Short Takes

The Evacuation-Compensation Bill Is Back

On September 6, 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert brought the issue of evacuation-compensation legislation before his cabinet. The plan, spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon, proposes to provide financial compensation to the 67,000 settlers—comprising approximately 12,000 families—who live on the eastern side of the separation barrier in exchange for their voluntarily evacuation, without reference to the conclusion of a final status agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. (See table page 5.)

The cost of the evacuation is estimated at $700 million by the plan’s proponents. The offer includes $300,000 per family. In comparison, the compensation to 1,200 families evacuated in the 2005 disengagement from Gaza totaled $1.6 billion. Some in the Finance Ministry estimate that the final price tag for the plan will be higher, with estimates as high as three times the amount of the 2005 Gaza disengagement. 

A study ordered by the Prime Minister’s Office determined that only 18 percent of settlers living east of the separation barrier would participate in the plan. According to the proposal, the state will buy and seal the homes of settlers who agree to relocation. 

Sources: Akiva Eldar, “Ramon’s Settler Evacuation-Compensation Bill Is Just Talk” Ha’aretz, September 5, 2008; Nadav Shragai, “Disengagement Authority: Government Spent NIS 6 Billion on Settler Evacuees” Ha’aretz, May 19, 2008; “Ramon Proposes: NIS 1.1 Million for West Bank Evacuees,” Yediot Aharonot, September 14, 2008

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A Prize for Murder

“A prize of $250,000 is promised to anyone who kills a member of Peace Now. The State of Israel has become our enemy. The time has come to establish a state ruled according to Jewish law in Judea and Samaria. The time for the Kingdom of Judea has come.”

Leaflet signed by the State Army of Liberators, found at the site of an assassination attempt on Professor Ze’ev Sternhal, Yediot Aharonot, September 28, 2008

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Happy New Year

“In what has become something of a holiday tradition, pioneers and other families will start two new Jewish neighborhoods today in Judea/Samaria and will strengthen another.

“The sites chosen for the new neighborhoods are Reches [Hilltop] Sela—the western hilltop of Har Brachah, near Shechem—and Maalot [Steps] Halhoul, between Hevron/ Kiryat Arba and Gush Etzion. A third site, Reches Migron—a hilltop just outside Migron, in Binyamin—will receive a strong boost of support, with marchers making their way to the spot today. Some of them plan to remain and thus bolster the single family and several singles that have been living there for several months. Migron itself has 43 families, but its growth is being stunted by the government.

“Activists in the field said they do not see any attempts by the army to set up blockades or otherwise stop them. Several families are equipped with supplies and are planning to remain there for as long as possible. Weiss, the former mayor of Kedumim, told Arutz 7’s Uzi Baruch, “The neighborhood of Shvut Ami, just a few kilometers away from Kedumim, began exactly in this way—as a holiday initiative—and it has now been standing for 13 months.”

Arutz 7, October 19, 2008

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Closure Update

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that from April 30-September 11, 2008, the Israeli government implemented limited measures to ease restrictions on Palestinian access and movement in the West Bank. Overall, there is still a lack of significant improvement for Palestinian access and movement within the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 

One hundred obstacles were removed, of which only 25 are considered significant and counted by OCHA. Israel eased restrictions on three main routes in the West Bank: Shavei Shomron checkpoint northwest of Nablus, as well as the al-Fahs and Ras al-Joura junctions at Hebron City. While these routes are open, the security infrastructure remains. IDF soldiers continue to man their posts, leaving the possibility that restrictions could be reinstated. Notwithstanding these three junctions, almost 75 percent of the main routes to the 18 most-populated Palestinian urban centers are blocked or restricted by an IDF checkpoint. Close to one-half of the secondary routes into these areas are also blocked or controlled by an IDF checkpoint.

As of September 11, OCHA reports a total of 630 closure obstacles, 93 of which are staffed military checkpoints. This total does not include 69 obstacles located in the Israeli-controlled section of Hebron City (H-2). This figure represents a net increase of 3 percent since April 2008. Northern and central areas had increases while the southern areas of the West Bank had a decrease in the number of obstacles.

The report concludes that, “In reflecting on the policy implemented for the last eight years, one can note that what was once justified by the Israeli authorities as a short-term military response to violent confrontations and attacks on Israeli civilians, appears to be developing into a permanent system; a system which is fragmenting the West Bank territory and affecting the freedom of movement of the entire Palestinian population.”

OCHA Closure Report, September 29, 2008