A monument to a lost time and lost hopes

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1032834.html

By Meron Benvenisti

3 November 2008

Shimon Peres did it in style, as usual. The marking of the 10th anniversary of the Peres Center for Peace was a glittering event, full of international celebrities and famous artists, and of course included the poem written by the principal guest, beginning, "Oh, My Lord, it is time to pray." The high point of the festivities was the dedication of the Peres Peace House in Jaffa, a magnificent building of huge green blocks, which cost $15 million, three times the original estimate. The building is windowless and air-conditioned throughout and blocked off from its surroundings, which are home to a poor Arab population. Its faces the sea, as though its builders were hinting that the chance for peace lies in the West, beyond the sea, and not in the East, where neighbor enemies dwell. The magnificence and elegance cannot, unfortunately, blur the sense of missed opportunity. The events surrounding the establishment of the Peres Center for Peace in October 1997 powerfully demonstrated the political culture that favored peace; that was suffused with confidence in the possibility of achieving peace; and defied the approach of Benjamin Netanyahu, who defeated Peres and did everything possible to torpedo the Oslo Accords. The festivities today cannot hide the fact that the only a meager vestige of the peace camp remains, the peace industry functions by the power of inertia and those involved in it must invent excuses for their activity, and that suggests they are turning peace into a tool for achieving their own personal ends. Advertisement   Only in hindsight are we able to see the fatal damage done by the Oslo Accords, which inspired Peres to establish the center: The accords, instead of bringing about a change in the status quo, have become the pillar of a de facto binational regime (called "the occupation"), which has become institutionalized as a permanent regime. The Oslo Accords are the legal infrastructure for the division of the West Bank into cantons, which allow for direct Israeli control over 60 percent of the territory (Area C), as well as a constitutional infrastructure for the existence of a virtual Palestinian Authority. The plethora of titles assumed by its leaders and the official uniforms of its soldiers make it possible to maintain the false illusion of the temporary nature of the regime of Israeli control, and thus to perpetuate it. In the activity of the Peres Center for Peace there is no evident effort being made to change the political and socioeconomic status quo in the occupied territories, but just the opposite: Efforts are being made to train the Palestinian population to accept its inferiority and prepare it to survive under the arbitrary constraints imposed by Israel, to guarantee the ethnic superiority of the Jews. With patronizing colonialism, the center presents an olive grower who is discovering the advantages of cooperative marketing; a pediatrician who is receiving professional training in Israeli hospitals; and a Palestinian importer who is learning the secrets of transporting merchandise via Israeli ports, which are famous for their efficiency; and of course soccer competitions and joint orchestras of Israelis and Palestinians, which paint a false picture of coexistence. There is no chance that the activists and administrators of the peace center will participate in the daily struggle of the Palestinian olive pickers; in the frustrating efforts to transport critically ill people via the checkpoints; or to breach the economic siege and sea blockade of Gaza. The Peres Center for Peace does not publish reports about the catastrophic economic situation of the Palestinians and does not warn about Israel's responsibility for this situation; after all, it is not a club of Israel-hating anarchists but one of respectable people, who mostly contribute to peace in the generous funding of glittering events and participation in them. It has always been maintained that the principal, and perhaps revolutionary contribution, of the Oslo Accords did not lie in the "declaration of principles," but in the mutual recognition between the Palestinian national movement and the State of Israel. But this mutual recognition, which turned the Palestinians from a terrorist entity into a legitimate entity in the eyes of the Israelis, was erased in the wake of the suicide attacks and the violence of the Al-Aqsa intifada, after which the pre-Oslo viewpoint returned. Now the Jews are giving the Arabs a bill of divorce, turning their backs on them, imprisoning them behind sealed walls and checkpoints, willingly keeping to themselves and praying that the Mediterranean will dry up or that a bridge will be built that will connect them directly to Europe. This mentality has created two monumental structures in the past decade, whose symbolic significance is greater than their functional value: the separation fence and the new Ben-Gurion International Airport terminal. The former is designed to hide the Palestinians and erase them from our consciousness, and the latter serves as an escape hatch and the basis for an aerial bridge to the West. The third monument that was built in this decade, the Peres Peace House in Jaffa, joins them as a memorial to a time and hopes that have been lost, and the only thing that remains is to join in Peres' prayer: "Then send a Ray of Hope for a new way."

Senan Abdelqader - a Palestinian architect

 44, an architect in Beit Safafa, just south of Jerusalem

• Rory McCarthy
  
• Tuesday June 5 2007

Senan Abdelqader, an Israeli Arab architect at his office in Jerusalem. Photograph: Gali Tibbon

Senan Abdelqader - an infant when the war was fought - was born and grew up in the Arab village of Taibeh, in Israel. He left, aged 18, to study in Germany, returning 15 years later as a qualified, practising, prize-winning architect.

Abdelqader is from the 20% minority of Arabs living within Israel, a people most often referred to by the Israeli establishment as Arab Israelis. It is not a term he uses. "I am sure about my identity. I am an Arab Palestinian ... I don't feel myself very Israeli," he says. He carries an Israeli passport, but that isolates him from most of the Arab world - he can only travel to Jordan and Egypt. "But even when I go there I am considered an Israeli and I am not part of Arabic culture. And this is painful. I cannot feel myself."

In Israel he is part of a minority that, though it has citizenship, suffers routine and continued discrimination, particularly at work and in government spending on housing and education. Although Palestinian Israelis can travel freely within Israel, they, like all Israeli citizens, are not allowed to travel to the main urban centres of the West Bank. Often they are also restricted from travelling to Gaza. There are Palestinian Israeli MPs in the Knesset, and earlier this year the first Muslim Arab cabinet member was appointed. However, several Palestinian Israeli intellectuals and activists have begun a campaign to demand broader rights in Israel, and have started to challenge the notion of Israel as a Jewish state.

The fraught question of identity shapes Abdelqader's work. No new Arab town has been built in Israel since the state was created. "Since 1948, the urban fabric in Palestine has been stopped. But it is more than stopped, it has been forced to take a kind of agricultural mentality." Arab towns in Israel are more like enlarged and overcrowded villages.

Abdelqader, who is now perhaps the leading Palestinian Israeli architect in Israel, is working on a project to design a contemporary art museum for Umm al-Fahm, an Arab town in northern Israel. His design puts the museum inside a wide bridge that stretches across a valley, a bridge that will be part public, cultural space, part busy walkway. It is unusual for a Palestinian Israeli architect to have such input in a public project. "We are not part of the process of influencing and creating public spaces."

Although he has worked on several other buildings in Israel, there has been little opportunity to work alongside architects living in the occupied Palestinian territories, even though they live nearby, speak the same language and share the same history. Many Palestinians sense a broad divide between those living within Israel and those living in the West Bank or Gaza, both in terms of opportunity and ambition. While Palestinians in the occupied territories are still struggling to end 40 years of occupation and establish their own state, within Israel some leading Palestinian figures have become increasingly vocal in demanding broader, collective rights and in challenging the rationale of a Jewish state.

Two agendas

"The Palestinian nation became divided into two different agendas and it makes me very sorry not having the opportunity to work together with them," he says. "There are two different agendas: we are looking for equality, they are looking for authority."

He teaches architecture at Tel Aviv University, where the vast majority of his students are Jewish Israelis. That itself is often an initial challenge for the students in a country where the two communities often do not mix, or see each other only through the tint of mutual suspicion and unequal power relations, where Arabs are more often seen working in menial jobs, standing at the petrol pump or cleaning the streets.

"Jewish Israeli society has to understand that we were here and part of the landscape before they came and they will understand that they have to have more respect for us."

==================================================================

The Settlement Industry

 http://whoprofits.org/Involvements.php?id=grp_inv_settlement#grp_inv_settlement_2

Since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, Israel has constructed civilian colonies, or settlements, in them and encouraged Israeli citizens and industries to move into them. Presently there are 135 Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories and dozens of additional “outposts” – settlements not yet officially recognized by the Israeli Government. These house over 562,000 Jewish Israeli residents: 282,000 in the West Bank (without Jerusalem), 260,000 in neighborhoods built in Arab Jerusalem or annexed to Jerusalem, and 20,000 in the Golan Heights.

The Israeli civilian construction includes housing projects as well as extensive infrastructure such as roads and water systems for the exclusive use of Israeli settlers, on lands confiscated from Palestinians or declared “state lands” in various ways. This has resulted in the effective partial or full annexation of the Occupied Territories into the Israeli state. An occupying power moving its citizens into the occupied area is in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and making permanent changes in the occupied land for these settlers is in violation of the Hague Regulations.

In this section of the database, we distinguish between three different forms of corporate involvement in the settlement industry: The Israeli companies which are located in the settlements and thus use the captive resources of Palestinian land and labor in their production; The companies involved in sustaining the settlements and connecting them to Israel; The companies involved in real estate deals and the construction of Israeli infrastructure and settlements on occupied lands.

Involvement Categories

Settlements' Products

Israeli Construction on Occupied Land

Services to the Settlements

 

Settlements' Products

Israeli industrial zones within the Occupied Territories hold hundreds of businesses and factories, ranging from small businesses serving the local Israeli settlers to large factories which export their products worldwide. Several settlements, especially in the Jordan Valley, produce agricultural goods, such as fruits and flowers, and sell them in Israel and internationally.
Settlement production usually enjoys tax incentives, low rent and other governmental supports. Many times, the restrictions on Palestinian movement and the lack of protection for Palestinians in the Israeli controlled areas result in gross violations of Palestinian labor rights.
The origin of exported settlement products is often intentionally obscured. Companies hold marketing addresses within Israel, or market their products under a label which included products from within Israel.

El Ez

Adumim Food additives

Greenkote (Summer Hitech Coatings) 

B.R.B.Industries, BarBur Laundry,

Pereg Uinited Industries, Otzma Pereg

Ewyg Advanced Technology

Avgol Nonwoven Industries

Carmel Carpets

Abadi Bakery ("Mizrahiot" Cookies)

Idan Camping

Ayelet BarkanCarmel Holdings

(E.L.) (formerly Beitili)

Ability Computer and Software Industries

Mul-t-lock (formerly Rav Bariach)

Emilia Development (O.F.G.)

Better and Different

Extal

Afic Printing Products

PalphotAluminum Construction C.L. Israel (1992)

Caesarea Carpets

Aridan Printing Productions

Assa AbloyTempo Beer Industries

Arza Wine Cellars T.R.Z.

Barkan Wineries

Ahdut Factory for Tehina Halva and Sweets

 

Israeli Construction on Occupied Land

The jurisdiction area of the settlements covers approximately 40% of the West Bank while the built-up area covers only 3%. Around the Israeli housing projects in the West Bank, the construction of an Israeli road system supports the creation of a separate Jewish space on top of a fragmented Palestinian space. The roads and the settlements thus become part of the separation system, which includes fences, walls, gates and checkpoints.

The ever-on-going construction of all these involves Israeli and international firms � in real estate transactions, planning and construction, infrastructure and engineering, security guards and maintenance.

Africa Israel

Ashtrom Group

Yehuda Welded Mesh

Leader - Management and Development (formerly: Leader Company)

Cape Gate

Ackerstein Industries

 

Services to the Settlements

This section of the database includes companies that provide everyday services to the settlements, with an emphasis on services that are provided unequally � to the Jewish settlements and not to their surrounding Palestinian neighbors, services that help connect the settlements to Israel and normalize their status, or security services.

Dor Alon

Paz Oil

PazGas

Alon Group

Ashtrom Group

Anglo Saxon Israel

Marom Technologies

Mizrahi Tefahot Bank

Pizza Hut

Israeli Settlement Activity Since Annapolis

This report, covering the 6 month period following the Annapolis Conference, is also available at the following link:  http://www.nad-plo.org/news-updates/Post-Annapolis%20Settlement%20Activity%20(27%20Nov%202007%20-%2025%20May%202008).pdf
For further updates please check our homepage: http://www.nad-plo.org/  

Communications Department
Negotiations Support Unit - Report

 
PLO Negotiations Affairs Department

Israeli Settlement Activity Since Annapolis
27 November 2007 - 25 May 2008

At the Annapolis Conference, convened on 27 November 2007, Israel and the Palestinians renewed their respective commitments under the Road Map. Chief among Israel’s obligations are “[freezing] all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)” and “immediately [dismantling] settlement outposts erected since March 2001”. Following is a summary of Israeli settlement activity during the first six months after Annapolis, covering the period from 27 November 2007 to 25 May 2008.
Far from being “frozen,” Israeli settlement activity continued unabated throughout the West Bank, particularly in and around East Jerusalem, during the first six months after Annapolis. Indeed, Israeli settlement activity in virtually all areas—from planning to authorization to construction—increased substantially during the reporting period, as summarized below.
A.               Official Policy Statements
Since Annapolis, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other senior Israeli officials have repeatedly made clear that Israel would not implement a genuine settlement freeze. Among other things, Olmert has said that Israel would continue building in settlements in and around East Jerusalem as well as in the so-called settlement ‘blocs’, thus effectively negating the very purpose of the freeze.  Moreover, despite clarification by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that “the United States doesn’t make a distinction” between settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, Israeli officials continue to make unilateral exemptions to their settlement freeze obligations.  For example:
·                                                              On March 31, Olmert promised Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef that he would authorize construction on “Jerusalem envelope” lands which had thus far been frozen. According to Shas party officials, “[t]he Prime Minister promised Rabbi [Yosef] unequivocally that the construction in all the Jerusalem envelope communities will not be hindered and will be unfrozen without delay.” (Ha’aretz)
·        On February 25, Israeli Deputy Premier Haim Ramon informed members of the Knesset’s State Control Committee that the current “freeze” imposed on some West Bank settlements, already partial in nature, would be relaxed even further.  Under the new policy, settlement construction in areas deemed not to have “political significance” would no longer require formal approval by the political echelon (i.e., the Prime Minister and/or Minister of Defense).[1] <#_ftn1>  The new policy is based on a proposal put forth by the Ministry of Justice in December, at which time Talia Sason, a former state attorney previously charged with investigating settlement activity, observed: “The proposal, if accepted, would constitute a clear and unequivocal violation of [the] commitment of Israel’s Prime Minister to the President of the United States regarding the illegal outposts in the West Bank and expansion of existing settlements.”[2] <#_ftn2>
·        During a February 25 hearing of the Knesset’s State Control Committee, Assistant Minister of Defense for Settlement Matters Eitan Broshi declared that there was no policy of “drying” the settlements.  To prove his point that there was in effect no freeze, Broshi cited the recent approval of several settlement construction projects to be implemented in the coming months, adding that, “[p]riority is being given to Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and the settlements located in the settlement blocs.”[3] <#_ftn3>

B.                Land Confiscation
Israel continued to confiscate Palestinian land for settlement purposes, most notably with regard to the Wall and other settlement infrastructure:   
On February 23, Israeli military authorities issued a military order (#T/183/5) for the confiscation of 766 dunums (~192 acres) of Palestinian land belonging to Adh-Dhahiriya, Dura and Ramadin villages, in the southern Hebron governorate. The military order is for construction of the Wall around the Eshkolot settlement. Once complete, the wall around Eshkolot (pop. 225) will effectively seize an additional 2,400 dunums that will become inaccessible to Palestinians. (Ma’an, OCHA, ARIJ)
On April 16, Israeli military authorities issued an order (#T/06/08) for the confiscation of 18.9 dunums (~4.7 acres) of Palestinian land belonging to Na’lin village in the western Ramallah governorate for the construction of a new checkpoint terminal (“Qiryat Sefer”) and a segment of the Wall near Modi’in ‘Illit settlement.
C.                Settlement Authorization & Planning
1.                 Settlement Plans
·        In the first six months after Annapolis (December-May), Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the construction of at least 946 housing units in several West Bank settlements, including Ariel, Avenat, Betar ‘Illit, Elqana, Efrata, Giv’at Ze’ev, Ma’ale Adumim, Modi’in ‘Illit, Talmon, Negohot and Sha’are Tiqva.[4] <#_ftn4>  

·        Israeli authorities have also announced plans for several additional settlement construction projects in various West Bank settlements, including:

o             The Israeli Civil Administration published a notification in the February 25 edition of Ha’aretz regarding a plan to add 94 new housing units in Modi'in ‘Illit settlement (Plan No. 210/4/2) in the western Ramallah governorate.
o             On March 9, Prime Minister Olmert approved the resumption of construction of 750 housing units in Giv’at Zeev settlement. The plan, which was initially approved in 1999 but suspended two years later, calls for building 200 units initially and another 550 in the future. (Reuters, Ha’aretz)
o             Ha’aretz reported on March 25 that Israeli Defense Minister Barak was set to approve the construction of 80 housing units in El’azar settlement, southwest of Bethlehem city. The new expansion will connect the settlement with Derekh Ha‘Avot, an outpost established in 2001 on privately owned Palestinian land and which currently contains 10 permanent structures and numerous caravans.
o             On April 2, Yediot Ahranot reported on a plan recently presented by the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing to the Prime Minister to build 1,900 new settlement housing units in 2008. According to the plans, which were developed in coordination with the Prime Minister's Office, 158 apartment units will be built in Efrata, 682 in Betar ’Illit, 160 in Geva’ Binyamin, 510 in Giv’at Ze'ev, 302 in Ma’ale Adumim, 48 in Qiryat Arba’, and 48 in Ariel for settlers evacuated from Gaza in 2005.
·        Another 9,617 housing units in and around East Jerusalem have been advanced since Annapolis, of which 5,247 units were submitted for public review, including in the settlements of East Talpiot, Givat HaMatos, Gilo, Har Homa, Neve Ya’aqov and Ramot,[5] <#_ftn5> some of which are summarized below:

o             On February 20, the Israeli-defined municipality of Jerusalem’s Department of Planning and Construction published an official notification for a plan to construct 393 new units in Neve Ya’acov settlement, north of East Jerusalem.
o             In late March, the Jerusalem District Commission for Planning and Construction deposited for public review a plan to build 813 housing units in Giv’at HaMatos settlement on 425 dunums (~106 acres) of land in Beit Safafa, southwest of East Jerusalem. The announcement, which was open for objections until May 21, is part of a larger plan to build some 3,700 housing units in Giv’at HaMatos. The plan’s first phase, which envisions 2,337 housing units on 411 dunums (~103 acres) was deposited for public review in January. (Al Quds)
o             On March 31, the local planning committee of the Israeli-defined Jerusalem municipality authorized a plan to build 600 housing units in Pisgat Ze’ev settlement, northeast of East Jerusalem. (Jerusalem Post, Ynet news)
o             On May 14, Ha’aretz reported that the Israeli-defined Jerusalem municipality has begun the process of approving a plan for a new settlement complex, including a synagogue, in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan south of the Old City. The plan, submitted by the right-wing Elad association, includes 10 apartments, kindergarten classrooms, a library and underground parking for 100 cars.
o             On May 21, Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Boim instructed his ministry to invite tenders for the construction of 286 units in Betar ‘Illit settlement in western Bethlehem. The tenders are part of a plan approved by Prime Minister Olmert in late March to build 800 new units in Betar ‘Illit.  (Ha’aretz)
2.  Tenders
In the six months since Annapolis, Israeli authorities issued five tenders for settlement construction, totalling at least 847 new housing units (see table below), as compared with just 138 housing units tendered in the 12 months prior to Annapolis.
 
  Settlement   Governorate   Date of Tender   Status   # Housing Units   
  Har Homa     Bethlehem     2 Dec. 2007      contracted         307   
  East Talpiot   Jerusalem    23 Dec. 2007      contracted         440   
  Gilo              Jerusalem    31 Dec. 2007      contracted    n/a (hotels)   
  Ariel             Salfit          28 Apr. 2008       open (11 June)    48   
  Elkana          Salfit          28 Apr. 2008       open (11 June)    52   
                                                                     Total            847   

3.  Building Permits
According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, in the first three months after Annapolis (Dec.-Feb.), Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing issued building permits for at least 327 housing units in West Bank settlements, not including settlements in and around East Jerusalem. Of these, 176 permits were issued in January alone, which is nearly as many as the previous four months (Sep.-Dec.) combined (see table below).[6] <#_ftn6>

  Pre-Annapolis   Post-Annapolis   
  Sep. 07   Oct. 07   Nov. 07   Dec. 07   Jan. 08   Feb. 08   
         37   33   44   67   176   84  

D.  Settlement Construction
Settlement construction projects, including both housing and infrastructure, continued apace throughout the West Bank, particularly in and around East Jerusalem.
1.   Housing Units
·        The Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing’s website currently identifies construction projects in at least nine “urban” settlements in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), totalling 4,878 settlement housing units.[7] ftn7  Some 91 percent of these are in the Metropolitan Jerusalem area, with 42 percent in Har Homa alone. Following is a breakdown of current settlement construction projects:


  Settlement   Governorate      Housing Units         Sold   
  Alfe Menashe     Qalqilya                     256                 112   
  Efrata               Bethlehem                 102                   42   
  Ariel                 Salfit                         130                   56   
  Betar ‘Illit         Bethlehem                 628                 376   
  Geva’ Binyam    Jerusalem                  180                 104   
  Giv’at Ze’ev       Jerusalem                  546                    7   
  Har Homa          Jerusalem               2,062              1,059   
  Ma’ale Adumim  Jerusalem                  944                 286   
  Qarne Shomron  Salfit                          30                   --   
                          Totals                  4,878              2,042  
According to data from the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing, the Israeli government began construction on at least 294 new housing units in West Bank settlements in the first three months after the Annapolis Conference, as indicated in the table below (Note: Figures do not include settlements in and around East Jerusalem or private construction):


  Housing Starts / Completions[8] <#_ftn8>    Dec. 07   Jan. 08   Feb. 08   Total   
  Started (Public)                                                 54        136       104       294   
  Completed (Public)                                            32          56         10         98  

Construction was also ongoing in several smaller settlements,

including:  
o  On January 15, construction began on 66 housing units in the Ma’aleh HaZeytim     settlement in East Jerusalem’s Ras al-Amud area. (Ha’aretz)
o  In the settlement of Eli, southeast of Salfit, a new neighborhood comprising 27 trailers has been under construction since mid-January. (Peace Now)
o  In February, six new pre-fabricated homes were erected in Kochav HaShahar settlement, northwest of Jericho. (Peace Now)
o  New construction was taking place in Maskiot settlement, in the Tubas governorate, to accommodate 10 settler families evacuated from Gaza in 2005. (Ha’aretz)
o  Some 100 of the 400 units planned in the Nof Zahav settlement, located in Jabal Mukabber near East Jerusalem, are nearly complete and ready for occupancy. (Peace Now)

2.  Roads & Infrastructure
·   On December 27, a plan for the final stage of the Jerusalem Ring Road, was officially deposited for public review.  Most sections of the massive settler road, which will completely encircle East Jerusalem in order to link up the main Jerusalem-area Israeli settlements with West Jerusalem, are now complete, with the exception of a 11.5 km-long stretch of the eastern ring road (running southward from Az-Za‘im to Sur Bahir and westward along the southern edge of Har Homa and Giv’at HaMatos settlements). In order to complete this project, Israel intends to confiscate more than 1,237 dunums (309 acres) of privately owned Palestinian land and demolish several houses.
·  Work is ongoing on the first phase of the Jerusalem Light Rail, which is aimed at linking the settlements of Pisgat Ze’ev, Neve Ya’kov and French Hill with West Jerusalem. Construction on the project, which began in 2003, is currently concentrated in the Shu’fat and Shaykh Jarrah areas.
·  Excavation work is also continuing on several tunnels adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound (Haram al-Sharif) in the Old City of Jerusalem, in order to facilitate settler movement in the area, including:  
o  a 100 m tunnel in the Hamam Al-‘Ain area of the Old City’s Muslim Quarter;
o  the existing Western Wall tunnel underneath the Haram compound; and
o  a new 600 m tunnel being excavated in the Silwan area under ‘Ain Silwan Mosque and private Palestinian houses by the El’ad Foundation and under the supervision of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, to connect Israeli settlers in Silwan with the Haram compound.

·  Road and infrastructure preparation also continued in the E-1 expansion area between East  Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim settlement, particularly in relation to the newly constructed police headquarters in the eastern part of E-1, which was officially inaugurated on May 19.
·  Construction also continued on several settler by-pass roads, as well as “alternate” roads and tunnels for Palestinians, as part of Israel’s plan to create segregated road networks in the West Bank for Israeli settlers and Palestinians, including on:
o   a new road to run parallel with Road 465, which now serves Israeli settlers and is to become part of the Wall around Beit Arye and Ofarim settlements, between Rantis and Shuqba villages in the Ramallah governorate. (OCHA)
o    a new road between Beit Ur al Fauqa and Tira villages in the Ramallah governorate, as well as an underpass to run beneath Road 443, on which Palestinian pedestrian and vehicular traffic is currently prohibited. The “alternate” road/tunnel would be one of only three points of entry/exit serving the 45,000 Palestinians completely encircled by the Wall and Road 443. (OCHA)
o    a new road between Beit ‘Ur al Fauqa and Beituniya villages. A total of 588 dunums (~147 acres) of land were confiscated, and some land levelling at Beit ‘Ur al Fauqa had begun. (OCHA)
o    a new “alternate” road between ‘Anata and Az Za’ayim villages (Road 70), which was in the final construction stage, to allow Palestinians to enter and exit Az Za’ayim instead of allowing them to use the entrance lane off Road 1 near Za’ayim checkpoint. (OCHA)
·    As of April 29, Israel had established 607 checkpoints, roadblocks and other obstacles to movement throughout the West Bank, as compared with 561 at Annapolis. This represents an 8 per cent increase. (OCHA)

3.     The Wall

Despite reports suggesting that Wall construction has been suspended due to budgetary constraints, work on the Wall and supporting infrastructure continued in several places, including:
·  a patrol road along the eastern side of Road #60 to the south of Tunnel checkpoint terminal, in the Bethlehem governorate (OCHA);
·  land levelling and installation of new buildings at An Nu’man checkpoint terminal (OCHA); and
·  new checkpoint terminals at Beit Yatir and Tarqumiya in the Hebron governorate, and Al-Jab’a checkpoint in the Bethlehem governorate. (OCHA)

E.   Financing & Incentives

On December 23, Israeli officials confirmed that the Israeli government has allocated nearly NIS 100 million (US $27 million) in its 2008 budget for infrastructure work and the construction of 750 housing units in the Jerusalem-area settlements of Har Homa and Ma’aleh Adumim.
·   On January 14, the Knesset Finance Committee approved a request by treasury officials for an additional NIS 15 million (US$ 4.6 million) to fund private security services for 2,000 Israeli settlers in the Abu Dis area of East Jerusalem, which already receive NIS 38 million (US$ 11.7 million) from the Ministry of Housing. [9] ftn9

F.   Settlement Outposts
Of the approximately 110 settlement outposts in the West Bank, 58 of which were established since March 2001, only three were dismantled since Annapolis. Moreover, Israel continues to speak of removing only “unauthorized” outposts (i.e., those established in violation of domestic Israeli law), having identified only 26 such outposts, although the Road Map contains no such distinction.

·   In April, Israeli military forces evacuated the outposts of ‘Harhivi’ and ‘Shvut Ami’ in the northern West Bank, as well as the Mevo Horon-Tzafon outpost in the Ramallah governorate. The evacuations are reportedly part of an agreement reached between the Israeli Ministry of Defense and settler leaders to dismantle some of the 26 designated outposts and relocate the settlers to the large settlement “blocs” or to settlements near Jerusalem, in addition to government assurances to approve building permits and other expansion plans in the more established settlements.
·   In the meantime, outposts continued to be established and expanded, including:
o             A new winery currently being set up some 3 km from Migron outpost, which the Israeli  government promised the Israeli Supreme Court would be removed by August. (Ha’aretz)
o             A new outpost established in May in the southwest Hebron governorate between Negohot settlement and Mitzpe Lachish outpost. (Peace Now; Ynetnews)

Foot Notes:

[1] ftn ref1 - Yedi‘ot Aharanot, 26 February 2008.

[2] ftn ref2 - Quoted in Washington Times, 7 December 2007.

[3] ftn ref3 - Peace Now, Report of the State Control Committee Hearing – 25/2/08. Available at: http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=549&fld=554&docid=3165 <http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=549&amp;fld=554&amp;docid=3165>  <http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=549&amp;fld=554&amp;docid=3165> (accessed on 29 February 2008).

[4] ftn ref4 -  Peace Now, “The Death of the Settlement Freeze - 4 Months Since Annapolis,” March 2008.

[5] ftn ref5   Ir Amim Monitoring Report, “Negotiations toward an Accord on Jerusalem: Declarations vs. Actions,” Apr 2008.

[6] ftn ref6 -  Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, “Construction Area, Buildings and Dwellings Approved in Private Construction, By Month of Permit Approval,” (Table O/8).  Available at: http://www1.cbs.gov.il/www/yarhon/o8_e.htm (accessed 25 May 2008).

[7] ftn ref7 -  Available figures are only for “urban” construction (i.e., settlement municipal and local councils, but not regional councils).  Available at: http://www.moch.gov.il/Moch/ProyekteyBniya.htm <http://www.moch.gov.il/Moch/ProyekteyBniya.htm>  (accessed on 25 May 2008).

[8]  ftn ref8 -  Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing, “Housing Starts Initiated by Ministry of Construction and Housing, By District - Urban and Rural Areas,” (Table A.7(A)); “Housing Completions Initiated by Ministry of Construction and Housing, By District - Urban and Rural Areas,” (Table A.8(A)).  Available at: http://www.moch.gov.il/MOCH/MonthlyBulletin/boards.htm (accessed 25 May 2008).

[9]  ftn ref9 -  Ir Amim Monitoring Report, April 2008.

The Jewish National Fund (JNF)

The Jewish National Fund (JNF)

The JNF was founded in 1901 as the principal Zionist agency for the colonization of Palestine.  It bought Palestinian land and then settled Jewish immigrants on it.  Its rules forbade selling or leasing any land it owned to non-Jews.  If there were Palestinian tenants on the land the JNF encouraged the new Jewish owners to eject them .  Hitherto the normal practice in Palestine had been for the new landlord to keep existing tenants to work the land.

Click to read more ...