Israel plans to double West Bank settlers

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Israel's housing ministry has plans for West Bank construction that would nearly double the number of settlers in the occupied territory, the anti-settlement group Peace Now said on Monday.

The group gave the estimate in research issued on the day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to visit to Israel on her first trip to the region since taking office.

US President Barack Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue peace efforts in the region, and Israeli settlements on occupied land have long been one of the main obstacles to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

"The ministry of construction and housing is planning to construct at least 73,000 housing units in the West Bank," said the Peace Now study, based on analysis of data on Israeli government websites.

"At least 15,000 housing units have already been approved and plans for an additional 58,000 housing units are yet to be approved," it said.

Out of the units already approved, nearly 9,000 have been built, Peace Now said.

"If all the plans are realised, the number of settler in the territories will be doubled," the research document said, saying the estimate is based upon an average of four people in each housing unit.

"The completion of these projects will make the plan of creating a Palestinian state next to Israel totally unrealistic," Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer told army radio"

more


Reports: Ministry of Housing’s Plans for the West Bank - March 2009

http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=61&docid=3566

[safeinOhio]

1. Tired of my tax $ going for this kind of crap

If they don't want peace and a two nation solution, we should impose a one nation solution.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Who is 'we'? Are you advocating some sort of return to colonialism?

I think America, and other countries with any influence, should use economic and diplomatic sticks and carrots over this; but we cannot *impose* anything.

[safeinOhio]

5. By impose, I mean cut off $3 billion in aid/year.

The US is currently giving a total of $17,000./Israeli citizen. I would think that would be a lot of influence. If that didn't do it, we could just give the same aid to the other side.

[oberliner]

7. Where do you get that 17K/Israeli citizen figure from?

Doesn't appear to square with the 3b number.

[safeinOhio]

10. Here it is

http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm

May be more like $23,000./Israeli citizen

[oberliner]

13. That's total since 1948 - not per year nt

[safeinOhio]

15. That'd be $383./year for each citizen.

Then they use that money to lobby us for more.

[Jefferson23]

6. Well there is no mention of military aid to Israel in the FY2010 budget.

That Obama would plan to leave it out completely is unfortunately, highly unlikely. However, it is interesting that the absence of it may indicate that perhaps FINALLY, that money won't be a complete presumption any longer.

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy10/pdf/fy10-newera.pdf

[oberliner]

8. Obama seeks to double US foreign aid

Despite America's deep economic crisis, the Obama administration's 2010 budget unrolls a program to double total foreign aid, which includes that for Israel and the Palestinians, according to a budget overview released Thursday.

Israel is expected to receive $2.77 billion in aid in 2010, as called for in the memorandum of understanding in place between the two countries that increases the allocation from the $2.5b. given this year, though the specific sum wasn't detailed in the budget overview. The $3.55 trillion budget overview gave no figures for specific foreign aid programs or other spending, but focused broadly on priorities such as health care reform and education.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410727744&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

[Jefferson23]

9. I understand that, but it is not listed in the document I posted, which I find

odd.

[azurnoir]

19. That is because it is part of a $30B package promised by

Bush in 2007 it was part of the smiling and nodding period in the lead up to Annapolis call it a "reward" for Israel's mouthings concerning the West Bank

Officials in the latter two offices said they had not heard of any plans to cut American military aid to Israel, which was set out in a 2007 memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.

It promised that Israel would receive $30 billion over a 10-year period. This year, Israel received $2.5b. of that sum, and it is expected to receive $2.7b. in 2010. The amount is scheduled to increase until it levels out at $3.1b. in 2013.

It is limited to that sum for the remainder of the agreement. Seventy-five percent are expected to go toward purchasing US-made weapons, with the bulk of the remainder going to domestic defense purchases.

At the time of the signing, president George W. Bush assured Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the US would help Israel retain its qualitative edge in the Middle East.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410695150&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Jefferson23]

21. Thanks for that info. I still wonder why it is not listed in the budget

document, wouldn't it traditionally be listed anyway?

[LeftishBrit]

2. What a mess

I hope that someone will begin to show some sense.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

12. A "mess?" No. This gives new meaning to "the banality of evil." nt

[Idealism]

4. Well at least they aren't hiding their intent anymore

[ProgressiveMuslim]

11. Zionism in action.

"Under the internationally drafted "road map for peace," Israel is committed to dismantle all settlements built since March 2001.

But construction in Israeli settlements jumped 60 percent in 2008 in the wake of the re-launching of the Middle East peace process at a US conference at which the parties pledged to implement the road map. At least 1,257 new structures were built in settlements over the course of 2008, compared to 800 erected the previous year, according to figures compiled by Peace Now."

Can someone who supports the state of Israel interpret this?
There is only one conclusion that a sane, reasonable person can draw from this information. The gov'ts of Israel have no intention whatsoever of ceding land for a Palestinian state.

Why violent resistance some ask? I think this is your answer. THIS ACTIVITY IS NOT A FUCTION OF 'PUNISHING' BAD PALESTINIANS. This is not happening because Palestinians failed to be good little victims, because they threw stones, burnt tires or fired rockets.

This behavior is part and parcel of the Zioist ideology as expressed by every single gov't since 1967.

Pure and simple, this IS ZIONISM IN ACTION.

[oberliner]

14. Peace Now is a Zionist organization

How "violent resistance" (i.e. killing/attempting to kill innocent Israeli civilians) will do anything to help make the situation better is beyond my understand.

Zionism is much more multi-faceted than I think you realize.

[TomClash]

16. Eretz Israel Forever

They need living space for the population boom - only the right kind of people need to immigrate or procreate; it would be better for "others" to emigrate or disintegrate.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Hitler also said that Germany needed room to expand

there is a pattern here.

[Behind the Aegis]

18. Only to those who have the diseased mind that Israel and Nazi Germany are synonymous.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

28. I trust you're being ironic?

You're not seriously claiming that "Israel needs more living space" is a justification for its occupation of Palestinian land?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

20. Is there anyone that the Israeli population, whom we are told really want peace

can make accountable for these decisions that absolutely undermine the future possibity of peace?

Do the people that make these decisions in Israel answer to anyone?

Who actually makes these master plans?

Seems as though much that has to do with the occupation happens off the books. It's not as though there is an "occupation of palestine" committee in Knesset that has open hearings, where elected reps can discuss the pros and cons.

Yet, why is the decisions to embark on this path, not a matter of public discussion?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

22. Still asking: "Where are all the peace-loving Israelis to protest this madness?"

[number6]

23. crickets chirping

:hide:

[LeftishBrit]

24. For example, Peace Now, the organization that exposed this.

[Shaktimaan]

25. where? here on DU or in Israel?

I certainly oppose it, if it is actually an accurate report. I only question it because of the sheer quantities of people we are talking about... I certainly hope that this report is incorrect or greatly exaggerated.

Either way, I totally oppose any new settlement building in the west bank and think that Israel should be actively tearing down, at the very least, every hilltop settler (illegal) outpost as soon as they are built, then provide protection to Palestinians whose land is being encroached upon by these fanatics. Barring that, they should allow the PA to do it.

Allowing outlaw settlers to do as they please without offering the Palestinians any protection or semblance of rule of law is probably the most heinous aspect of the whole settler issue, IMO.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

26. In Israel. What are all those who want peace doing about this insanity?

Or is the notion of the peace-loving Israeli populace a myth?

[IndianaGreen]

27. Every Jewish settlement in the West Bank is an illegal settlement

as are the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Don't let Jerusalem's propaganda mislead you. When they refer to "illegal" settlements, they mean the small temporary structures being set up by the most ardent uber-Zionists among the settlers.

[Shaktimaan]

29. I was trying to get across the idea that I was talking about

the specific settlements that are illegal under Israeli law, which Israel has promised, (and has a legal obligation to), tear down and prevent from being rebuilt.

Every Jewish settlement in the West Bank is an illegal settlement as are the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

Right now any kind of declaration to that extent isn't much more than an opinion. There have been countless, conflicting legal arguments made from various legal institutions and lawyers/judges on this topic over the decades. The fact of the matter is that no court has jurisdiction over the matter to make any kind of legitimate ruling, so for the foreseeable future no definitive answer exists.

Personally, from my own limited understanding of the laws and issues involved, it appears that the legality of the settlement really depends on which one you're talking about. Some are clearly illegal, like the hilltop settler teen movement's new constructions or settlements that were build primarily on Palestinian-owned land. But some of them are in far murkier legal territory, such as many of the East Jerusalem settlements or WB ones built on Israeli owned land, which don't appear to be illegal at all IMO.

I realize you probably won't accept that. Which is fine with me. It's just that after reading all of the main arguments posited by both sides I have yet to see a comprehensive argument against the legality of ALL of the settlements.

Don't let Jerusalem's propaganda mislead you.

Hahaha. Thanks for the tip. I think I'll be alright.