bibi Govt Establishes 3 New Settlements: What You Need to Know.

Op-Ed: Stop the excuses, boycott the settlements

By Lara Friedman on March 27, 2012 12:05 PM | 2 Comments

Peter Beinart's recent New York Times article advocating a settlement boycott has sparked a spectacular public display of Jewish angst. Apparently for many who view themselves as the judges, advocates and juries of what is "kosher" progressive Jewish activism, his suggestion is beyond the pale.

They agree that settlements are a problem, even a shonda, but boycott fellow Jews? Heaven forbid. And even if it weren't Jewishly distasteful, it wouldn't work anyway, so don't go there.

Continue reading Op-Ed: Stop the excuses, boycott the settlements.

As the Illegal Outpost of Migron Goes, So Goes All of Israel (Huffington Post)

By Lara Friedman on February 15, 2012 1:12 PM | 4 Comments

The fate of Migron, an illegal outpost in the heart of the West Bank, is about to be decided. The implications of this decision are about far more than the future of a handful of settlers in a single outpost. This decision will be a litmus test of Israeli rule of law and, ultimately, of Israel's capacity to make peace with the Palestinians.

How can one outpost be so important?

Continue reading As the Illegal Outpost of Migron Goes, So Goes All of Israel (Huffington Post).

Settlements in Focus: What's All the Fuss over Migron?

By Lara Friedman on February 6, 2012 10:31 AM | 1 Comment

Q: There is a lot of talk in the Israeli media these days about the outpost of Migron, and Peace Now has launched a major campaign around the issue, with the publication of its document "The Migron File."

Continue reading Settlements in Focus: What's All the Fuss over Migron?.

Settlements Not an Obstacle to Peace? Get Serious. (Huffington Post)

By Lara Friedman on January 12, 2012 10:52 AM | No Comments

Today, Peace Now released a new report entitled "Torpedoing the Two State Solution -- The Strategy of the Netanyahu Government," detailing a number of trends in settlement expansion that directly, and it seems, deliberately, undermine the viability of the two-state solution.

Continue reading Settlements Not an Obstacle to Peace? Get Serious. (Huffington Post).

Peace Now's Settlement Watch report: 2011 a record year for West Bank settlement construction

January 10, 2012 12:44 PM | No Comments

A new report by Peace Now's Settlement Watch project shows that 2011 was a record year in West Bank settlement construction. Worse, the past years highlighted dangerous trends on the ground in the West Bank, which may end up torpedoing a two-state solution: an Israeli government intention to legalize illegal outposts and thus transform them into full-fledged settlements, and building in sensitive locations such as E-1, Efrat, and Givat Hamatos, which would deny contiguity for a future Palestinian state.

Continue reading Peace Now's Settlement Watch report: 2011 a record year for West Bank settlement construction.

New APN op-ed on HuffPo: The Cost of Appeasing Settler Terrorism

By Lara Friedman on December 30, 2011 12:11 PM | No Comments

The Netanyahu government isn't serious about stopping settler violence.

This is the only possible conclusion. While Netanyahu and his cohorts denounce Jewish extremists and promise to get tough, actions speak louder than words. And their action this week on outposts sent an unmistakable message to the settlers: not only won't you pay a price for terrorism, but you'll be rewarded.

Continue reading New APN op-ed on HuffPo: The Cost of Appeasing Settler Terrorism.

Settlements in Focus (Nov. 1, 2011): Settlements Back on the Agenda

By Lara Friedman on November 1, 2011 1:46 PM | No Comments

Vol. 7, Issue 1

Talk about settlement construction and a possible new settlement freeze is again in the news. In this edition of Settlements in Focus, we will highlight a number of post-moratorium trends, analyze the current talk about a new settlement freeze, and suggest what would actually be required to make a freeze sufficiently credible to restart, or continue for more than a brief interlude, Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Please note that the numbers in this document reflect the best information that Peace Now has been able to obtain; additional approvals of construction and planning may have been issued that have not yet come to light.

Continue reading Settlements in Focus (Nov. 1, 2011): Settlements Back on the Agenda.

Settlements in Focus: Top 6 Bogus Arguments for Opposing Extension of the Settlement Moratorium (or for Adding Loopholes)

By Lara Friedman on July 29, 2010 12:54 PM | 2 Comments

Volume 6, Issue 5

As made clear in our previous analyses of the settlement moratorium, settlement construction since November 2009 has by no means been frozen. Indeed, so much construction has been permitted under "exceptions" that the moratorium would have to be extended, with no new loopholes, for at least a year before construction on the ground would actually stop.

Extending the current 10-month settlement moratorium, with no new loopholes or exceptions, is vital to Israel and to peace. Failing to do so will have a devastating impact on efforts to launch successful peace talks and will play into the hands of those who seek to delegitimize Israel. New settlement construction will be seen as a sign that Israel would rather rule over Palestinians than forge peace.

Continue reading Settlements in Focus: Top 6 Bogus Arguments for Opposing Extension of the Settlement Moratorium (or for Adding Loopholes).

Settlements in Focus (June 14, 2010): The Settlements Moratorium- A Six-Month Accounting

By Lara Friedman on June 14, 2010 2:30 PM | No Comments

Volume 6, Issue 4

On November 25, 2009, the Government of Israel announced a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction and planning. In December 2009 we offered an early accounting of the moratorium and its impacts, in the form of a "balance sheet" showing the "liabilities" (negative aspects of the moratorium), "accounts receivable" (aspects that could turn out to be either negative or positive) and "assets" (positive aspects of the moratorium), and. In March 2010 we updated this balance sheet.
Now, six months into the moratorium - with the September 2010 expiration of the moratorium looming large in the minds of policymakers in the US and Israel, as well as in those of the settlers and their supporters - we present our latest balance sheet.

Continue reading Settlements in Focus (June 14, 2010): The Settlements Moratorium- A Six-Month Accounting.

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