Nadav Haetzni Maariv June 29th2018
For the original article in Hebrew:
Translated into English by Sally Zahav
More than a year ago, on the 21st of May, 2017, the policy-security cabinet made a decision which has just now been revealed.
It is entitled "Establishing a dedicated task force for the normalization of buildings and neighborhoods in Judea and Samaria". This is a code name for two dramatic problems that were created by Likud governments. Problems that threaten the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and make it impossible for the communities in Judea and Samaria to be the key to thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The task force was supposed to remove obstacles to the settlement enterprise that were intentionally put in place and to normalize what is deceptively defined as "illegal outposts" and kill the judicial monster that has delegitimized many legal structures in communities of Judea and Samaria.
And now, although more than a year has elapsed, the task force has done almost nothing. Actually, it still has not even completed establishing itself. Someone in the top echelon of the government is preventing its organization and activity. Someone who does not want these problems to be solved, does not want the settlement enterprise to gain strength and does not want to establish irreversible facts on the ground.
And here is another important point: the cabinet decision was taken after the Trump administration agreed to it. In the same meeting it was decided in the same breath to swallow a bitter pill: to develop the communities only close to the line of existing houses, but at the same time, to normalize those that have been strangled for many years. All according to the agreement with Washington.
And despite the green light from the White House, particularly in Jerusalem, a bright red light was lit. The government task force, with a budget of 5 million shekels per year, was supposed to report to the prime minister and the minister of defense every three months on how its work was progressing and finish all of the work within three years. However, it took almost a year to appoint a manager, Pinhas Wallerstein, and Wallerstein is obstructed and strangled through budgets and regulations so that no progress will be made, so that he will fail. This is Netanyahu's well-known formula: not to refuse, rather just disintegrate the work.
It is important to understand the ramifications of this: a significant number of what is defined as illegal outposts were actually established by the government, which was also noted in Talia Sasson's hostile report. These are expansions of communities or new communities that were established after the Oslo Accords in strategic places to prevent a battle over the land. Thus, for example, in the northern section of Binyamin, the line between Eli and Shiloh to the Jordan Valley forms a layer of Jewish contiguity. It is the same thing for the Itamar hills in Samaria that descend to the Valley.
These areas of Jewish contiguity play a key role in disrupting the Arab holdings and preventing the establishment of a hostile Palestinian state. These communities were artificially prevented from being normalized, with the intention of leaving the door open for a Palestinian state to take over the entire area of Judea and Samaria. The work of the task force has simple humanitarian significance too. People bought homes with good money, homes were bought with the government's agreement and were connected to water and electricity by government agencies. But then, one day, they declare that these homes are all of sudden not legal, that they have been removed from within the Blue Line – from the legitimate area for Jewish habitation. So their homes are in danger of being demolished and they are in limbo in any case. There are those who have gone bankrupt as a result, there are couples who have divorced and cannot sell their home to turn the property that they bought in good faith, into cash. This is just cruel.
In any case, the one preventing the execution of the cabinet decision is attempting, practically, to assure that the option of a Palestinian state remains open.That same person is also responsible for preventing the establishment of the Givat Hamatos neighborhood in Jerusalem, a neighborhood south of the city, which has received all of the necessary permits and approvals and is critically important to the capital city. But the Palestinians and foreign elements object to its being established because they want to create an Arab contiguity from Beit Lehem and Hevron to Abu Dis and Ramallah in the place that is designated for the Jewish neighborhood's location. Contiguity for a Palestinian state. And the person who is preventing the establishment of the neighborhood is the prime minister, just as he prevented awarding the building and planning permits for Jerusalem neighborhoods over the Green Line. Just as he is torpedoing the progress of E1 between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim. All for the same reason.
A deep investigation into the Israeli position according to the American "Deal of the Century" explains everything. The outlines of the plan that have been leaked until this point prove that it is more Benjamin Netanyahu's plan than Donald Trump's plan. The outlines are built on what Netanyahu calls a "Palestinian state minus": establishing a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, in some of our capital's neighborhoods. This is why Netanyahu secretly pushes for surrendering at least four neighborhoods north and east of the city; see MK Anat Berko's plan. The outlines are also built on the transfer of 10% of the area of Judea and Samaria to Israeli sovereignty and Israeli control of security in the Jordan Valley and the military bases in Judea and Samaria.
In light of this context we can now consider the cabinet decision regarding the outpost task force, alongside the prevention of building in Givat Hamatos and the obstruction of building Jerusalem. Netanyahu is leaving a vacuum on purpose in order to allow the transfer of most of the area to the Palestinians.
The Prime Minister is called to Order
After the Bar-Ilan speech, those close to Netanyahu hinted that he was playing a sophisticated game. He said "yes" so that the Palestinians would say "no", hoping to avoid a scolding by Barack Obama. This really did not help, but his statement agreeing to a Palestinian state has tarnished the entire Right. Now they are again whispering that he will say "yes, but" to Trump's "Deal of the Century", and for the same reasons.
To speak of the transfer of Jerusalem, Beit-El and Hevron is a very bad position by itself. It is similar to a husband's position when receiving an offer to buy his wife for 100 thousand shekels and answers "yes, but only for a million". Even if the feasibility of the obscene deal is low, his answer actually reveals the husband to be a faithless pimp. Especially since he is careful not to touch his wife in order to maintain the option to raise the price.
But even worse, to claim that Netanyahu does not really mean to say 'yes' is to mock those who heard him and voted for him. Netanyahu claimed this week that the news' publications against him is an attack on the Rightist camp and religious people. But if the head of the Likud was interested in quietly promoting the positions of the Right camp, which he is trying to enlist in the fight against those who accuse him of corruption, he would not have torpedoed the cabinet's decision, which had received prior American approval.
Actually, Netanyahu is purposely missing out on an historic opportunity that has occurred since Trump has taken office. Since last November we have had a true friend in the White House who is untouched by the traditional concepts held by the global Left. Someone who is supported by tens of millions of voters who could easily have registered as members of Likud or the Jewish Home. At the same time, the Palestinians have succeeded in alienating themselves from Trump and his surroundings, providing us with a golden opportunity to form a basis for a new reality. Under these circumstances, if Netanyahu had only wanted to do so, he could have implemented that for which he and the heads of his party have been clamoring for years. To put an end to the historic, bloody mistake that is the Oslo Accords, to overthrow the Palestinian Authority and annex Area C.
Netanyahu talks the talk of the Right, but walks the walk of the Left. He is now missing the opportunity of the century. And it is strange that those around him, in the party and the coalition, do not call him to order. This week, MK Yoav Kish of the Likud convened a meeting in the Knesset on the matter of the cabinet decision and the outpost task force. But if he really wants to have results, he must turn to the right address: he must summon the prime minister and call him to order.
