So it’s not ‘Relocation, Relocation, Relocation’, but ‘Expansion, Expansion, Expansion’. We shouldn’t be surprised by Netanyahu’s response to Obama’s call for a halt to settlement construction. During the election campaign Ha’aretz quoted Bibi as saying to Middle East envoy Tony Blair, “I have no intention of building new settlements in the West Bank, but like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements.”
342,000 settlers by the end of his first 5 years?
Fulfilling as many pre-election promises as early as possible is a policy popular amongst many new leaders. However, unlike most leaders Netanyahu comes with Prime Ministerial baggage having held office between 1996 and 1999. Using this as a guide, one may be able to deduce what he may or may not do this time round. There may be some new ‘players’ on the scene, no settlements in Gaza and an almost total withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but much of what he contended with between ’96 and ’99 still remains today.
At the start of his first-term Bibi was reluctant to continue with settlement construction, choosing to focus on a withdrawal from Hebron instead. The Labour government before him had frozen settlement construction and expansion in all areas, except in the Jordan River valley and around Jerusalem. To appease the restless settlers Bibi visited the settlement of Ariel on 27th November 1996, “And why shouldn’t settlements develop here? Is somebody stopping the development of the Arab communities nearby? Am I preventing that? Am I choking them? Am I telling them don’t build houses, don’t build schools?”
He continued this appeasement and statement of intent during an interview with MSNBC on 15th December 1996. In response to the question, “Why did you decide on expanding the settlements? Don’t you think you made that decision too quickly?” he said, “We did not decide on expropriating land or on construction of new settlements.” No, he just expanded them instead.
He defended his expansion policy in an interview with CNN on 27th September 1998, “Does this Interim Agreement prevent Israel from establishing new settlements?” Bibi: “We’re just building as part of natural growth. We’re not building new settlements, but we’re allowing the natural increase of the population in these communities…Now, understand that at the same time, the Arab communities also expand. People get married. They have children…I would never dream of telling the Arabs, “You can’t get married; you can’t have children.”
(Coincidentally on 24th May 2009, when referring to the settlers, he said, “There is no way that we are going to tell people not to have children or to force young people to move away from their families.”)
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) report on settlement expansion in 1998 confirmed that construction reached levels not seen since 1992 when there was a large influx of CIS immigrants. During ’98 the construction of 4,000 units began, up from 1,630 the previous year.
So, Bibi’s settlement record during his first term: settler population increases to 180,000 (increase of 20%); construction of 20,000 dwelling units; 14,000 units sold.
Bibi, not often considered a man of his word, focused on expansion rather than construction during his first-term. On this issue he was consistent before and during his tenure. In Israeli politics consistency is thin on the ground. However, his consistency still led to a 20% increase in the settler population and this is a disturbing fact.
He has begun his current term using the same language, some of it word for word. He may well be focusing on the expansion of existing settlements as opposed to the construction of new ones. By using the word ‘expansion’ Bibi is attempting to lure us into a false sense of security, implying that the increase in settler population will be lower than if new settlements were built. However, by applying the figure of 20% from his previous term to his current one, then the number of settlers would reach approximately 342,000 (The increase in settlers in Gaza between 1996 and 1999 only comprised 0.04% of the 20%; CBS). The settlements are already a major obstacle to peace and to a Palestinian state. Allowing them to increase does not increase the likelihood of either.
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Palestine News Summary: 28th May 2009
