After the freeze
After the imposition of the freeze, it didn't take long for the Yesha Council, the organization of the settlers in Judea and Samaria, to come out strongly against it. Netanyahu was supposed to meet with them, but his sudden illness, that caused him to cancel his planned trip to Germany for a joint Cabinet meeting with the German government, also caused him to miss a crucial meeting with the settler representatives. Maybe it was a convenient "political illness" because it was well timed to avoid him having to be confronted by them. Anyway, the settler groups quickly came out against the freeze, and some of them started direct action, preventing the building inspectors from reaching construction sites in order to shut them down. In at leaat two places there were minor scuffles and confrontations.
Nevertheless, inspectors in the past few days have issued about 50 stop-work orders at construction sites on the West Bank. To forestall major opposition, Netanyahu went public on Tuesday emphasizing that the freeze is temporary and a one-time thing. It should be remembered that all this contruction is in already exisiting settlements for natural growth. The ban on new settlements and appropriation of Palestinian land remains in effect.
In order to make the process more efficient, Netanyahu announced the deployment of 40 more inspectors, because now there are too few to carry out the task. But, the process is not so simple. The rule is that once a foundation has been laid, then the construction work can proceed, but the question arises, how much of the foundation, and what if the foundation is laid after the inspector has supposedly closed the site, will it then be allowed to continue.
The 300,000 Israeli settlers living on the West Bank and their supporters are not going to be easily discouraged. Apart from anything else, some of them have put their money into mortgages for houses, and finance for shopping centers and factories, while the local authorities have put up money for kindergartens, schools and medical centers.
No-one I know thinks that instituting this temporary freeze will make any difference to the so-called peace process. Not only was the American-mandated freeze immediately rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab States, notwithstanding the nice words that Secty. Clinton said about it, but noone thinks that the Palestinians will change their attitude at all. They will simply take this as an accomplished concession and demand more. The question is whether or not, after seeing the negative response to this US-demanded concession, Obama will say enough of this nonsense, or will he accept their position as he has before, and demand further Israeli concessions, in order to get the Palestinians back to the table. Is it worth it to him to continue to play this losing game?
Nevertheless, inspectors in the past few days have issued about 50 stop-work orders at construction sites on the West Bank. To forestall major opposition, Netanyahu went public on Tuesday emphasizing that the freeze is temporary and a one-time thing. It should be remembered that all this contruction is in already exisiting settlements for natural growth. The ban on new settlements and appropriation of Palestinian land remains in effect.
In order to make the process more efficient, Netanyahu announced the deployment of 40 more inspectors, because now there are too few to carry out the task. But, the process is not so simple. The rule is that once a foundation has been laid, then the construction work can proceed, but the question arises, how much of the foundation, and what if the foundation is laid after the inspector has supposedly closed the site, will it then be allowed to continue.
The 300,000 Israeli settlers living on the West Bank and their supporters are not going to be easily discouraged. Apart from anything else, some of them have put their money into mortgages for houses, and finance for shopping centers and factories, while the local authorities have put up money for kindergartens, schools and medical centers.
No-one I know thinks that instituting this temporary freeze will make any difference to the so-called peace process. Not only was the American-mandated freeze immediately rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab States, notwithstanding the nice words that Secty. Clinton said about it, but noone thinks that the Palestinians will change their attitude at all. They will simply take this as an accomplished concession and demand more. The question is whether or not, after seeing the negative response to this US-demanded concession, Obama will say enough of this nonsense, or will he accept their position as he has before, and demand further Israeli concessions, in order to get the Palestinians back to the table. Is it worth it to him to continue to play this losing game?
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:15 AM
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