To Our Readers
Settlement Report | Vol. 6 No. 5 | September-October 1996By Lucius D. Battle
- News
- Netanyahu Government Highlights Settlement Program
- Sharon Emerges as Key Player in Likud Settlement Policy
- To Our Readers
- Building Quietly on the Golan
- Palestinians Condemn Netanyahu's Settlement Actions
- Mubarak and Clinton Address Settlements
- Netanyahu Aims to Match Labor Settlement Record
- Back Panel Quote
One of Israel's major achievements in the Oslo process was in winning
the Palestinian leadership to a view of settlements not inimical to its
own. According to this view, settlements are an impediment to
Israeli-Palestinian agreement, but not an insurmountable one. Under the
Oslo formula, settlements and peace are not irreconcilable objectives.
Rather, each can be accommodated. And the result could be peace--with
settlements.
The election of Benjamin Netanyahu changed the context in which settlements are viewed and their impact analyzed. Previously, Palestinian concessions concerning settlements and a host of other issues could be rationalized as necessary way-stations along the road to eventual independence. The Netanyahu election and his government's actions and words since June have made this underlying presumption far more difficult, if not impossible.
We have seen how the profile of settlements has risen in the last few months--not so much because of specific decisions the new Israeli government has made, but more so because the new government is proving unable to follow the Labor example of "building quietly." For the fact of the matter is, Netanyahu will not have an easy time matching Labor's settlement achievement of increasing the settler population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by close to 50 percent in four years. Visibility of the issue has become too high.
If today the Palestinian Authority longs for the golden days of Peres and Rabin, it is not because their settlement policies led in absolute terms--in "facts on the ground"--to fewer Israelis moving across the Green Line. Labor convinced the Palestinian leadership to accept the seductive concept that peace and settlements were not mutually exclusive objectives. The current Israeli government, in contrast, has resurrected the idea of Greater Israel and, alongside it, a fierce unequivocal opposition to Palestinian independence anywhere between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
In this environment, settlement once again becomes a battleground.
The election of Benjamin Netanyahu changed the context in which settlements are viewed and their impact analyzed. Previously, Palestinian concessions concerning settlements and a host of other issues could be rationalized as necessary way-stations along the road to eventual independence. The Netanyahu election and his government's actions and words since June have made this underlying presumption far more difficult, if not impossible.
We have seen how the profile of settlements has risen in the last few months--not so much because of specific decisions the new Israeli government has made, but more so because the new government is proving unable to follow the Labor example of "building quietly." For the fact of the matter is, Netanyahu will not have an easy time matching Labor's settlement achievement of increasing the settler population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by close to 50 percent in four years. Visibility of the issue has become too high.
If today the Palestinian Authority longs for the golden days of Peres and Rabin, it is not because their settlement policies led in absolute terms--in "facts on the ground"--to fewer Israelis moving across the Green Line. Labor convinced the Palestinian leadership to accept the seductive concept that peace and settlements were not mutually exclusive objectives. The current Israeli government, in contrast, has resurrected the idea of Greater Israel and, alongside it, a fierce unequivocal opposition to Palestinian independence anywhere between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
In this environment, settlement once again becomes a battleground.
