Barak to IDF: Issue the order to freeze settlement construction

ML: "While Hardman`s reading is wrong, there is no question that the Mandate did require the establishment of a Jewish national home within the area east of the Jordan River." A Jewish national home EAST of the Jordan River????? ML: "I have read it Stephen." You clearly didn't read Article 25, Mark, because it gave Britain the absolute and sole discretion to exempt all the territory EAST of the Jordan River from any of the provisions of the Balfour Declaration. Including, of course "a Jewish national home" EAST of the Jordan River.

I agree vhardman has no argument. But do you read other posts? it seems that the zionists/jews will not be stop by lack of arguments! They Just keep repeating the same lies anyway.

You mean despite the fact Netanyahu has said settlement constuction has halted. It still hasn't happened?

While Hardman's reading is wrong, there is no question that the Mandate did require the establishment of a Jewish national home within the area east of the Jordan River. "The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion." - Article 2, The Palestine Mandate, 24 July 1922 Article 4 provided for the input of the Jewish Agency. Article 6 provided for the settlement of Jews. Article 7 ensured that Jews could become citizens of the Mandate. Article 11 stated that the Jewish Agency could establish public works, services and utilities. Article 22 established that Hebrew would be one of three official languages of the mandate. I have read it Stephen.

"Attorney General Menachem Mazuz told the security cabinet Wednesday ahead of a vote on the decision that there is no real way to enforce the freeze due to a lack of manpower." In oher words, this "offering" to peace has no substance whatsoever. It is merely a public relations ploy. Does Netanyahu actually think that he has any credibility out in the real world?

Israel and the Palestinians have the same problem; The Right is too much to the right and the Left is too much to the left. No leadership can force its decisions in such climent. Its no longer "lying" as much as wishfull thinking! Happy Thanks Giving!

vhardman certainly posts rubbish as a pastime. he thinks that because he is some sort of sewage engineer in the UK he understands what is going on in the West Bank vis a vis the Arabs in East Jerusalem inability to get more than 10 or 20 building permits per year. He thinks he understands the building requirements in the territories because he has laid a few sewage pipes. What he has not understood [the methane from raw sewage can be quite debilitating if inadequate respiratory protection is not adopted: see appropriate health and safety regs] is that in the West Bank and especially in E. Jerusalem there is a long standing political commitment to preventing Arabs from building and simultaneously facilitating Jewish building. This has little to do with typically arduous building regs and everything to do with ethnic cleansing of the Arab from the environs of Jerusalem and the 67 lines, as testified by former senior figures involved in the building program in Jerusalem in particular.

There is no mention of a Jewish State in the League of Nations Mandate over Palestine, rather the establishment of 'a Jewish national home' in Palestine which must safeguard the rights of ALL people. Furthermore the White paper which followed in 1922 makes plain that the [Balfour] Declaration : "does not entitle it[Jewsih population] to share in any degree in its [Palestine]government".

you see,i was under the impression that it's the israeli executive which builds.i underestimated the settlers' capability to build roads,electric grid,waterworks,telephone lines,gas supply,cable tv and internet lines,postal services,public transport,and security by a well equiped and trained army and police.schools kindergarten academies.just for starters.then of course,a man's got make a living somehow,so the settlers pay every man his wages,after fixing him a most renumerative job:he's a settler by profession,but a modern one-a state approved,state funded,state nurtured one.in fact he's an uncivil servant.

That's a lame excuse. We all watched the video a few months ago, where the left wing Jewish Israeli Monitors attempted to enter one of those construction sites, and were lucky to have left without being killed or injured by the guards. I hope I am making the right choice here by siding with the left.

"so the mandates creating the other countries in the ex ottoman empire are all void ?" No, they were created before it ended. "the balfour declaration is the basis for san remo and the mandate it did not end in 1948 and is still extant as are san remo and the terms of the mandate etc" Neither the Balfour declaration or San Remo or the Mandate mention a separate Jewish State..... If they did, you'd be able to cite the exact words. You can't. You have no argument.

Okay Paul, Read the mandate more carefully this time. The Mandate for Palestine is simply that part of the Middle East controlled by Britain. There is no designation of a separate "Jewish State." There are no defined boundaries within which Jews will have any particular authority. The Balfour Declaration does not define any boundaries. You may cite The Almighty's compact with Abraham but that doesn't provide much exclusion either if any. You are clearly creating history out of whole cloth. Peace. Stephen

the only powers available to building inspectors is to enforce the construction codes and specifications laid down by that areas authority !! which differ worldwide ! they have no powers in respect of the building permissions

At least some folks in Israel are being honest about their intent to never freeze construction. Bibi is as always lying, but Mazuz is telling the truth. The ultra-right and Settlers are restless. The message is clear. Bibi is lying to the world, but don't worry, nothing will change.

It's at this point that inspectors could stop construction. Are you suggesting allowing Israeli construction in the occupied areas while disallowing Palestinian construction is not a political decision?

it takes more manpower to see that nothing is going on than it does to inspect all the building sites when they are building? TOSH!!!!! Absolute drivel. When they ARE building, everything has to be inspected in detail. When they're not building all they have to do is see that they're not building.

when it comes to law-enforcement for settlers there never seems to be enough manpower right?

building in most countries and israel is done in the following manner approval by zoning submission of plans and specifications approval and building permit fee to building inspection unit for supervision of constucction work additionally new sites need utility infrastructure

so the mandates creating the other countries in the ex ottoman empire are all void ? that these countries have no legality? the balfour declaration is the basis for san remo and the mandate it did not end in 1948 and is still extant as are san remo and the terms of the mandate etc israel is not an entity with no past !!

So what if there is a lack of inspectors? I'm not revealing any state secrets if I note that there is a vast pool of unemployed, a large number university graduates probably qualified to serve as building inspectors, maybe after a short course if needed. So select a few dozen and hire another 20 inspectors. If that's not enough, do it again and hire a few hundred more. Please, don't make me laugh. I have enough heartache already.

"israel does not subcontract her security" Wrong. In recent years, many military responsibilities were handed over to civilian companies. Private security firms guard settlements and construction sites in the occupied territories, some are also in charge of the day to day operation, security and maintenance of some of the checkpoints. 'Privately run checkpoint stops Palestinians with too much food': http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1096322.html You obviously haven't travelled much lately.

business, and recreational sites, who is approving settler construction? Why is settler construction proceeding without inspection?

"Please, President Obama, there's no MANpower to impose a settlement freeze even though, I swear it, the will is there, the GOODwill is there. All our manpower is busy guarding the settlements that are there already, making sure that only old people get to pray in Al Aqsa, managing evictions and house demolitions when Arabs don't pay their rent (Jews always pay their rent), quelling demonstrations by Jews who are against settlement freeze and firms in industrial zones and Jerusalem parking lots that stay open on Shabat, and making sure that the Jewish youngsters pulling up olive trees in the west bank don't get harmed by the ferocious Palestinians who planted and tended them in the hope they'd get to harvest their fruits."

"Where is the Supreme Court on this?" Now lets not get the High Court of Israel involved in this! The situation is bad enough without the HCI whining about how no one pays any attention to their rulings.

"A simple solution - turn over enforcement to the PA Security services. They`ll assure that no building is done anywhere in any settlement, including in whatever are the Jerusalem city limits beyond the green line" Great idea! With Hezbolah, Hamas, Jordanian, Egyptian, Syrian, and Gazan volunteers involved there should even be enough building inspectores to go around - enough to unwhine even the AG.

you are highly mistaken to think that incompetence is a genetic disease of right wing governments alone. as a matter of fact, incomptence is rife in left wing governments. take a good look at present day labour in uk. your solution of "turn over enforcement to the pa security" is of course totally unrealistic as you must surely know. nothing will be turned over to the pa except under a peace accord. unlike the u.s., israel does not subcontract her security, and certainly not to enemy forces. israel has a citizen army and it takes care of israel's security needs everywhere.

Would you prefer to be dealing with economic boycotts and international isolation than filling the posts of building inspectors? Because that's the reality Israel will face. Dutch

about a separate Jewish state.

...in any settlement freeze. Why should they? They do not hate what Israel is doing. The just despise it. The limit of the supporting the lying has been achieved.

... since much of the labor on WB settlements is done by Pal workers, they themselves may be reluctunt to give up their meagre livlihoods... ... will the PA be astute enough to initiate its own building projects on what is left to them of the WB...? ... there are sure to be EU donors who would support this...

Israel has enough man power to: extend the IDF from East Jerusalem to Jericho; extend settlers up the road from Jerusalem to Ramallah; extend the Ariel settlement eastward from Ariel to the river Jordan; bulldoze houses, orchards, and vineyards along the way displace people from their homes in the West Bank. And the whining AG wants the public to believe a freeze on construction somehow requires 14 building inspectors? Whatever for? All it requires is the IDF puttng guns in the backs of settlers and commanding them: MARCH! All the way back to legitimate Israel. West of tthe Green Line! Where they have a right to settle. What a pitiful excuse!

With other words: During the next 10 months Israel will ?officially? complement 3000 house units in the W.B. settlements, built schools and synagogues and of course still proceed with new constructions in East Jerusalem! After this period new official projects in the W.B. will be allowed, others (non-official) legitimised ? THIS IS NOT A FREEZE! THIS IS CONTINUATION OF PRESENT POLICY! Israel is just asking for American and Palestinian blessing of completing some settlement projects and calls it ?freeze?! I?m looking forward for the statement that in favour of the Palestinians and the peace process Israel is going to forego sunshine ? DURING THE NIGHT!

... are anguished reports via Peace-Now telling us in painstaking detail what has not been implemented...

There seems to be an over-abundance of people to enforce a ban on "natural growth" in Arab neighborhoods and villages - maybe some could be diverted?

It is not that it has just become a joke now, it is just that you finally understand it. There will be territorial division, but it will have more to do with the fence being constructed than anything else.

that only applies to Jews. Where is the Supreme Court on this?

... declare something-or-other about settlement constrictions, knowing a priori that it can never be imlemented...

Government is incompetent - a favorite excuse of the right wing everywhere. Government is made incompetent by cutting it beyond the bone. Then when it doesn't perform, it meets the expectation that government is incompetent. A simple solution - turn over enforcement to the PA Security services. They'll assure that no building is done anywhere in any settlement, including in whatever are the Jerusalem city limits beyond the green line. That's called subcontracting in the US. The US Army couldn't feed itself without contracting out. Israel apparently needs to contract out its law enforcement.

Bibi made no effort whatsoever to verify how implementation would be enforced within the recalcitrant population of settlers on the WB... Is this a deliberate ommission...?!

freeze except 3000 flats + except Jerusalem + except ability to control ! The Israeli government is fooling the world again.

The construction of 3,000 new housing units in the settlements will continue unabated, as will construction of public facilities like synagogues and schools.

the right of jews to settle anywhere in the territory of the 1922 mandate ! even better unemployed arab workers !!!!! lewis carroll comes to israel .

I'm sure there would be plenty of Arab-Israelis, who would be more than willing to do the job.... ...if they only would be allowed to...:)