Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories
Vol. 15 No. 2 | March-April 2005Contents
After almost five years of grim determination and little but promises
of “blood, sweat, and tears,” Israelis and Palestinians sense the
beginning of a new phase in their struggle. For the moment, dialogue
and handshakes have replaced threats and armed confrontation. Yet
Israelis and Palestinians have learned from hard experience that smiles
and vague proclamations can conceal radically different agendas.
The election of President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan, a cease-fire, and President Bush’s renewed support for a viable contiguous Palestinian state are welcome developments. But as Jeff Aronson points out in this issue, they do not represent a fundamental turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or justify complacency.
“I would not be confiding a great secret if I were to tell you that the entire settlement enterprise in the territories, under both right-wing and left-wing governments, was promoted with a wink of duplicity: the governments wanted to maintain the facade of legality.
On March 10, 2005, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon published a report by former prosecutor Talia Sasson on government involvement in the establishment of settlement outposts. Excerpts from the report:
