An Israeli settlement. Photo: AJN file

JERUSALEM — Some 29 West Bank settlements have violated the construction freeze, according to Israel’s Defence Ministry.

Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai has released a list of the settlements that have continued construction despite a 10-month freeze announced in late November by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Peace Now said on February 15 that it had identified five additional settlements that also have continued building despite the freeze.

The freeze, which does not cover buildings for which a foundation had already been laid before its start, was announced in a bid to bring the Palestinians to the peace negotiating table, but the Palestinians have refused to resume negotiations until all construction in all settlements and eastern Jerusalem is halted.

Vilnai said officials have attempted to enforce the freeze in the settlements listed as violators, including issuing demolition and stop work orders. Other measures could be taken, he said.
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Unsettling matters

ISRAELI Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a difficult decision last week when he proposed, and his security cabinet accepted, a 10-month freeze on building new housing in all Israeli communities past the pre-1967 borders (excepting Jerusalem).

When even the most principled cabinet ministers with rock-solid ideological credentials voted for the temporary moratorium, it was clear that it was a decision many on the Right felt they had no choice but to make. This was not only to satisfy their consciences that they had gone the extra mile for the sake of peace, but also to send a clear message to Washington that Israel is listening to their requests, if not meeting all of them.
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RABBI JAMES KENNARD

IN other places they would be called “towns”, “villages” or “neighbourhoods”. The people who live in such districts, be they Chinese in Tibet, Protestants in Northern Ireland or Indians in Kashmir, would be called “residents” or even “people”.

But, in just one part of the world, they are known by a different name. In the area disputed by Jews and Arabs, the towns become “settlements”. Those who live there are not “families” or “communities”, but “settlers”.
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An Israeli settlement. Photo: AJN file

JERUSALEM — The White House has expressed dismay over the approval of the construction of 900 housing units in an eastern Jerusalem neighbourhood.

The Jerusalem muncipal planning committee approved the plan for apartments abutting Gilo on Tuesday, just hours after an Israeli newspaper published an article reporting that the Obama administration objected to the community’s expansion.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: “We are dismayed at the Jerusalem Planning Committee’s decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem.

“At a time when we are working to re-launch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed. Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations.

“The US also objects to other Israeli practices in Jerusalem related to housing, including the continuing pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes.
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CARTOONIST Kron looks at controversy over Israeli government policy on settlements.

An Israeli settlement. Photo: AJN file

JERUSALEM — Israel will appoint a task force to issue building permits in the West Bank.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Interior Minister Eli Yishai agreed to create the task force on Monday after requests from settlement leaders, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported.

The task force, which will include a geographer, a jurist and archivists, will establish ownership of West Bank lands before building starts to ensure that construction takes place on Jewish-owned and not Palestinian-owned land. A previously appointed team was disbanded three years ago.

Since then, construction of schools, kindergartens and other public buildings has been held up, Ha’aretz reported.

JTA

CARTOONIST Kron looks at controversy over Israeli government policy on settlements.

An Israeli settlement. Photo: AJN file

AJN STAFF

THE Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has lodged a complaint with the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes over a report it screened on West Bank settlements.

The segment, titled Hate Thy Neighbour, which was screened on Sunday September 20, appeared heavily weighted towards Palestinians’ accounts of settlers’ activities and contained major factual errors.

The Nine Network is yet to respond to the complaint.

ECAJ president Robert Goot issued a statement in which he said Palestinians “have made no secret of the fact that they seek to harness [media] coverage whenever possible in support of their cause as a tactic in their long-term struggle against Israel’s existence. This makes it all the more important for journalists to maintain the highest professional standards when reporting on any aspect of these conflicts”.
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Clamping down on hate

BANYULE Council in Melbourne’s north has removed anti-Semitic, anti-Indian and anti-gay graffiti, including swastikas, from the outside walls of a dilapidated house in Ivanhoe. Over the weekend, streets in Footscray, in Melbourne’s west, were reportedly daubed with hate graffiti.

The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission is in talks with Darebin Council, also in Melbourne’s north, to remove swastikas and Stars of David scrawled on railway signal boxes.

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RON WEISER

THERE is nothing like a debate on “the settlements” to stir passions or to allow false ideological sloganeering to override reality.

There are no such things as “settlements” per se. To Hamas and Fatah, Tel Aviv is a settlement. To Yossi Beilin, Mitzpei Yericho is a settlement.
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