Haaretz
Adar2 17, 5765
The efforts to expand the "settlement blocs" in
the West Bank and to fill sensitive areas between the Green Line and the
separation fence with thousands of housing units are intended to expand
"the narrow waistline" around Israel's population centers.
Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon wants to take advantage of international support for
his plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip to establish facts on the ground
in the West Bank. He has made no secret of his intentions: In the December
2003 Herzliya speech in which he first presented his disengagement plan he
declared that Israel would "strengthen its control of other parts of the
Land of Israel, which will be an inseparable part of the State of Israel
in any future agreement."
News of renewed building in Ma'aleh
Adumim, the Etzion Bloc and the western portions of the northern West Bank
arouses little public attention, with disengagement a much sexier issue as
far as politicians are concerned. The construction comes up only when it
irritates someone in Washington. Officially, the Americans continue to
oppose construction over the Green Line. At the same time, they are not
working too hard to prevent the strengthening of the settlement
blocs.
Sharon's bureau has the impression that the Americans have
silently acquiesced to expanded construction in the territories. The
problem is that the "Bush letter" which Sharon received last year and
which recognizes the existence of "Israeli population centers" in the
territories, relates only to final-status negotiations. These are not
currently underway nor are they likely to be in the near future. The issue
therefore becomes: If the settlement blocs are to be annexed to Israel in
any case, why not build in them now? On the other hand, Israel promised
two years ago to freeze construction "over the existing lines" in the
settlements.
How should this contradiction be resolved? The two
parties have avoided setting an exact definition of "blocs" or of lines
beyond which construction would not be allowed.
Last week, Israel's
E-1 program to connect Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem with 3,500 new housing
units was unveiled. This plan would cut off territorial contiguity for the
future Palestinian state and surround Arab East Jerusalem with Jewish
neighborhoods, making it difficult for the Palestinians to turn East
Jerusalem into their capital. The Palestinians and their Israeli
supporters have been warning for years that such a plan would spell the
end of a two-state solution.
But Sharon's bureau says the U.S.
supports the project, at least behind closed doors.
Sharon is in a
bind. He needs to show he is holding onto the settlement blocs to avoid
further desertions to the Likud rebel camp. Yet on the foreign policy
front, he has had to keep a low profile on construction.
But
according to statements by U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer to the
mass-circulation Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth, there is no understanding
between the U.S. and Israel concerning the settlement blocs. Both left and
right rejoiced at the report - here was the proof that Sharon had lied and
had received nothing from Bush in return for the disengagement. Kurtzer
subsequently denied the report, reiterated the president's promise
regarding the settlement blocs, and praised Sharon's
credibility.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also backtracked
on her harsh criticism of the E1 plan, and in a Washington Post interview
returned to ambiguous requests for clarifications.
One again,
Sharon came out on top, and paid neither a domestic nor an international
price for his critical decisions to strengthen the "blocs."