Tag: Settlers - Page 169 - International Solidarity Movement

E1 settlement project ongoing, Israel invested 200 million NIS for settlement construction

Saed Bannoura | IMEMC

Israel is ongoing with the infrastructure work, which includes roads and homes in the so-called E1 area, in east Jerusalem in order to impose its own vision of any future peace deal by disconnecting geographical contiguity of the Palestinian territories and linking Maali Adumim illegal settlement with East Jerusalem and other settlements around it.

Israel planned this construction initially in 1994, and in 1999 the Higher Construction Committee approved the plan but was not implemented due to American pressure.

In May of 2008, Israel constructed a police station in the area and went on to pave roads, main junctions, public squares, checkpoints, a bridge, side walls, and other constructions with a total cost that exceeded 100 Million New Israeli Shekels.

Israel also paved a road which links Khizma Palestinian town with Al Zeaayim area in order to be used by the Palestinians as they will not be allowed into the E1 area. The plan will further bloc any contiguity between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said after he won the elections in March of 2006 that he intends to construct and expand settlements in the E1 area and vowed contiguity between the settlements and Jerusalem. This includes Gush Azion settlement bloc and Ariel settlement bloc in the southern and northern parts of the West Bank.

On Saturday, Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that Olmert’s office declared that Ma’aleh Adumim settlement bloc is and will remain part of Jerusalem under any peace agreement. The settlement as well as all Israeli settlements and outpost are built on Palestinian lands illegal annexed by Israel.

Under the current plan, Israeli will build a new settlement on 12442 Dunams that would be annexed from the Palestinians living in Al Ezariyya, AL Toor and Al Esawiyya. It will contain 3500 housing units (for nearly 14500 settlers).

Also, ten hotels, recreational facilities, other settlement units, and an industrial zone would also be built under this plan.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said that Ma’aleh Adumim is an inseparable part of Jerusalem and the state of Israel.

Haaretz reported that Barak’s office issued a statement saying that Ma’aleh Adumim will be linked with Mount Scopus and that it “is absolutely necessary to keep the area as part of Israel.

This was the same position of former Israeli Prime Minister Yithak Rabin, who was killed by an extremist Jew in 1995, as well as the position of consecutive Israeli government since East Jerusalem fell under Israeli occupation in 1967.

Ma’aleh Adumim is built on Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem, it lies 14 kilometers to the east of the city and is inhibited by more than 30000 settlers. The E1 project will ensure the expansion of the settlement and linking it with Jerusalem by annexing more Palestinian land from villages and towns in East Jerusalem.

The plan will cut off any possibility of developing Palestinian villages and cities in the area, and will block geographical contiguity which threatens the possibilities of establishing a viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The plan will prevent Palestinian construction between Jerusalem and Ramallah and will complicate the situation and make it difficult to reach an agreement on borders.

Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem and its surrounding Palestinians areas, are illegal under the international law since they are built on occupied lands. Yet, construction and expansion of illegal settlement remains the first priority of consecutive Israeli governments and the Palestinians continue to lose lands, olive orchards, and their villages, cities and towns continue to be isolated and separated by settlements and the illegal Annexation Wall.

Peace Now: Settlements expanded faster in 2008

On day US Mideast envoy arrives in Israel, Peace Now movement publishes report on settlement expansion activity last year. Yesha Council pleased with ‘documentation of Zionist enterprise’

Efrat Weiss | Ynet

Jewish settlements and outposts in the West Bank expanded more rapidly in 2008 than the previous year, Peace now reported on Wednesday. The timing of the report is no coincidence, and it was released on the day US Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell was scheduled to arrive in Israel.

Mitchell has spoken out against the illegal construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories in the past.

According to the report, there were 285,800 settlers living in the West Bank as of 2008, with 1,518 new structures built in the territories last year, including 261 outposts.

Sixty-one percent of the new structures were built west of the route of the separation fence and 39% were built east of it. A quarter of the new structures east of the fence were built in outposts.

At least 1,257 new structures were built in existing settlements, including 748 permanent buildings and 509 caravans compared to 800 structures in 2007 – a 60% rise. In addition the ground was prepared for the construction of 63 new structures.

Peace Now also presented a list of settlements with large construction project in the last six months: Alfei Menashe (16 new structures), Efrat (15 new structures), Beit Arye (27 new structures), Beitar Illit (18 new structures), Keidar (13 new structures), Giv’at Ze’ev (10 new structures), Modi’in Illit (35 new structures), Ma’ale Adumim (13 new structures), Ma’ale Shomron (19 new structures).

Settlements in which at least 10 new caravans were built in the last half-year are Har Bracha, Ofra, Kiryat Arba and Shilo.

Outposts

The report continued to say that not a single real outpost was evacuated in 2008, and at least 261 new structures were built, including 227 caravans and 34 permanent structures, compared to 98 structures in 2007 (including 82 caravans and 16 permanent structures).

In addition the ground was prepared for the construction of nine new permanent structures.In three of every four outposts construction or development work took place in 2008.

Besides these outposts there is a large number of additional points controlled by the settlers but without their permanent presence.

At the outpost of Migron for example the settlers added 5 new structures and began building an extension for another permanent structure.

The Peace Now report said, “It seems that the government announcement to the High Court of Justice that it agreed with the settlers to evacuate Migron and relocate it to the settlement of Adam must have encouraged the settlers to begin construction at Migron, because if the relocation does take place it will take years.”

‘Settlers took advantage of Gaza war’

During the war in Gaza the settlers took advantage of the fact that all public attention was on the south to expand construction in the outposts and settlements, the report said.

The organization said at this point it is difficult to assess the amount of construction done during the weeks of the war but it can be stated with certainty that a number of new roads were opened, with the goal of extending control in the areas near the settlements.

Roads opened include one connecting the settlement of Eli with the settlement of Shilo, a road extending control surrounding the outpost of Haro’e and an expanded road ascending from Eli cemetery towards Hayovel outpost.

The report continued to say that in 2008 tenders were issued to build 539 new housing units in the settlements, compared to only 65 housing units in 2007, an eight-fold increase in the number of tenders.

Construction permits were also granted for the beginning of work on large projects west of the fence: Nine-hundred-and-fifty housing units in Ma’ale Adumim, 800 housing units in Giv’at Ze’ev, 100 housing units in Ariel and more.

In addition a considerable momentum began in planning and construction in east Jerusalem.

Peace Now said Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved dozens of construction plans in settlements in 2008, some east of the fence.

Among the substantial plans approved was the establishment of the settlement of Sansana -in southern Mount Hebron, establishment of the settlement of Maskiyot, the expansion of the settlement in Hebron, and more.

According to the report all the outposts Barak declared were evacuated were not fully evacuated. The evacuation of the disputed house in Hebron is the exception.

Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer said, “The Labor-Kadima government is a big disappointment in anything to do with freezing construction in settlements.

The settlers don’t have to wait for Bibi (Netanyahu), since the present government has allowed construction not just in settlement blocks, but also in isolated settlements and outposts.”

‘Most important Zionist enterprise of our time’

Yesha Council said in response, “Once again we thank Peace Now for allocating the money they get from the European Union towards documenting the most important Zionist enterprise of our generation – settling in Judea and Samaria.”

The Council added that “some of the data are not exactly accurate. The number of settlers today according to official data stands at over 300,000 Israelis.

“Regarding the allegations of ‘taking advantage’ of the war to pave roads, all of Israel knows who took advantage of the war to demonstrate against IDF soldiers and who sent their sons to the front line to give their soul in defense of the State.”

Meanwhile, the Yesha Council plans to welcome American Envoy George Mitchell.

On Wednesday, settlers will put on a special presentation titled “A Palestinian state will blow up in our face”, in an attempt to illustrate the “dangers establishing a Palestinian state in Judea and Samara would pose on central Israel, following the lessons learned from the disengagement, the rockets on Beersheba, Gedera and the war in the south”.

The three-dimensional presentation will be accompanied by audio and visual effects and will travel on a large truck from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during Mitchell’s meetings with the heads of the State.

Settlers fire more rockets at Burin

On the 9th July 3 more rockets were fired from settlements towards Palestinian villages. Settlers from the two settlements Yitzhar and Brakha, both of them placed on land from the village of Burin, started for about four weeks ago to shoot home made rockets on the Palestinian.

At least nine rockets have been fired so far, with a maximum of three rockets in one day. They’ve been fired both during night and in the middle of the day, with the rockets have become more and more advanced. The first rocket wasn’t very big, but they’ve grown each time to about the size of a three litre water bottle. The rockets are covered with steel and have an inside of explosives and needles. Only one of them has exploded so far, causing a fire. The rockets are able to be shoot from a distance of about three kilometers and they have landed in different places around the village, one time in a house. No one in Burin has been hurt by the rockets but the villagers, especially the children, feel very sad and unsafe because of them.

After the rocket-attacks the Israeli army has turned up in Burin very fast. The army has taken the rockets and they have cleaned up at the spot where they landed. No settler has been charged with anything.

Burin has about 3000 inhabitants. The first settlers took land from Burin and it’s neighboring village Madama in 1985. Ever since then the settlers have harassed the villagers in different ways. They have burned their fields, the last time last thursday, with losses of groves and income for many villagers as a consequence. They have abused the villagers with sticks and machine-guns when they’ve tried to harvest their olives, almonds and wheat. The settlers have also come in groups to the houses of Burin, mostly during night-time, to abuse the villagers. Several villagers have been injured during these attacks, two of them seriously.

Kiryat Arba settlers throw party on privately owned Palestinian land

At 1:40pm a group of international human rights workers received a call from a Palestinian man, Anan Jabouri, who lives on land he owns directly next to Kiryat Arba settlement. Jabouri told a local Palestinian resident, and member of ISM, that a large group of Israeli settlers had set up a tent on his land and were gathering underneath it. He requested that internationals come to his home in order to ensure the settlers would not become violent, and also to potentially make them leave his land since they had no permission to be there.

In fact the Israeli settlers surrounding the Jabouri home have caused many problems for this family in the past, including constructing a tent which they claim to be a “synagogue” despite the Israeli army and Israeli courts having declared the tent illegal multiple times. This tent is located on the Jabouri family’s land and has caused frequent tension between the settlers and the Palestinian land owners.

It was next to this area that the settlers had set up a tarp/awning for multiple people to stand under.

When the human rights workers arrived at the area, at about 2:15pm, they approached a gathering of Israeli settlers around a band playing music, which was taking place on the Jabouri land, and blocking them from working there. A group of Israeli soldiers and Border Police were also present, and any attempt to walk across the land, or in the vicinity of the gathering, resulted in them blocking passage.

The human rights workers attempted, with members of the Jabouri family, to approach the gathering and pressure the soldiers to remove the settlers from the land. The soldiers told Anan Jabouri that the settlers would be finished in about half an hour and would then be forced to leave.

However, the Israeli settler gathering continued for over an hour longer, despite the Jabouri family’s, and human rights workers’, attempt to encourage the soldiers to make the settlers leave the area. In fact when the group of internationals and Jabouri family members, joined by three members of CPT, tried to work on the land, the army kept telling them to stop.

Finally when the settlers decided to leave the area there were many tense moments. The settlers approached Anan Jabouri and tried to make him leave, and also attempted to pressure the soldiers to make him leave the area. Despite this, the majority of the settlers did leave the land, which allowed the human rights workers and the Palestinian family to start working it.

However, the efforts to work all of the land were thwarted by continued presence of about ten settlers which consisted of seven young girls and three adults. This is because the army and police blocked the area around where the settlers were present. This meant in reality a quarter of the land was out of bounds for working.

After this the family managed to bring out sheep and horses to graze the land. This continued peacefully until the son of Anan Jabouri rode the horse outside of the land onto the road. When he returned to the land leading the horse he was met by an army commander who attempted to stop the horse from being led back up onto the grazing point. The son of Anan Jabouri argued with the army commander for a while until the horse eventually broke free from its reigns and ran up the hill. The army commander at this point wanted to arrest Jabouri’s son attempting to put him in the back of the army jeep. This was met by intervention by the human rights workers, who stood in front of the jeep, trying to stop an arrest which seemed to have no reason. The result was that the Israeli police intervened and gave everyone an ultimatum stating that every Palestinian and international must leave the land or the son of Anan Jabouri would be arrested. Anan Jabouri in fear of his son being arrested agreed to leave his land, and his son was released.

Israel 2007: Worse than Apartheid

by Ronnie Kasrils | Mail & Guardian

Travelling into Palestine’s West Bank and Gaza Strip, which I visited recently, is like a surreal trip back into an apartheid state of emergency.

It is chilling to pass through the myriad checkpoints – more than 500 in the West Bank. They are controlled by heavily armed soldiers, youthful but grim, tensely watching every movement, fingers on the trigger. Fortunately for me, travelling in a South African embassy vehicle with official documents and escort, the delays were brief.

Sweeping past the lines of Palestinians on foot or in taxis was like a view of the silent, depressed pass- office queues of South Africa’s past. A journey from one West Bank town to another that could take 20 minutes by car now takes seven hours for Palestinians, with manifold indignities at the hands of teenage soldiers.

My friend, peace activist Terry Boullata, has virtually given up her teaching job. The monstrous apartheid wall cuts off her East Jerusalem house from her school, which was once across the road, and now takes an hour’s journey. Yet she is better off than the farmers of Qalqilya, whose once prosperous agricultural town is totally surrounded by the wall and economically wasted. There is only one gated entry point. The key is with the occupation soldiers. Often they are not even there to let anyone in or out.

Bethlehem too is totally enclosed by the wall, with two gated entry points. The Israelis have added insult to injury by plastering the entrances with giant scenic posters welcoming tourists to Christ’s birthplace.

The “security barrier”, as the Israeli’s term it, is designed to crush the human spirit as much as to enclose the Palestinians in ghettoes. Like a reptile, it transforms its shape and cuts across agricultural lands as a steel-and-wire barrier, with watchtowers, ditches, patrol roads and alarm systems. It will be 700km long and, at a height of 8m to 9m in places, dwarfs the Berlin Wall.

The purpose of the barrier becomes clearest in open country. Its route cuts huge swathes into the West Bank to incorporate into Israel the illegal Jewish settlements – some of which are huge towns – and annexes more and more Palestinian territory.

The Israelis claim the purpose of the wall is purely to keep out terrorists. If that were the case, the Palestinians argue, why has it not been built along the 1967 Green Line border? One can only agree with the observation of Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad, who has stated: “It has become abundantly clear that the wall and checkpoints are principally aimed at advancing the safety, convenience and comfort of settlers.”

The West Bank, once 22% of historic Palestine, has shrunk to perhaps 10% to 12% of living space for its inhabitants, and is split into several fragments, including the fertile Jordan Valley, which is a security preserve for Jewish settlers and the Israeli Defence Force. Like the Gaza Strip, the West Bank is effectively a hermetically sealed prison. It is shocking to discover that certain roads are barred to Palestinians and reserved for Jewish settlers. I try in vain to recall anything quite as obscene in apartheid South Africa.

Gaza provides a desolate landscape of poverty, grime and bombed-out structures. Incon- gruously, we are able to host South Africa’s Freedom Day reception in a restaurant overlooking the splendid harbour and beach. Gunfire rattles up and down the street, briefly interrupting our proceedings, as some militia or other celebrates news of the recovery from hospital of a wounded comrade. Idle fishing boats bob in long lines in the harbour, for times are bad. They are confined by Israel to 3km of the coast and fishing is consequently unproductive. Yet, somehow, the guests are provided with a good feast in best Palestinian tradition.

We are leaving through Tel Aviv airport and the Israeli official catches my accent. “Are you South African?’ he asks in an unmistakable Gauteng accent. The young man left Benoni as a child in 1985. “How’s Israel?” I ask. “This is a f**ked-up place,” he laughs, “I’m leaving for Australia soon.”

“Down under?” I think. I’ve just been, like Alice, down under into a surreal world that is infinitely worse than apartheid. Within a few hours I am in Northern Ireland, a guest at the swearing in of the Stormont power-sharing government of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness.

Not even PW Botha or Ariel Sharon were once as extreme as Ian Paisley in his most riotous and bigoted days. Ireland was under England’s boot for 800 years, South Africa’s colonial-apartheid order lasted 350 years. The Zionist colonial-settler project stems from the 1880s. The Israeli ruling class, corrupt and with no vision, can no longer rule in the old way. The Palestinians are not prepared to be suppressed any longer. What is needed is Palestinian unity behind their democratically elected national government, reinforced by popular struggles of Palestinians and progressive Israelis, supported by international solidarity.

South Africa’s stated position is clear. The immediate demands are recognition of the government of national unity, the lifting of economic sanctions and blockade of the Palestinian territories, an end to the 40-year-old military occupation and resumption of negotiations for a two-state solution.

On a final note, the invitation to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh as head of a national unity government was welcomed by President Mahmoud Abbas, and will be dealt with by our government.

As they say in Arabic: “Insha ’Allah [God-willing].”

Ronnie Kasrils is South Africa’s Minister of Intelligence