Despite Netanyahu's plea for restraint, thousands of settlers celebrate end of building freeze
Protesters attended rally in Revava with tractors, cement mixers and other equipment to broadcast to the world that construction in the territories is resuming.
By Jonathan Lis, Chaim Levinson and Haaretz Service Tags: West Bank Israel newsWith a tooting of horns and pouring of cement, several thousand settlers and supporters declared a symbolic end on Sunday to a 10-month moratorium on construction starts in their enclaves.
"The building freeze is over," Danny Danon, a right-wing lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, declared as balloons were released into the air at sundown in the red-roofed West Bank settlement of Revava.
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West Bank settlers celebrate end of construction freeze on September 26, 2010. |
| Photo by: Tomer Appelbaum |
"Today we mark the resumption of building in Judea and Samaria," he bellowed, referring to the West Bank.
Netanyahu had urged Israeli settlers to show restraint after a limited building freeze expires at midnight on Sunday, a plea that appeared aimed at persuading Palestinians not to quit peace talks.
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Settlers watch as cement is poured during a foundation laying ceremony in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Netafim on September 26, 2010. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
"The prime minister calls on the residents in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and the political parties to show restraint and responsibility today and in the future exactly as they showed restraint and responsibility throughout the months of the freeze," it said.
Netanyahu's bureau also asked cabinet ministers to refrain from giving interviews on the topic. The Prime Minister's Office explained that the request meant to prevent inflammation of the delicate ongoing contacts between Israel, the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority surrounding the expiration of the freeze order.
But at Revava, near the West Bank city of Nablus, residents expressed their defiance at a groundbreaking ceremony where a mixer poured cement into a hole in the ground to launch construction of a creche.
While the act was symbolic, settlers said they would soon begin building some 2,000 homes across the West Bank for which permits were issued before Netanyahu, under U.S. pressure, called a partial building freeze last year.
The festivities were attended by thousands bused in for the occasion. They coincided with U.S. efforts, still afoot, to prolong the construction hiatus in order to avert a Palestinian walkout from the peace talks.
Dozens of buses brought Likud activists on Sunday morning to visit various settlements to hear about the damage caused by the construction hiatus, and to show support for the settlers. In the mid-afternoon, a ceremony was held marking the laying of the cornerstone of a new kindergarten in Kiryat Netafim.
In a plot apparently intended for construction in Revava, where signs advertise plans to put up more than two dozen homes, some 2,500 settlers blared shofars, a religious instrument made of a ram's horn, as their leaders proclaimed the building freeze had ended.
The freeze was declared over exactly at sunset, which according to Jewish law is the start of the following day.
Spokesmen for the 300,000 settlers living in the West Bank renewed their calls on Netanyahu to resist further pressure to delay construction in enclaves they say Israel must keep as a strategic asset, and as its biblical birthright.
Underscoring the pressure Netanyahu faces from political allies as well as the settlers, some right-wing leaders demanded Israel annex all its settlements rather than negotiate with Palestinians on their future.
Tsipi Hotovely, a Likud lawmaker, said Israel should annex all the settlements to prevent their removal under a peace deal, and pledged to introduce a bill to that effect in parliament. "Israeli sovereignty must be applied to the areas were settlements have been built," she said.
Settler leader Dani Dayan, who chairs the Yesha Council of Settlements, demanded that the government "admit this was a mistake and never do it again."
"Today it's over and we will do everything we can to make sure it never happens again," Dayan told the crowd. "We return with new energy and a new determination to populate this land."
Palestinian negotiators, among them Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, have declared repeatedly that they would abandon recently re-launched direct peace talks if Israel were to resume construction on land they envision for a future state.
David Axelrod, a close confidant of U.S. President Barack Obama, said the two sides were at the bargaining table and were working with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other U.S. officials to reach a deal on the issue.
"They are talking. They're trying to work this through, and we're hopeful that they will," Axelrod said on the ABC News show "This Week with Christiane Amanpour," describing the talks as "serious."
Axelrod added: "We think this (peace talks) is an unparalleled opportunity and a rare one, and we have to -- we have to seize the advantage of that, and we are going to urge and urge and push throughout this day to -- to get some kind of resolution."
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i'm embarrassed to be a jew today. i can't wait until these throwbacks are booted out of "judea and samaria."
The continouous illegal colonization of the West Bank by jewish religious fanatics is and has been the instrument used by the Israeli government to prevent Peace talks from being successful...Israel does not want PEACE ...but neither did the Apartheid South African regime which also refused Peace....until it was too late...That is what will happen to Israel if it continues on its arrogant, self-righteous racist path of always thinking that it is right and that it can do no wrong...demographically...you have lost the war already!!
I think Israel lost it's last mind. I thought Netanyahu was the prime minister from Israel, but he is a coward. On the other hand the settlements are not builded on Israel ground, so Abbas has to kick the settlers out of his country.
Is it not time to stop this charade? Neither side is willing to compromise sufficiently to arrive at a meaningful deal. The settlers and Hamas will make impossible for the Israeli goverment (if it ever wanted to) and Hamas (which refuses Israels right to exist) ever to reach a deal. No american pressure ( if it ever wants to apply serious pressure on both sides) will make a deal happen. We should all move on and let time and demographics take care of the situation. Maybe a hundred years from now both sides will be readyfor some kind of peace deal.
Israel was born and bred in battles forced upon her and the hard-fought-for strategic depth she won can only be partially negotiated away for only under the most secure security arrangements and complete cessation of hostilities by both the Palestinians and their militant supporters. As to how much Israel even with her formidable defense capabilities can trust even these security and peace arrangements, she will naturally not be fully convinced and will therefore both retain and build on some of these conquered territories. This is the price of Palestinian aggression, violence, and resistance for the last 62 years and the Israelis will not be picking up their terror tab.
light a candle with a single match/ stay away from the powder keg/if you are doomed for thousand years /you could be doomed for thousands more/change your way if the old ones never work/Allah is a universal God not just for arabs
I don't understand why Israel can't stop these illegal settlements. They have the entire Negev desert to build in but they insist on antagonizing the Arabs. Had enough of Israel. I don't like Obama but I hope he puts the hammer down on this issue.
In America if we steal our neghbors land we go to jail for ever, in Israel you get money from the government to steal more and they claim that this is the only "democracy" in the Middle East. No other country in the M.E. will allow its people to steal land. What kind of democracy is that? trying to turn into a theocracy. What a sham!
Who died and made Barak king? The building has just begun ! There can never be peace with a two state solution. It is not a solution. It is the death of Israel. For Palestinians it must be fight or flight. How about the Antarctica ?
If Palis or Arab world would have agreed to even one concession. Negotiations are by definition two-way. How many good will gestures should Israel make while the Palis give nothing and won't stop incitement? Im all for a peace agreement, but Israel will not be suckers. Give and you shall receeive, Mr. Abbas.
whether we are culpable or not... that is the jist of the matter... the complete lack of reponsibility with which the settlers act...
How long, Abbas, will you allow the settlers and Jews to spit in your face??? This celebration is an insult to your dignity and talks should be suspended immediately. The settlers are the scourge of the earth and some of the most disgusting people the world has ever seen.
There are no proper words to describe these ultra-nationalist, fundamentalist, despicable pieces of drek. They will be the destruction of Israel yet.
Since the Oslo Agreement in 1993, Israel has made compromise after compromise. Even expelling 9000 residents to live in tent cities. Can anyone name one tangible compromise the PA has made. Israel's compromises has brought them thousands of casualties and thousands of rockets causing billions in damages.
If they want to be jerks their reward will be Palestinian citizenship. They'll travel on Palestinian passports, they'll spend Palestinian money, they'll lick Palestinian postage stamps. Settlers,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, enjoy!
Who would have thought it would be torn down? But where is it now? Sitting in tiny bits on people's shelves at home. 'Facts on the ground', even the most impressive and seemingly irreversible, can be changed. Settlers who rush to build in the West Bank might be wise to wait till they know where the borders with a future Palestinian state will be. In a few years, Palestinians may be living in those beautiful new houses.
Reading Netanyahu's pleas to the settlers sounds like the pathetic stuff that overwhelmed mothers say when they have clearly lost the battle for control. What does it matter what N says to the Palestinians, when he has zero clout with his own cabinet ministers, let alone the settlers who, helooo, do not share his policy. Does he expect them to help him stymie their own goals. Pathetic.
The peace talks should continue irrespective of the renewed building activity as one has nothing to do with the other. When the new borders are draw they will determine who lives in Israel and who does not. The settlers will have to make decisions for their futures after that. What the government should do is set a date. Up to this point those who wish to move back to Israel proper will receive government relocation assistance, those who build after that date are on their own.
israel must decide peace or security
I demand that my country the United States stipulate that any aid provided to any foreign entity including Israel is contingent upon substantial compliance with international law.
This is the end of any respect for Israel in the world's eyes. The settlers have taken over - basically the lunatics have taken over the asylum and no one is stopping them. Where are the decent Israelis who should be out in their thousands protesting this? The rogue state is now officialy a lunatic state as well ( as Finkelstein said it is).
It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop/ Behind every disabled man, there are always able men/ If you can't change your fate, change your attitude/ It's your own lantern; don't poke holes in this paper/ Going too slow is losing a cow for the sake of a turtle/ It is good to strike the serpent's head with a slow man's hand/ A monumental job of ten posts begins with a single line
It's been explained to you numerous times but some people are incapable of absorbing new information
Gaza cannot build and Palestinian houses are demolished by Israeli bulldozers, I cannot feel any sympathy for these common people who want to build something nice for themselves.
I hate Moussa. He is one the ugliest people we have to deal with. He is a disgrace to the Egyptian people and if left up to this hater of Israel we need a miracle that there will not be a war.
Now that the settlers are fully aware of the situation they are creating and they deliberately commit crimes against humanity, right under the eyes of the whole world, while the whole world is telling them that they are acting wrong, and on top of that, they are doing it with pride and arrogant defiance. THAT MAKES THEM DIRECTLY ACCOUNTABLE CRIMINALLY AS WELL AS UNDER CIVIL LAW FOR THEIR ACTIONS.
What an ignorant and hypocritical comment! You conveniently close your eyes on all the criminal activity that has been and is being conducted against Israel with the blessing of the entire world and condemn a country that was attacked without provocation 1967, defended herself, and took over [some of] the land “belonging” to the attacker – Jordan. How stupid and unfair can you get? Jordan, an artificially created state, kicked the Palestinians out. Don’t you know that? Why won’t the “fair” world demand they take them back? Let Palestinians create a state within the territory of Jordan, which is just a little larger than Israel, and get off the Israel’s back.
Maybe you think building a house is a crime against humanity. I. and many others, think a drive-by murder of a pregnant woman is a crime against humanity. I think blowing up a homicide bomber in a disco or mall is a crime against humanity. The list is tooo long for the palestinian crimes against humanity. Only a sicko would think building is a crime against humanity. Must have been hit by too many hockey pucks.
So the Settler's plan to announce the resumption of Illegal settlement building to the world? If this happens Obama should immediately announce to the Israeli government that effective immediately all aid to Israel will be frozen. If this changes nothing than the international community should immediately suspend all trade and economic agreements with the government of Israel. And let's definitely make sure these are well publicized events so the Settler's can watch this on TV as they take a break during the resumption of settlement building.
charter 7 should be imposed on withdrawl from land to pre 67 quickly or israel should face sanctions very simple these nego. is just waste of time
It is Peace Now vs. Peace NEVER! The government appears to be on the side of Peace NEVER! The Government of Israel subsidizes Peace NEVER, it arrests Peace Now. The Government permits Peace NEVER to break any law and cracks down upon the slightest violation by Peace Now. Peace Now are Israelis living in Israel, the dominant group in Peace Never do not live in Israel. Peace Now is opposed to forcing the Palestinians from Judea and Samaria, the Government helps Peace NEVER push Palestinians from the West Bank. Israelis in general appear happy to allow Peace NEVER to define how the world views Israel. "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up." - Hosea 8:7
What in the world are you going on about ? Judea and Samaria are historical Israeli lands, as you, who take the liberty to quote scripture well know. So what exactly is your point if you have any at all...which is doubtful other than your compulsive need to post ridiculous comments on this web site,
forces at work. They have been given 62 years to recognize a Jewish state in formerly British Palestine and they refuse. Every year that's wasted, takes land away from them. In the most recent example, the pals deliberately avoided negotiations for nine of ten months of an Israeli settlement freeze. Don't think for a minute that Syria, hamas, hezballa, Saudi Arabia and others want an end to the conflict. You can bash Israel all you want, but it won't change the fundamental concept in the Arab world - no Jewish state - ever or anywhere.
Amazing how you sense what is happening here from so far away, but from the perspective of one live here and who has fought for peace and co-existence for the last thirty years, that's the way I see it as well. David Grossman saw it as well in 1987, right before the First Intefada whem he wrote "The Yellow Wind" and sees it even more clearly today in his latest work. What gives this Peace Never side so much power, however is the malignant xenophobia and hatred of HAMAS, Ahmadinejihad, Nasrallah, and their cohorts. The Peace Never Camp depends upon this evil to feed its own messianic mission. We need a Ghandi, and he is yet to be found.
Hint: the Bible doesn't really count. Oh, and I think you meant to say "historic Jewish lands". Israel in its current incarnation barely has a history, and as for the land belonging soley to Jews, try thinking about this: most Palestinians are Jews who converted to Islam or Christianity over the past 2000 years. I won't deny that Judaism shouldn't have a place in its homeland, but that doesn't give you carte blanche to steal it. Post WW2, it is illegal to move a civillian population onto occupied territory, and even Israel signed onto that.
How can the world allows it... To sit there passive and be looking at Israel doing exactly what they wants... I just wonder... ??
Funny, we didn't hear from you when the Arabs wontonly murdered and terrorized innocent Jews. The World allowed it, and you and your terror loving friends sat there passive. Did you even say a peep when a pregnant woman was murdered a few weeks ago, hypocrite ??
And you ate talking exactly how people from Israel are talking. Whar abiut innocen fishermen..???
SETTLERS = HAMMAS THEY ARE BOTH TRYING TO SABOTAGE THE PEACE BETWEEN ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS.
Settlers don't kill people in cold-blood. Comapring the two is insanity. Hamas is the root of evil, and their terror shows it daily.
If talks fail Hamas will take over West Bank as a resistance act. IDF will try to fight this uprising, adding more gasoline to the fire, leading to a third entifada against Fatah this time. If talks succeed, Arab nations and Hamas will make him the world traitor of Islam in front of a Billion and a half radical fundamentalists. His only logical option is to make the talks fail, and become as extremist as Hamas. That's why at the end of the day, Palestinian population is responsible for its own fate: not enough people wanting peace there. For if they would be for peace, then settlers construction would actually motivate talks by Palestinian side. and why did they wait 10 month?
You forgot something: Palestinians suffer under a brutal Israeli occupation. That's it. All this nonsense about there being no Palestinian peace partner and Palestinians need to recognize Israel as a Jewish nation is all a lot of BS used to uphold the criminal status quo. Israelis need to get real and stop blaming the victim.
When introducing a mere update of an early article which appeared a short time before, transfer the comments on the old article to the new one. People write comments so they can be read, not in order to see them buried quickly. "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." - Confucius
The fact that Israel puts grabbing of lands and building on it, over the opportunity to bring peace and security to their citizens, is not the smartest thing to do. These houses are illegal, controversial, and certainly a provocative issue at the peace talks. Israel is shooting itself in the foot again.
I am 100% agree !!
Hamish: In fairness, Israel is not building in illegal settlements anymore than the Teapartiers represent all Americans.
Finally we see Jewish courage in Judea, Samaria : Jewish Heartland
Trying to think who are worse people. Conservatives in the USA or Settlers in Israel.
While both are rotten, Israeli settlers are worse than the average American conservative bc they're allowed to be. If Americans did half the crap that settlers do, they'd land in jail. That said, I'd add that American conservatives/neocons with great power are by far the most dangerous.
...are Christian Zionists. Injustice is not a political issue; it is a human rights issue and conservatives are FOR human rights. Both sides have much to gain and much to lose, but politicians have their own goals. A 'spokesman' should carry the weight and message of his people and meet with a 'spokesman' from the opposite view. PEOPLE can solve the peace issue; politics cannot; not can bullets, bombs and blood.
all have them beat. There's a lot of delusional craziness in the world. Conservatives in the U.S. and the settlers are more benign delusionists compared to Islamic Jihadists. They are all part of the same human comedy. That's our world.
these people have sick minds, and need help
And make up for 10 lost months- on every level.
You are are Heroes. May you and your neighbors go from "Strength to Strength" Kol HaKavod. You have the Blessings from the Almighty.
We just want to build on the back of others... nothing wrong with that. We gave a 10 months chance for peace and they did not take it so we build!!!
Shame on them all, and shame on those financing and/or supporting the theft...
Land won rightfully through a war which the Arabs lost is not stolen, it is lost. And that is true for every country on the planet.
These bums are doing all they can to insure that peace never really breaks out. They have the power and they will take the Palestinians' lands for themselves. Outrageous, but the world watches and the world judges.
When one looks back, it is clearly seen that the greater the "friendship" of a US President to Israel (meaning that he applies less pressure on Israel to pursue peace), the less is accomplished. Our greatest "friends" were Clinton and G. Dubya Bush. Clinton did everything Barak asked him to do, including in Camp David. The result: no peace, only Intifada II. Dubya Bush came up with the Roadmap, a plan but no pressure on Israel. Nothing useful resulted. Looking back at the "bad" presidents, Nixon helped Israel with military equipment in Yom Kippur, but then prevented Israel from vanquishing the Egyptian Third Army. He preserved Egypt's honor, and peace became possible. Carter was even insulting in his pressure on Begin. But he ended up god-fathering the Peace Agreement with Sadat. Papa Bush was publicly pushing Shamir, even causing his regime to fall, This resulted in the Madrid Conference which led to Oslo. Obama seems to be made of different stuff. He aspires to do what is "right", more than what political considerations dictate, as he did with healthcare. If the Likud brings upon us an imposed international solution, so be it. The cure will be better than the continuation of the present diseased situation.
Obama is a lame duck in 40 days. He will have bigger fish to fry. Here's a novel approach. Why doesn't Obama put the Palestinians' feet to the fire. He's your State, on 75% of the Land. And,,, if you behave in accordance to human norms and prove you can be a trusted, valued neighbor, you will get East Jerusalem in 25 years. The Palestinians have a TON of proving to do. There's no free lunch here.
after all, in '63 JFK tried to stop Israel from building nuclear weapons in the Dimona 'textile factory' - and that didn't work out too well for him.
I believe that with no continuation of the present freeze, the Palestinians will drop out of the talks. The ultimate reason for my prediction is Mussa Amr's (Secretary General of the Arab League) statement that this will happen. So far, Abbas sought cover on every position regarding the talks on decisions of the Arab League. Abbas rightfully feels weak, his legitimacy questionable, because he was never a great figure in the Palestinian mind and now he rules after the expiry of his term in office. Take Amr Mussa's statement and Abbas' past behavior, and you can predict the future. Barak must realize this too, so why doesn't he issue his own threat to quit the coalition if the peace talks fail? After all, the only "stated" reason for Labor's participation is to to advance peace? (We know the main reason: Power hunger.)
The PA is the representative of the Palestinian people, no matter who it's president might be. It is impossible to hold an election where the divide and conquer principal has been applied by the US/Israel. Abbas is correct in remaining.