Netanyahu's E1 Ma'aleh Adumin settlement construction
announcement drew considerable flack. What it means
remains to be seen. Palestinian rights have been
spurned for decades. Expect little change now.
At issue is separating the West Bank from Jerusalem,
Judaizing the entire city, surrounding Palestinian
urban areas with encroaching Israeli settlements, and
allegedly preventing a two-state solution no longer
possible with or without E1 development.
Netanyahu and previous Israeli prime ministers
promised none. Plans were drawn long ago. Now they're
announced. Washington and major Western partners knew
about them all along. They said nothing earlier.
If completed, Ma'ale Adumin settlement will be
connected to Jerusalem. Doing so divides the West Bank
into separate north/south areas.
Washington expressed weak opposition. National
Security spokesman Tommy Vietor called the move
"counterproductive." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
was no better.
Through his spokesman he expressed "disappointment."
UN Human Rights Council High Commissioner Navi Pillay
said nothing. She fell from grace long ago. Like Ban,
she's a reliable imperial partner. Both spurn what
they claim to support.
On December 3, Haaretz headlined "UK, France may
recall ambassadors to protest Israel's settlement
construction," saying:
So far it's not announced. Haaretz quoted an unnamed
"senior European diplomat" saying:
"This time it won't just be a condemnation. There will
be real action taken against Israel. London is furious
about the E1 decision."
Something may be announced this week. Recalling
ambassadors would be a first. British and French
bluster may stop short of doing it.
Instead, they "could invoke it (as a possibility) in
case of further" Israeli escalation against Palestine.
Something will be announced soon.
What follows may be moderate. Possibilities include
"suspending strategic dialogue meetings," labeling
Israeli settlement products, and/or perhaps imposing
slap-on-the-wrist sanctions against them.
German and Dutch officials also warned about less
Israeli diplomatic support.
"Europe (is) putting heavy diplomatic pressure on
Israel to reverse its decision," said Haaretz.
"Five senior (EU) ambassadors communicated strong
words of protest to" Israel's Foreign Ministry.
EU ambassador Andrew Standley asked Netanyahu's office
for "clarifications."
His office said more punitive PA steps are planned. An
unnamed Israeli source said:
"The Palestinians will soon come to understand that
they made a mistake when they took unilateral action
and breached their treaties with Israel."
Israel considers public posturing about abstaining
from E1 building "no longer relevant."
On Sunday, Netanyahu said "Palestinians want to use
the peace process to bring about an end of the State
of Israel."
He has his own way of turning truth on its head. Every
comment he makes proves it. He gives new meaning to
rogue governance.
Former State Department official Robert Danin called
E1 construction "a red line" for Washington.
Former US Israeli ambassador Israel Kurtzer said
Israel's move "should spur the administration into
action." How he didn't say.
Haaretz cited UK Sky News quoting Foreign Office
sources saying, "All options are on the table."
There's an "appetite for action."
Britain may consider "revisiting" or perhaps
suspending EU/Israeli trade agreements. Don't bet on
it or anything else harsh.
A French Foreign Ministry official said, "There are
other ways in which we can express our disapproval."
In other words, talk tough. Do little or nothing. Free
Israel to do what it wants. It's taken full advantage
for decades. Expect no change now.
On Sunday, Netanyahu's cabinet voted unanimously to
call Occupied Palestine "disputed territory (over
which) the Jewish people have a natural right and
territorial claim."
Around 600,000 Israeli settlers occupy over half the
West Bank and parts of East Jerusalem. Doing so
violates international law. Fourth Geneva leaves no
ambiguity. Article 49 states:
"Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as
deportations of protected persons from occupied
territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or
to that of any other country, occupied or not, are
prohibited, regardless of their motive."
Israel spurns all international law with impunity.
After the 1967 Six Day War, the Allon Plan proposed:
o "maximum land with minimum Arabs;"
o annexing the choicest 40% of the West Bank and Gaza,
including the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea's western
shore;
o expropriating a substantial area around Greater
Jerusalem, including the Latrun salient; other
portions would be seized later to secure full control
of a united city, never again to be divided;
o dispossessing Palestinians from areas Israel wants
solely for Jews;
o building permanent settlements and army bases; and
o making remaining parts of the West Bank an
autonomous region economically linked to Israel.
Allon and subsequent plans made peace and Palestine
for Palestinians impossible. Israeli policy reflects
separation, discrimination, and permanent occupation
harshness.
Israel manipulates conditions on the ground. It's done
to create the appearance of settlement legitimacy.
Military order diktats enforce it. Israel tramples on
inviolable international agreements.
It makes its own rules. It does what it pleases. It's
contemptuous of fundamental human rights. It ignores
its responsibilities as an occupying power.
It won't end what long ago became lawless. Palestine
belongs to Palestinians, not Israelis. Redrawing the
Territories has no legitimacy. E1 construction is
Israel's latest outrage. Western rhetoric stops short
of ending what no one should tolerate.
In 1999, Israel approved an E1 master plan. It covers
about 12,000 dunams. Israel declared them "state
land." Doing so was illegal.
In 1979, Israel's High Court Elon Moreh case decision
prohibited requisitioning private Palestinian land for
settlement construction. Israel ignored the ruling.
Straightaway it declared 900,000 dunams state land. It
steals Palestinian land with impunity.
Ma'ale Adumim settlement claims jurisdiction over
48,000 dunams. E1 construction involves stealing
private Palestinian land.
Israel wants it for residential housing, commerce,
tourism, regional services, and other Jews-only
development. Detailed plans were approved.
E1 and other settlement construction require land
theft, home demolitions, forced dispossessions, and
denying Palestinian self-determination.
In 1967, settlement construction began. Washington and
other Western states expressed rhetorical opposition
only. Policies with teeth never followed.
It's hard imagining what never before happened is
planned now. America will apply heavy pressure to
prevent it.
So far, opposition to E1 construction is just bluster.
Little more than that may follow. Reuters said
"Netanyahu brush(ed) off world condemnation," saying:
"We will carry on building in Jerusalem and in all the
places that are on the map of Israel's strategic
interests."
Israeli Housing Minister, Ariel Attias, said
invitation bids for 1,000 East Jerusalem homes and
over 1,000 West Bank ones would be announced in weeks.
In late November, Carter administration National
Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said:
"I don't think there is an implicit obligation for the
United States to follow like a stupid mule whatever
the Israelis do."
"If they decide to start a war, simply on the
assumption that we'll automatically be drawn into it,
I think it is the obligation of friendship to say,
'you're not going to be making national decisions for
us.' "
"I think that the United States has the right to have
its own national security policy."
Perhaps he feels the same way about lawless Israeli
settlements. If so, what better time to say so than
now.
A Final Comment
On December 3, the International Middle East Media
Center (IMEMC) headlined "Israeli Security Services
Oppose Government Decision to Build More Settlement,"
saying:
Officials called Netanyahu's announcement a hasty
"angry move." Punishment shouldn't follow unless
Palestine sues Israel at the ICC or ICJ.
At the same time, occupation harshness continues. On
December 3, Israeli soldiers murdered a Palestinian
civilian near Nablus. Hatem Shadid was a 35-year old
construction worker father of five.
Overnight, a Fatah official and 10 other Palestinians
were kidnapped. Settlers burned a Palestinian car.
They also spray-painted hate slogans in Hebron.
Israeli security forces did nothing to stop them.
On December 4, Palestinian political prisoners will
again hunger strike in solidarity against lawless
detentions and gulag harshness.
In 2009, Israel began stamping visitor passports to
the West Bank "Palestinian Authority only." Doing so
restricted them to West Bank areas.
Israel changed tactics. It's now stamping passports
"Judea & Samaria only." Doing so amounts to stealth
West Bank annexation. Israel annexed East Jerusalem
earlier.
Western outrage didn't follow. Nothing is said now
about West Bank annexation.
E1 construction is bad enough. Decades of lawless
settlement construction is worse. Annexing the entire
West Bank reveals Israel's dirty game. Don't expect
Western condemnation to follow.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is
titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html Visit his
blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on
the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive
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