Akiva Eldar / Israel may have frozen settlements, but does it want peace?
For Netanyahu, the settlement crisis was the perfect tactic for diverting attention away from peace talks.
By Akiva Eldar Tags: Israel newsOn the eve of signing the settlement construction freeze order, Avigdor Lieberman told reporters that the settlements had never been an obstacle to peace. The proof, the foreign minister explained, is that the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria did not stop Egypt and Jordan from signing peace agreements with Israel.
Therefore, the settlements are not the real reason why the Palestinians are refusing to resume peace negotiations. The natural growth and mortality rates among residents in Judea and Samaria since the two Arab neighbors signed peace agreements provide the strongest proof that Lieberman is correct.
He just forgets to mention that the Egyptians and Jordanians took Israel's promises to end the occupation seriously.
Even the Palestinians, the direct victim of land theft, did not present the construction freeze as a condition for negotiations. The settlements are not the real reason for President Mahmoud Abbas's refusal to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The point of contention hinges on a completely different issue: the peace process. Abbas insists that the talks on the permanent status agreement be based on the parameters of the 2003 Road Map, which received affirmation in a UN Security Council Resolution. The map is reminiscent, among other things, of the Arab peace initiative which focused on normalization in return for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967.
Netanyahu has yet to utter the words "road map" and refuses to revise its timetable (which originally called for the conflict to end in 2005).
The prime minister is also rejecting the Palestinian demand to resume the negotiations at the point where Abbas and Ehud Olmert ended them a year ago.
For Netanyahu, the crisis regarding the settlements was therefore the perfect diversionary tactic; first he wore out the Americans with fights over the wording of the construction freeze and now the clashes with the settlers over the freeze orders are distracting the public from the wording of the negotiations.
A foreign diplomat this week offered another indication that the Netanyahu-Lieberman government managed to transform the settlements into an obstacle to peace.
"Bibi knew that announcing the continuation of construction in East Jerusalem would guarantee that [Abbas] would maintain his refusal to resume the negotiations," said the diplomat. "If Bibi were truly interested in meeting him, he would have made do with an announcement declaring a freeze on settlements. Period."
A test for the new attorney general
If the Beit Yehonatan case is handled in the coming weeks in the same roundabout way that Jerusalem municipality activists have been leading it, it will be an interesting test for Yehuda Weinstein, the new attorney general chosen by a right-wing government.
Since last July, there has been a pending court order to evacuate and seal the seven-story house that the right-wing organization Ateret Cohanim built without a permit in the heart of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem.
Over the last few months, Mayor Nir Barkat has been waging a fierce battle against the municipality's legal adviser, attorney Yossi Havilio, who wants, surprisingly, to obey the law and the court's orders.
Havilio is instructing the construction supervision department and the police to carry out the order immediately. The mayor is ordering a delay in implementation to allow for a compromise: razing the top two floors and granting a permit for the five lower floors (contrary to the municipal master plan).
Last week, Havilio wrote to Deputy Mayor Yosef Pepe Alalu that on October 22 he notified the police that, "There is no agreement ... with the accused and I asked the Israel Police to help ... urgently with the implementation of the order. Unfortunately and despite all of my many requests and the requests of the construction supervision department to the police, the orders still have yet to be implemented."
This case is well known to the Justice Ministry. A response submitted to Haaretz by the Justice Ministry spokesman stated that the State Prosecutor's Office's department of land law enforcement "is closely monitoring the implementation of the ruling in the case. When it became clear, at various stages, that the professional crews, which are responsible for enforcement in the local planning and construction council, faced difficulties in implementing the ruling due to the intervention of elected (political) officials in the Jerusalem municipality, the department also made sure to clarify to various officials in the municipality and in the Israel Police the legal situation, regarding their obligations to rapidly uphold the order, to enable officials responsible for law enforcement in Jerusalem, guided by the municipality's legal adviser, to carry out the order as required and to prevent the efforts of political operatives to thwart implementation."
The ministry noted that the attorney general and Interior Ministry director general bulletins stress that elected officials are barred from intervening in enforcement matters.
The municipality's responded, "In 2009, the municipality carried out 112 razing orders, 49 in the western part of the city, and 63 in its eastern part, with no regard to religion, race or gender ... contrary to efforts to portray this as such, the municipality is not trying to cover up for the construction violations that occurred in Beit Yehonatan. In addition to this structure, there are hundreds of illegal Arab structures with exactly the same legal status. The municipality does not intend to specify the status of their implementation, which is being discussed between the municipality, police, State Prosecutor's Office, the government and the Knesset. In the coming weeks, hearings have been scheduled to discuss the matter in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and between the Jerusalem municipality and other officials."
The Jerusalem district office of the police responded that "This question should be addressed to the Jerusalem municipality. The police are only an auxiliary factor in enforcing orders."
The national police headquarters said the order would be implemented in the next few days.
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Netanyahu, Obama and Abbas. |
| Photo by: (AP) |
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The Israelis, and their supporters, say anything they can think of to justify their occupation of Palestinian territory, in the hope the world will believe them. But two of the most ridiculous are, (1) "The Palestinians don't want peace" (implying they would rather remain occupied subjects for eternity) and (2) this one, "Israeli withdrawal from the territories will make Israel vulnerable to annihilation." Israel has one of the most sophisticated and powerful armed forces in the world. Were it to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian lands and a sovereign Palestinian state were to be formed on that land, what threat would Israel face? The Palestinians have no aircraft, no tanks, no crew-served weapons, no artillery, no command and control structure and no trained officers to command an armed force of any strength at any level. Does anyone think a sovereign Palestinian state on Israel's border would harbor the slightest thought to attack Israel? Do you Jews expect us to believe that?
You take great pleasure at bashing your own country with manipulative distortions. How about wriing an article titled "Do The Arabs Really Want Peach?" I won't hold my breath.
The emperor is naked...Only Barak and Hilary don't know
""Palestinian" is a term invented by Haj-amin Husseini.." The region was called Palestine under the Ottoman empire. It's people were known as Palestinians. "..British-appointed Jerusalem Mufti Haj-amin Husseini" A British Jew appointed him actually. He has nothing to do with the Palestinians today. Proof Arafat had AIDS? Or just another propaganda puke out? "...Jordanians also (like other Arabs) showed that they had no interest in peace with Israel or any Jews for that matte.." Strange. Israel has a Peace treaty with Jordan. Of course Israel had to give acknowledgment to recognized Jordanian boundaries under res 242 and withdraw from them.
So far it's not even a chill, let alone a freeze. A lot of talk and saber rattling but no real attempt to put the rabid settlers in their place. The world is laughing -- when we're not crying for the fate of the Palestinians who deserve better from us all.
Israel took the first step of building a wall to stop terror attacks. Palestinians (much later) responded by declaring a non violent intifada. Israel then declared a settlement freeze. the table is set, dont screw it up...
"Before 1967 W.Bank and E.Jerusalem were Palestinian" - Rachel From 1948 to 1967 they were Jordanian.
You neglected to mention another detail--there is also a magnitudinal difference in pretending to negotiate (in Muslim terms, taqia--which "Palestinians" have been doing since 1988) and actually negotiating. (btw, the background I got this amendment from has no connexion with Muddle East, but...)
"Palestinian" is a term invented by Haj-amin Husseini, the viperous (he turned against his benefactors to side with Hitler--even recruiting Kosovar/Bosnian Muslims for SS) British-appointed Jerusalem Mufti Haj-amin Husseini--the mentor for Syro-Egyptian (born in Port Said, mum cent-percent Syrian, dad cent-percent Egyptian) AIDS-statistic Yasir Arafat--for (mostly) descendants of Edomites (see Malachi and Obadiah) ancient foes of Jews who were divinely proscribed from ever reforming as a nation. The areas were actually under Jordanian control (which Husseini did not like, so he had Abdullah I murdered in 1950--Mufti's protege tried taking over Jordan in 1970 from Abdullah's grandson Hussein I and failed miserably) until 1967. Otherwise, you were on the nail--Jordanians also (like other Arabs) showed that they had no interest in peace with Israel or any Jews for that matter.
How on earth can a process that allows the continuation of the building of 3000 units in the West Bank and the continued acquisition of land and properties and their development in East Jerusalem be described as a "freeze"? It isn't even a chill.
Yhe problem is that Israel needs a permanent state of war to ensure that the revenue streams continue from the United States of America. The minute that there is an agreement or an enforcement of a two state solution this revenue stream will dry up. Hence Israel does not genuinly want peace. Regardless of it being a matter of national strategic importance for the chief sponsor of Israel.
Durson, I still dont understand why the PLO was established in 1964..3 FULL yrs ahead of any 'occupation'. Can anyone explain that? You do know PLO stands for palestinian liberation organization, dont you? What were they wanting to liberate in 1964? Do you know about the famous 3 no's at khartoum? What about the UN parition plan of 1947? or how about al husseini and where he was during WWII and what he was advising and to whom? Do you know any of this? one more thing...if a real peace came about, would you then be truly ok with israel and jews? do the arabs have any responsability for their fate since 1967?
By avoiding peace, Israel can maintain the great land grab in the west bank. When you hear an Israeli politician calling for peace talks, be assured that this is simply an attempt to fool the audience, particularly America. By now, America is no longer fooled, but it seems that they may pretend to be fooled rather than deal with a hostile Israel. There is one version of peace that most Israeli Jews would like to see. If the Palestinians became happy with their current lives and ceased all resistance against Israel,then Israel would be glad to employ them as a permanent underclass of stateless persons.
construction does continue all over the Westbank and is even ramped up by the settlers. I do believe Israel wants peace, because I believe no country opts for eternal war. But the kind of peace Israel is offering is eternal occupation, only nobody will be allowed to call it that anymore.
Most Jews want peace but will not agree to it at any price even if it were possible. The typical far-leftist is asking Jews to accept any peace plan that might leave a Jewish state. The Palestinians are not offering anything that leaves a Jewish state so even the far leftists have nothing to qvetch about on this point. Jews are not going to bend over backwards offering appeasement in the hope that the Arabs will relent and permit Israel to survive.
IT:"Lets say I stole your gun, you were pointing it at me at the time. Since stealing is illegal, I give it back to you because it`s the right thing to do. Then you shoot me." Wonderful analogy. This is why the law is an ass. The law is not the slightest bit interested in Israel's security and preventing the next set of problems.
akiva eldar gave an interview to arafat on the day 40 israeli soldiers were massacred in a bus bombing by palestinian terrorists. me eldar was so sympathetic to arafat that the word servility comes to mind. that an israeli could conduct such an interview with the enemy of the state disqualifies him from besing sent in the. first place. the ex editor ended by saying: "i know something about running newspapers.i would not have sent mr eldar"
Nataniahu wants peace, but not with a self determined Palestinian people. Maybe without palestinians as persons at all. Palestinians want peace but not with a self determined Jewish state. All know that, but still the game of peace is played. Obama and the International community know the answer and can intend to impose it. The Clinton map "plus-minus" as exposed in Taba 2000, in exchange for Palestinian recognition of the Jewish state. Palestinian Refugees to Palestine not Israel, and Jeruaalem the capital of both. What's the problem with this? In Israel, rational "moderates" have already accepted that solution. Palestinians moderates have rejected then and will reject now. Let alone Hammas.
acquired by war by Israel by 1949. Territories that were never annexed to Israel and most certainly not within it's Sovereign boundaries. http://tinyurl.com/y8ewves/myths-mis-conceptions-propaganda/#northern-border
Did this fact brought peace? The answer is NO!! Why giving back land will now help?
Israel will continue to defend itself, regardless of the EU, the UN or any body else. Right or wrong, illegal or not, to give up East Jerusalem and relinquish all claims over the Green Line would simply result in the annihalation of Israel and any Jewish presence in the region. Lets say I stole your gun, you were pointing it at me at the time. Since stealing is illegal, I give it back to you because it`s the right thing to do. Then you shoot me.
Mr. Eldar, you forgot that Egypt and Jordan were still sovereign countries, with or without the missing bits being negotiated. Palestine isn't. If the Palestinians are insisting on settlement freeze it's because without it, they won't have a square centimeter on which to place a Palestine. What would negotiations be about? Mr. Lieberman knows the difference and did another skilful little blur there that was evidently swallowed whole.And that is the real sign that Israel is not serious. The fact that well-intentioned journalists miss simple little distinctions like that, maybe because they are too intelligent, is worrying. The Beit Yehoshua issue in Silwan warrants a separate article, or a whole series of them. Why are stories like that only reported in the context of something else?There too, the reasons why it might well be evacuated and sealed have more to do with the precedent thus set that will ease the carrying out of suspended eviction and demolition orders of another sort.
Never, not until the deluded dream of a greater Israel has been realized, the rabbinate and government seem to be in complete accord on that!
The so called separation wall is not in the right place. Israel has no right to dictate borders to its neighbors, as enticing as it is, without their approval. Occupation breeds corruption, injustice, dishonesty, racism, and so many other ills.
The bottom line is simple: does anyone in their right mind think that the Jewish people should be locked out from their own land? (Judah and Samaria). Its an absurd notion: the more one reflects on the historicity of Israel, the archealogical relevance as well as (listed 3rd here to diffuse the onlslaught of liberals):the spiritual aspects of the land completely denies seemingly logical or rational arguements against allowing the Jews to remain in the west bank, permenantly. 1967, road-map: words with no legitimacy in light of the fixed realities of Israels Right of Land Ownership and the granting of territories (Jordan) to the Palestinians already. Its just not right for a people to 'find their identities' at the expense of a nation. I support the Palestinian's feelings of nationalism...in that it is within their nation: Jordan. 'Nuff said.
It's a dopey neocon strategy: A manufactured ongoing state of emergency will allow Israel to occupy the entire West Bank forever. Bibi has proven that Israel has no interest in faithful negotiation much less peace.
There is a big difference between infringing other people's rights to 'have no trouble' and being prepared to enter serious and lasting negotiations with them for real peace. Peace is not a one a wall with right of way through for only one side.
The Camp David talks floundered on Arafat's right of return demand, and not on the subject of borders, on which Barak was very flexible and accomodating. This right of return demand is continually being put forward by the PLO, because they know that it would destroy Israel, if millions of Pals who were indoctrinated since birth to hate the Jews, were sent to live in Israel. Accordingly they know that Israel would never accept it. There was a population exchange, back then, whereby more Jews were forced out of Arab lands, than Palestinians who left Israel, many in response to instructions by Arab armies.
Israel build the fence because it wants no trouble The fence has saved the lives of many israelis and the lives of many Pal would-be suicide terrorists.