Report: PM promised to build 600 homes in W. Bank settlements

[ProgressiveMuslim]

By The Associated Press

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised to build about 600 housing units in contentious West Bank settlements, a political ally of the prime minister said Wednesday, adding new tensions to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

The announcement came shortly before U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Israel to take part in the Jewish state's 60th anniversary celebrations - and to try to nudge forward Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Palestinians want all of the West Bank as part of their future state. They oppose all Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, saying it undermines peace talks. Some 270,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements.

New settlement building could help the embattled Olmert keep his coalition together while police investigate corruption suspicions against him. But it would make it tougher for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to convince his people that diplomacy, not violence, could win them a state.

Bush's plane hadn't even landed before the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, a member of Olmert's coalition, affirmed that the prime minister had agreed to new construction in the Beitar Ilit settlement near Jerusalem.

"I am happy that ... they will approve the construction," Shas Chairman Eli Yishai told Israel Radio.

Another Shas official said Olmert told Yishai that construction would be approved early next week. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan had not been officially announced.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=983304

[Scurrilous]

1. Settlement stumbling blocs

<snip>

"Last month, The Washington Post reported that the Bush administration had entered into a secret agreement with Israel to permit continued construction in areas of the West Bank popularly known as "settlement blocs." The story focused on the alleged agreement (the existence of which administration officials strongly deny), but missed the real point: Secret agreement or not, Israeli construction in and around "settlement blocs" has continued without pause throughout the tenure of President George W. Bush, and continues to this day, with only token opposition from the U.S. So, too, has relentless construction of roads and other infrastructure, to facilitate the expansion of those blocs and integrate them into Israel. So, too, has the entrenchment of a comprehensive "security" regime, sealing off the West Bank from these areas and isolating the Palestinians trapped inside them.

"Settlement bloc" is an informal term. Israel has never formally defined the blocs. Neither the Palestinians nor the international community (including the U.S.) recognize settlements in blocs as having any special status, compared to other settlements. And construction in the blocs is clearly barred under Phase I of the road map, which states: " freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)."

The real question, then, is not, was there a secret agreement, but rather, why has Israel felt all along that it has special license to keep building in these areas?

One answer can be found in a letter sent by Bush to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon on April 14, 2004. In it, Bush wrote, "In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949..." Settler advocates immediately seized on this statement as a quasi-official green light from the U.S. for continued expansion of Jewish communities in settlement blocs.

Since then, opposition to Israeli activities in these areas almost inevitably runs into the argument: "But everyone, including President Bush, knows these places are going to remain part of Israel anyway, so why invest political capital in the issue?"

The answer is simple: If Israel is serious about wanting peace, the future of the West Bank must be left to negotiations, not predetermined by unilateral acts. Today, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is trying desperately to demonstrate to his people that negotiations, not violence, are the route to achieving Palestinian aspirations. Continued settlement expansion - even in blocs - undermines him and his pro-peace position. In doing so, it threatens the two-state solution, and conflicts with the fundamental Israeli need to end the occupation and achieve real peace and security for its people. It also embarrasses the U.S. and undermines its peace efforts, while eroding goodwill toward Israel around the world."

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