Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., November 27, 2007 Kislev 17, 5768 | | Israel Time: 04:55 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
del.icio.us
Digg It!  new
Last update - 10:31 18/11/2007
What do you mean when you say 'no'?
By Gideon Levy
Tags: Israel, Annapolis 

A festive day for peace: Israel is planning to announce a freeze on construction in the settlements as compensation for refusing to discuss the core issues. The Palestinians are ecstatic at all the good-will gestures Israel is throwing their way. First came the release of prisoners, now a freeze on construction, and the prime minister has already spoken with the settler leaders and informed them of the decision. They said it was a "difficult meeting," as it always is, winking at each other deviously.

Undoubtedly, Israel wants peace. But a tiny detail seems to have been forgotten: Israel has signed a series of binding agreements to freeze settlement activity, which it never intended to fulfill. Of the 40 years of occupation, only during three has construction been stopped despite all the agreements and promises to do so. There is no reason to believe that Israel will behave differently this time.

Of all Israel's iniquities in the occupied territories - the brutality, the assassinations, the siege, the hunger, the blackouts, the checkpoints and the mass arrests - nothing serves as witness to its real intentions than the settlements. Certainly for the future. Every home built in the territories, every light pole and every road are like a thousand witnesses: Israel does not want peace; Israel wants occupation. Whoever is serious about peace and a Palestinian state does not put up even a shed.
Advertisement
From Oslo through Camp David and on to the road map, Israel has not put an end to the most criminal enterprise in its history. A short memory refresher: In article 7 of the Oslo Accords, Israel promised that "no party would undertake unilateral steps to alter the situation on the ground, prior to the completion of negotiations for the final status." That really made an impression on Israel. During the 10 years that followed, the number of settlers doubled. What about the heroic peace efforts of Ehud Barak as prime minister? During the 18 months of his government, Israel began the construction of 6,045 residential units in the territories.

And why did Israel sign up to the road map two years later? "The government of Israel will freeze all its settlement activities, in accordance with the Mitchell report, except for natural growth in the settlements." And what happened in practice? Accusations that the Palestinians are not implementing the agreements, and a boatload of new settlers. This was also the case in 2005, another major "year of peace": the disengagement. And what did Israel do in its own backyard? Another 12,000 new settlers.

This terrible enterprise, whose purpose is to foil any chance for peace, is also a criminal enterprise. According to Peace Now, based on Civil Administration data that have been kept hidden for years, about 40 percent of the settlements were built on privately owned land of Palestinians helpless to safeguard what is in most cases their sole property that was robbed in broad daylight by an occupying state. This took place years after the Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that it is illegal to build on private Palestinian land. Indeed, while Israel is debating whether it is a state of laws, whether the prime minister was given a discount for the house on Cremieux Street, and whether we want a powerful Supreme Court, we should remember that what is happening in the territories is the real corruption that engulfs us.

Now we are on the eve of another peace event, yet during the past year another 3,525 new residential units were built in the territories, under the auspices of a government that talks incessantly about the end of occupation and two states. All the grandiloquent statements are void of substance when we read the data: Construction is at a peak in 88 settlements. Go to the territories and see for yourselves. When the construction firm Heftsiba imploded, suddenly hundreds of new settlers came to light, further proof of the magnitude of the "frozen" enterprise.

The mountains of excuses, "settlement blocs" and "natural growth," as well as "beyond the fence" and "inside the fence," cannot conceal the naked truth: The enterprise has not ceased for a moment. It will not stop now. The hands of a quarter million settlers are soiled by iniquity and felony, but they are not the true guilty party. That belongs to all Israel's governments, with the exception of Yitzhak Rabin's second government. All of them have a hand in the iniquity.

Nowadays, when Ehud Olmert says no, what does he mean? Is the "no" really "no" - perhaps it is only "maybe but not right now?" In view of past experience, the bitter truth is that Olmert's "no," like all those before it, is more inviting than "yes."
Bookmark to del.icio.us
The IDF's dilemna
To what extent should measures in the West Bank and Gaza be rolled back in the coming days?
Not one inch
Hamas says they will reject any deals made by Abbas in Annapolis.
  1.   OK, Gideon - now, back to Rosner 10:54  |  Rowan Berkeley 18/11/07
  2.   The settlements have become a "stigma" for the Jewish people 10:59  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/11/07
  3.   Land Issue? 11:01  |  Khaled 18/11/07
  4.   Read My Lips: We Will NEVER Stop Building 11:11  |  Yishai Kohen 18/11/07
  5.   No evidence to the contrary will change Levy`s mind 11:19  |  Sam 18/11/07
  6.   Excellent testimony to confront temptations to duplicity 11:40  |  Ivar 18/11/07
  7.   Re Yishai #4: "We Will NEVER Stop Building" 11:44  |  Esther 18/11/07
  8.   Re Swiss (Dino) #2: settlements = stigma 11:51  |  Esther 18/11/07
  9.   Gideon Levy & the settlements 11:57  |  Arieh ben Mesha 18/11/07
  10.   Wasn`t Deganya a settlement ? 12:01  |  Kobi 18/11/07
  11.   # 8 Esther 12:04  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/11/07
  12.   say `no` 12:06  |  Ralph 18/11/07
  13.   Re Esther #7: "We Will NEVER Stop Building" 12:08  |  Yishai Kohen 18/11/07
  14.   CALLING SETTLEMENTS CRIMINAL IS TO CALL G-D AND HIS WORD CRIMINAL 12:09  |  Bill 18/11/07
  15.   land vs people 12:15  |  Stan 18/11/07
  16.   God says "don`t murder, don`t steal and don`t lie 12:19  |  Honest Jew 18/11/07
  17.   Swiss (Dino) - I see you are back here, 12:20  |  Geulah 18/11/07
  18.   #2 Swiss (Dino) 12:24  |  Daybreak 18/11/07
  19.   What do you mean when you say...... 12:25  |  Margot 18/11/07
  20.   "Halt" all settlement activety it should read at Annapolis 12:27  |  Shimon 18/11/07
  21.   yishai agrees with levy and wins bigtime 12:27  |  ephron the hittite 18/11/07
  22.   6 Ivar,israel must withdraw from ALL occupied territory,which 12:34  |  lakshmi 18/11/07
  23.   I agree - the Czar had it right - no Jews "beyond the pale" 12:38  |  Moshe 18/11/07
  24.   Tel Aviv Settlers, Jaffa Settlers, Lod Settlers, Kibbutz Settler 12:41  |  JewishHeart 18/11/07
  25.   Esther in Haifa 12:43  |  JewishHeart 18/11/07
  26.   pro-settlers,yishai/kobi eg-answer this 12:46  |  srulik 18/11/07
  27.   # 18 Daybreak, take it like a man/woman...... 13:01  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/11/07
  28.   It Stop Not Abu Gihad Levy to Sleep At Night 13:06  |  Joseph E . 18/11/07
  29.   #27 Swiss (Dino) 13:12  |  Daybreak 18/11/07
  30.   Israeli Settlements SHOULD BE ALL OF ISRAEL 13:15  |  Petra 18/11/07
  31.   For Srulik: I Have Answered This MANY Times 13:18  |  Yishai Kohen 18/11/07
  32.   messiach 13:21  |  isiaiah 18/11/07
  33.   IF ONLY A FEW DISPUTED VILLAGES WERE THE WORLDS BIGGEST PROBLEM 13:24  |  Ben 18/11/07
  34.   #22 Israel MUST 13:30  |  Petra 18/11/07
  35.   Thanks again for a great article Gideon! 13:34  |  any terrorist 18/11/07
  36.   Why This Time Has to be Different 13:36  |  T 18/11/07
  37.   just how giddy is gideon? more like dizzy 13:42  |  victor hardman 18/11/07
  38.   Better than Geonocide 13:44  |  FOX 18/11/07
  39.   Nazi Gideon wants throwing out Poles ,Chechs,Russians from "ill 13:44  |  Absolute Sweden 18/11/07
  40.   Ivar,illegal Estonian encroachment upon lands cultivated by Russi 13:48  |  Absolute Sweden 18/11/07
  41.   The Holy Land is for all to worship Almighty G-d. 13:50  |  Worshipper 18/11/07
  42.   Daybreak #18 Above the boy`s head 13:52  |  FOX 18/11/07
  43.   Why This Time Has to be Different 13:53  |  Tzfonit 18/11/07
  44.   # 25 Jewish Heart (2nd try), you must be kidding...... 13:58  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/11/07
  45.   Self hateing Jews 14:03  |  rofehd 18/11/07
  46.   #14 Bible Bill`s criminal deities 14:03  |  Boycott 18/11/07
  47.   In every other country they go to jail 14:15  |  Marilyn 18/11/07
  48.   #42 Fox 14:20  |  Daybreak 18/11/07
  49.   # 42 Fox, the closed season (with Swiss-Dino) is over...??? 14:20  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/11/07
  50.   #4 Say Yishai 14:37  |  ballistic 18/11/07
  51.   ballistic- with nearly 6% annual growth, Yishai is correct 14:51  |  Dani 18/11/07
  52.   Daybreak about Zertal 14:53  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 18/11/07
  53.   Margie inTA WHERE ARE YOU. 15:04  |  Labhras 18/11/07
  54.   Question for Bible Bill # 14 15:17  |  Clickfool 18/11/07
  55.   #2 swiss dino 15:18  |  duncan 18/11/07
  56.   #2 swiss dino p2 15:21  |  duncan 18/11/07
  57.   #52 Margie 15:24  |  Daybreak 18/11/07
  58.   LEVY HAS FORGOTTEN THAT TEL AVIV IS A SETTLEMENT 15:25  |  Grim Reaper 18/11/07
  59.   those who attack gideon are his mirrors 15:37  |  srulik 18/11/07
  60.   # Victor Paul hardhead 15:49  |  LabhraS 18/11/07
  61.   Pigs & Swine = Settlers 15:52  |  POP 18/11/07
  62.   Palestine Annexes Settlements 15:54  |  POP 18/11/07
  63.   47 Justice will be done 16:01  |  John 18/11/07
  64.   Thats why us Palestinians see the non-peace of Israel 16:13  |  charlie 18/11/07
  65.   Pas wants a binational muslim state 16:34  |  zody 18/11/07
  66.   Sterilization, Deportation, Denial, Jew-Free World of Left 16:37  |  B 18/11/07
  67.   BUILD JEWISH CITIES,NOT SETTLEMENTS. MAKE HEBRON, RAMALLAH JEWISH 16:43  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 18/11/07
  68.   Propagandist for Expansionist Islam. The WICKED LIE of Occupation 16:47  |  Linda Rivera 18/11/07
  69.   #60 labhras 16:48  |  duncan 18/11/07
  70.   to rofehd #45 - what reality? 16:48  |  zeev 18/11/07
  71.   Charlie, Mirror time buddy #64 16:50  |  FOX 18/11/07
  72.   Cruel Leftists IGNORE Justice for One Million Jewish Refugees 16:51  |  Linda Rivera 18/11/07
  73.   Arab Muslims Already HaveAn ARAB Palestinian State on Jewish Land 16:56  |  Linda Rivera 18/11/07
  74.   If This Was 1935 16:59  |  Erica 18/11/07
  75.   #54# Primate at Large 17:04  |  D.Segusted 18/11/07
  76.   to Grim Reaper #58 - brothers? 17:04  |  zeev 18/11/07
  77.   Charlie- Israeli gestures make no difference 17:06  |  Sam 18/11/07
  78.   Gideon Levy is a hypocrite 17:20  |  Pssd off Arab 18/11/07
  79.   Fox#71 -Cheetah would suit you better..buddy! 17:25  |  Martin 18/11/07
  80.   #69 duncan 17:25