Israel Matzav: Cracks in the freeze?

Cracks in the freeze?

It seems that there may be some cracks in Prime Minister Netanyahu's freeze, and I would bet that is because he did not expect such a strong, negative reaction from his supporters.

First, Netanyahu himself announced on Tuesday night that the freeze would not be extended and that at the end of the 10-month period, there would be new building in Judea and Samaria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that a 10-month freeze of new construction in West Bank settlements was only a "one-time, temporary" move, in an apparent bid to ease settlers' fears.

"We shall resume building once the moratorium is over," Netanyahu told a conference organized by the financial newspaper Calcalist.

"The future final-status accord in Judea and Samaria will be determined at the end of negotiations - and not a day earlier," he said.

As Yitzhak Klein points out in Wednesday's Jerusalem Post, if Netanyahu keeps to that pledge, it would be progress for Judea and Samaria.

A de facto freeze has been in effect ever since Netanyahu took office. Now, for the first time, the freeze has a putative ending point. To that limited extent, Netanyahu has adopted a policy in Judea and Samaria at variance with the administration's.

Two months ago I suggested in this space that the Obama administration would be happy to "negotiate" the terms of a freeze indefinitely, and that Israel had no choice but to put some distance between its policy and the administration's. I suggested that Netanyahu unilaterally declare a six-month freeze, simply to get it over with without straining US-Israel relations overmuch. Now, two months later, the end of the freeze is supposedly in sight.

Of course, while the Americans have endorsed the freeze, they haven't endorsed its ending. From their perspective there's plenty of time to pressure Israel to extend the freeze indefinitely on one excuse or another. A situation in which there are no meaningful peace negotiations but Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria slowly die on the vine is just fine with the administration, even if it is diametrically opposed to Israel's interests.

Second, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has been placed on the defensive.

"There is no reason to doubt the government's credibility; it has already proven that it means what it says," Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted by Israel Radio as saying Wednesday on the building moratorium in Judea and Samaria, as confrontations between the civil administration inspectors and settlers in the West Bank continued for a third day, with protesters attempting to block the officials from entering a number of settlements.

Barak continued to reiterate that the moratorium applied both to construction in the large settlement blocs that Israel intends on keeping within its borders in a final deal, as well as to construction in the isolated locales, the status of which will be determined in negotiations with Palestinians.

Barak also warned of the damage a slack enforcement of the moratorium could cause.

"Any split-second wavering in implementing the [security] cabinet's decision will cause political damage to the State of Israel," he said.

But Barak has already been forced to set up a special committee to deliberate 'exceptions' after fellow ministers Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon and Benny Begin complained to Netanyahu about the freeze's implementation.

Ministers Moshe Ya'alon and Benny Begin have complained to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against the Defense Minister and the sweeping manner in which he has implemented the sanctions on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria.

They said the orders were draconian and included freezing not only the new projects which the cabinet had agreed upon but even projects which were already in progress and were not supposed to be included in the freeze.

In fact, Netanyahu himself has already asked Barak to take actions that will ease things for the revenants.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday, regarding measures to ease daily life for the residents of Judea and Samaria, in light of the freeze on Jewish construction there.

A senior official present at the meeting denied that Netanyahu summoned Barak to ask for clarification regarding various complaints by Yesha residents that the Defense Minister is trying to get political mileage by purposely attacking the residents.

Barak is also being attacked on other fronts because of the freeze.

“You don’t have to be a genius to understand the connection between Barak’s political crisis and the building freeze,” Prof. [Shalom] Rosenberg [Professor of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University] asserted. “It is dangerous when internal politics are involved with external political policies, and it is liable to turn into a catastrophe. The building freeze decision might become a tragedy and seriously damage our standing.”

Several America political analysts have written that U.S. President Barack Obama was mistaken in pressuring Israel to halt building for Jews in Judea and Samaria, and Prof. Rosenberg says that the Netanyahu government is similarly mistaken. Israel’s expulsion of Jews from Gaza and parts of northern Samaria four years ago proved that “we are not land robbers,” he explained.

He estimates that Labor party chairman Barak is driven by inexplicable self-hatred in his anti-settlement actions. He compared his move with the psychological reaction of kidnap victims who identify with their abductors.

“This is a form or psychological robbery,” he explained. “If the Europeans look at someone as if he is the devil, then he wants to look acceptable in their eyes. This is what has happened with Ehud Barak."

Barak has gotten the message. He has invited the revenants' leaders to meet with him.

The invitation came after protesters blocked security forces from entering the community to enforce a construction freeze. Following the move, Israeli police arrested the mayor of the settlement of Beit Arieh.

On Wednesday afternoon, officials in Barak's bureau phoned heads of West Bank regional councils, asking them to meet with the defense minister at his Tel Aviv office at 8 P.M. Among the officials invited were the mayor of Ma'ale Adumim, and the heads of the Alfei Menashe, Oranit and Givat Ze'ev regional councils.

Beit Arieh was just one of several violent incidents on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, a violent confrontation between settlers and Civil Administration inspectors broke out in the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh.

Settlers began a march from Elon Moreh towards Nablus to protest the 10 month settlement freeze declared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the enforcement of the freeze by the Civil Administration inspectors.

Leading the march was Head Rabbi of Elon Moreh, Elyakim Levanon; police later arrived at the scene.

...

In Kiryat Arba, several dozen settlers, led by local-council head Malachi Levinger and right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, tried to block the inspectors' path.

At Kfar Tapuach, the gate was locked and police accompanying the inspectors broke in.

Some 100 demonstrators crowded the inspectors at the settlement Revava. Meanwhile, dozens of people, led by the local council head, gathered at the gate of the settlement Kedumim, waiting for inspectors who never arrived.

Efforts to block the freeze enjoy broad support in the settler community; banners were prepared Tuesday declaring "No entrance to the inspectors of Bibi's freeze," referring to Netanyahu.

Now that he's doing something they like, Barak's Labor party is taking action to protect him.

Labor MK Ophir Pines slammed Interior Minister Eli Yishai for refusing to assign new inspectors to enforce a freeze on Jewish construction in Yesha.

"This is a political decision rather than legal one. Either there is a government decision or not,” he said.

Like the freeze itself isn't a political decision.

The third crack in the freeze is the Likud's Central Committee, which announced on Wednesday that it wants to meet to 'discuss' the freeze.

Likud's secretariat announced to the movement's court that the Likud Central Committee will meet on November 29 [I assume that should be December. CiJ] following a petition submitted by party activists demand that technical issues be discussed.

Currently, the rightist camp in the Likud is demanding that the temporary West Bank settlement building moratorium, which these members oppose, be discussed at the same meeting. As of now, it is unclear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will consent to such a meeting.

Fourth, the government has made another concession to the revenants in a bid to mollify them: No dismantling 'illegal outposts' while the freeze is in effect.

The State Prosecution updated the High Court in the name of the defense minister and the IDF that the State will not be able to demolish illegal structures in the West Bank during the West Bank settlement building freeze because of the need "for reinforcements and a concentrated effort to enforce the order."

In a response submitted to a Peace Now petition demanding that demolition orders be enforced in the West Bank, the State Prosecution in the name of the defense minister and the IDF claimed, "In addition, the new order necessitates a delay in additional enforcement activities, including those mentioned in other petitions."

Heh.

Israel Matzav: Cracks in the freeze?