Love of the Land: Israel Policy Makers Should Assume a Two Term Obama Presidency

Israel Policy Makers Should Assume a Two Term Obama Presidency

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
Weekly Commentary
25 March '10

When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sits with his "seven ministers' forum" tomorrow (this) afternoon they should analyze Israel options based on the working assumption that U.S. President Obama will ultimately serve two terms rather than that President Obama will already find himself seriously weakened as we approach the November congressional elections and perhaps even essentially relegated to lame duck status for the balance of his term after those elections give expression to a massive shift against Mr. Obama.

The second scenario might justify a policy of concessions to buy time with the expectation that they can be contained as Israel finds itself in a much stronger position vis-à-vis Obama in a few months. That was part of the logic for the housing construction freeze in Judea and Samaria that was set to expire just as the congressional campaigns will be heating up in the U.S..

But there's no guaranty that this is how it will play out. And it could turn out to be a devastating mistake to rely on it.

Assuming a two term Obama presidency radically changes the ramifications and consequences of the concessions Israel makes today.

Let's not kid ourselves.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Israel Policy Makers Should Assume a Two Term Obama Presidency

Love of the Land: Mid-East Quartet raises the pressure against Israel as US policy confusion deepens over settlements

Mid-East Quartet raises the pressure against Israel as US policy confusion deepens over settlements

Robin Shepherd
Robinshepherdonline.com
19 March '10
Posted before Shabbat

While Russia continues with the de-facto annexation of the South Ossetian and Abkhazian provinces of its southern neighbour Georgia, Ban Ki-Moon, Hilary Clinton and the other members of the Mid-East Quartet met in Moscow this morning to reaffirm the international community’s refusal to recognise the annexation of east Jerusalem by Israel. I believe the word is “chutzpah”, though I could think of a few others — unprintable, unfortunately — that might be even more appropriate in the circumstances.

Clinton repeated America’s condemnation of the recent settlement announcement in east Jerusalem and sat impassively as Ban spoke on behalf of the US and the rest of the Quartet saying: “The Quartet urges the government of Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, dismantle outposts erected since March 2001 and to refrain from demolitions and evictions in east Jerusalem.” I’m confused.

Does this mean that the United States has gone back to the line that even natural growth — building bathrooms, adding an extension etc — in settlements is unacceptable? Close observers will remember that that is the line the Obama administration started to push last year but then backtracked when the absurdity of that position became clearer and when Israel (rightly) said it had no intention of complying.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Mid-East Quartet raises the pressure against Israel as US policy confusion deepens over settlements

Love of the Land: About Ramat Shlomo, Jerusalem, An Interesting Clarification

About Ramat Shlomo, Jerusalem, An Interesting Clarification

Batya Medad
Shilo Musings
17 March '10

Hat tip: IMRA

When people hear the term "East Jerusalem" they think of a old, rundown section of Jerusalem teeming with Arabs. They don't think of the fancy apartments and homes in Beit Chanina, nor of Jews and Jewish History. The labeling of Ramat Shlomo as "East Jerusalem" makes people think its an enclave, like the Jewish buildings supported and protected by the Ir David, City of David Foundation.

Now just to clarify before the clarification, Jews have the right to live and build in any neighborhood in Jerusalem and any part of the Land of Israel. Anyone who says otherwise is supporting anti-Jewish apartheid, immorally discriminating against Jews. The fact that Jews are forbidden to live as Jews in various countries in the Middle East is contrary to the accepted norms of civil rights, and I don't understand why there aren't international protests against this. Can we credit latent antisemitism?

Now, I'm just curious. Do you know where Ramat Shlomo is? Next to which Jerusalem neighborhood is it adjacent?

Basically, Ramat Shlomo is in the middle of a forest in what was once considered "no man's land." Between 1948/9 and 1967, it was pretty much ignored by both Israel and Jordan.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: About Ramat Shlomo, Jerusalem, An Interesting Clarification

Love of the Land: A Lesson for the Future in Abbas’s Retreat on Refusing to Talk

A Lesson for the Future in Abbas’s Retreat on Refusing to Talk

Evelyn Gordon
Contentions/Commentary
10 March '10

That Israel and the Palestinians, after 16 years of direct talks, are now back to indirect talks is an undeniable retreat. But in a must-read analysis, the Jerusalem Post’s diplomatic correspondent, Herb Keinon, points out that this may nevertheless be one of the most hopeful moments of the entire peace process — because for the first time, “the Palestinians gave in on something.”

“Israelis, Palestinians and the world have become accustomed to Israel setting red lines, and then moving them,” Keinon wrote. “The Palestinians, on the other hand, have set a track record of saying what they mean.” For instance, they have never budged from their demand for “all of east Jerusalem, including the Old City,” or for “the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel proper.”

But after months of proclaiming that he would not resume talks with Israel without a complete freeze on Israeli construction in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has backed down. And this offers a crucial lesson for the future.

“The reason Abbas was willing to move his red line was because he came under intense pressure from the US, certain elements inside the EU, and from Arab states such as Egypt and Jordan to start talks, even though all his conditions were not met,” Keinon noted. “The valuable lesson here: The Palestinians, too, and not only Israel, are susceptible to pressure.”

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: A Lesson for the Future in Abbas’s Retreat on Refusing to Talk

Love of the Land: Defrosted

Defrosted

Marc Prowisor
Yesha Views
19 January '10

The freeze is on, new construction throughout Yehuda and Shomron has come to a virtual standstill. For accuracy sake, buildings that were started or pre approved for the most part are going up, depending on the whim of the Defense Minister and his understanding or lack of understanding of this biased policy.

This ethnic icebox runs true with its allies, apartheid and racism. You see this is all one-sided, my Arab neighbors across the valley have jumped on the building band wagon and have increased all of their building efforts, full throttle ahead. Increases in budgets from abroad for the Arab residents of Yehuda and Shomron, both from foreign Governments and individuals flow fast like white water rapids. They are not stupid, they realize the Jews have slowed down, now is the time to move, and that is exactly what they are doing.

I don’t have a problem with their building - I have a problem with the clear cut limits and prejudice against the Jewish population of this region. It is quite obvious there are “witch” hunts going on against the “National Religious” community of Yehuda, Shomron and Jerusalem. Property deeds that we sign on apparently are not worth the paper they are written on. Property deeds that Jews have held for years are questioned while Arab squatters are treated like dignitaries, sometimes I wonder where we are living, in which century and… under whose rule? Our basic rights are being violated by our own people, but you know what, I know why. Despite the frustration and anger that I share with millions of Jews around the world about how we are being trounced upon, and how we are being backed into a corner, (mind you, only we are to blame), there is a good side to this also, even though it is hard to see.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Defrosted

Love of the Land: Latma Retrospective on the decade

Latma Retrospective on the decade

IMRA
19 January '10

New Latma (Israeli political humor) subtitled sketches



Latma is a project of the Center for Security Policy's Middle East Media Project.


Enjoy! Caroline Glick
www.CarolineGlick.com

Love of the Land: Latma Retrospective on the decade

Love of the Land: What Shocking Israel News Did The BBC Report Today?

What Shocking Israel News Did The BBC Report Today?

Proud Zionist
05 January '10

Can you guess what news from Israel the BBC reported today?

Is it...

A. Today a Palestinian admitted he planned to carry out a terror attack at the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron and stab as many Jews as he could; but was caught in possession of a knife before he could do it

B. Today a Palestinian planned to stab Jews in the Old City and was caught in possession of a knife

C. Today a Palestinian in possession of a knife and Molotov cocktail was arrested at a (darned) checkpoint

D. Last night three Palestinians were caught outside the Old City carrying knives with which they wanted to stab an Israeli policeman or soldier

E. Last night two Palestinians at the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron planned to stab Israeli settlers or soldiers and were caught carrying knives

F. On Sunday two Palestinians admitted they planned to carry out a terror attack , when they were caught carrying large knives

(And the answer is...)

Love of the Land: What Shocking Israel News Did The BBC Report Today?

Love of the Land: Between the vortex and the vacuum

Between the vortex and the vacuum

Yisrael Medad
Green-Lined/JPost
05 January '10

If you read this JPost report, you'll find a host of hot items including: "revised order"; "remedies for some of the complaints"; "a 10-month freeze on construction"; "underlined by the Supreme Court"; "I confess that the arrangement we devised is not the best one"; "a heated Law Committee hearing"; "The meeting got off to a bad start"; "the Law Committee was being exploited"; and much more.

All the above refer to the November 25 Cabinet decision to suspend construction beyond the Green Line that was discussed in a Knesset comittee this past week. The suspension order was concieved with no grounded consideration of its possible ramifications - neither political, diplomatic, strategic or the simple aspects of how to compensate builders for their financial losses. This last point even received the sympathy of Israel's Supreme Court, which demanded that the Defense Ministry get their act together quick.

This is but another example of what I term the "between the vortex and the vacuum" characteristic of Israeli politics. Yes, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is, to be fair, in an unenviable position by virtue of his job. As head not only of a coalition government but one that includes the erstwhile main opposition parliamentary faction, the Labor Party, most of his time is usually spent quenching sparks and flames of third-tier politicians, not to mention the ego-busters. That, unfortunately, is the nature of the game and has been for decades.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Between the vortex and the vacuum

Love of the Land: Letter to PM from 29 MKs to expedite paperwork for building permit process in Judea and Samaria

Letter to PM from 29 MKs to expedite paperwork for building permit process in Judea and Samaria

Dr.Aaron Lerner
IMRA
02 January '10

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: The 10 month freeze on new housing construction in Judea and Samaria is specifically on construction activity and puts absolutely no restrictions on the handling of paperwork required to issue building permits. By the same token, there is absolutely no Israeli commitment - formal or otherwise - to halt the paperwork during this period.]

Letter to PM from 29 MKs re urgency of construction in Judea and Samaria --
Translation:(Provided by Susie Dym)

28 December, 2009

Mr. Prime Minister,

Re: Bolstering the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria

We beg to approach you on the above matter as follows:

1. Our position supporting strengthening the Jewish community of Judea and Samaria is familiar to you

2. As you stated, the Government's intention is to renew building in Judea and Samaria as part of its commitment to the settlement enterprise. In light of this, and to enable construction to be renewed, design and local planning processes need to be completed, to allow building permits to be granted in accordance with your policy.

3. Under these circumstances, we ask that you instruct the relevant authorities to complete authorization of the local plans in the Judea and Samaria communities, to allow construction to be renewed there without planning delays. We would point out that many plans are stuck on the desks of the relevant authorities, and are not being signed for reasons unrelated to any planning consideration.

4. Attached please find a partial list of local plans of great important and urgency, which can be processed immediately.

5.We thank you in advance for your kind acquiescence to this request

Letter was signed by 29 MKs a couple of days ago and is now released for publication:

LIKUD: Haim Katz , Zion Pinian, Yariv Levin, Ofir Akunis, Miri Regev, Zeev
Elkin, Dany Danon, Ayoub Kara, Zipi Hotovely

YISRAEL BEYTENU - LIBERMAN'S PARTY: Motz, Anastasia, Lia ShemTov, Dudu
Rotem, Hamed Amar, Orly Levi-Abekasis, Faina Kirshenbaum, Alex Miller,

SHAS: David Azulay, Avraham Michaeli, Yizhak Vaknin, Haim Amsalem, Nissim Zeev,

NU: Ketzaleh, Aryeh Eldad, Uri Ariel, Michael Ben-Ary,

NATL HOME: Uri Orbach, Zevulun Orlev

UTJ: Uri Maklev

Signatories -- are from all 6 parties (Likud, Yisrael Beytenu, Shas and UTJ, Natl Home and Natl Union) -- other than Kadima, Labor, Meretz, and Arabs. 29
MKs means almost ALL coalition Knesset Members who do not hold ministerial
positions.

Love of the Land: Letter to PM from 29 MKs to expedite paperwork for building permit process in Judea and Samaria

Love of the Land: Yehoram Gaon: Proposal for Peace

Yehoram Gaon: Proposal for Peace

Excerpted from Yehoram Gaon Marks 50 Years in Show Biz
by Hana Levi Julian
IsraelNN.com
29 December 09

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Gaon observes that the current order to freeze Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria is not really feasible. “You cannot freeze settlements – it is impossible to freeze life,” he points out. “If a child is age three, you can’t tell him to stop growing because you want to ‘freeze’ him a few months. It was the state that also sent the settlers to live there [in those communities,],” he says. But he also notes that “on a practical level, I do not approve of angering the entire world. We’re not living alone [on this planet], and we depend on other countries as well.”

His proposal for peace, surprisingly, is to try something not tried before – do nothing. “I recommend something no one has ever done – and I know that unfortunately no one will ever do it. I suggest we take a break,” he says. “For 50 years, no negotiations, and we won’t conduct discussions with committees.

“During that timeout, we build ourselves. Look at how we are battered between ourselves, within our own society. If the Arabs try to attack us – fine. We already know how to protect ourselves, and we will manage.”

After the “break,” says Gaon, “we’ll see how the Arabs will treat us differently. Today, everything is about “now.” Everyone is saying ‘Peace NOW.’ It’s a problematic statement. You want everything now, without waiting. You have to understand that at the moment, there is no one to talk to.

“Sometimes I ask myself whether the hareidi-religious Jews aren’t right, when they argue that it was a mistake to go up to the [Temple Mount]. Maybe just as there are opinions that the Temple will come down from heaven, so too will peace also descend upon us from the sky,” he says hopefully.

Love of the Land: Yehoram Gaon: Proposal for Peace

Love of the Land: RE: Abbas Still Says No

RE: Abbas Still Says No

Evelyn Gordon
Contentions/Commentary
16 December 09

The new preconditions for negotiations that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas posed this week are, as Jonathan noted, equivalent to refusing to negotiate until there’s nothing left to negotiate about. If talks cannot even start until the PA is granted every inch of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, that doesn’t leave much to discuss. I also agree that Abbas’s reluctance to talk stems partly from the knowledge that his own public would reject any deal Israel could actually sign.

However, another factor is at play here: refusing to talk has consistently proved a very successful Palestinian tactic. As chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Al-Dustour in June: “At first they told us we would run hospitals and schools, later they were willing to give us 66 percent, at Camp David they reached 90 percent and today they have reached 100 percent. Why then should we hurry?”

Erekat is correct: the offer Ehud Olmert made Abbas last year — to which Abbas never even responded until after Olmert left office, then finally rejected via the media — indeed gave the PA the territorial equivalent of 100 percent (with swaps).

What is noteworthy, however, is that these ever growing Israeli concessions occurred without a single parallel Palestinian concession. In 16 years, Palestinian positions haven’t budged. The PA still insists on resettling 4.7 million descendants of refugees in Israel; it still won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state; it even rejects a 6 percent territorial swap for the settlement blocs.

(Continue article)

Love of the Land: RE: Abbas Still Says No

Love of the Land: Israel's False Dream of Peace

Israel's False Dream of Peace

Daniel Greenfield
Sultan Knish
15 December 09

During the time of Chanukah, a holiday inspired by the resistance of a band of brothers to the tyranny of Aniochus IV of the Seleucid Empire, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is instead confronting the consequences of buckling under to Obama's tyranny by imposing a building freeze on hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria.

As police, housing inspectors and Jewish area residents scuffle over attempts to stop construction on private houses that their owner are already paying mortgages on-- the "settlement freeze" has emerged as yet another disastrous chapter in the long history of Israeli concessions meant to create peace, where there is no peace. Intended as yet another "confidence building gesture" to reassure the Palestinian Authority, which had already preemptively rejected it as well as any further negotiations, but in reality was more of an attempt to appease Obama by propping up his foreign policy credentials-- the "settlement freeze" has wreaked economic havoc on the lives of everyone from newlyweds planning to move into their first home, families looking to add an addition to accommodate an addition to their family to larger housing projects for Israel's growing population of immigrants from Russia and parts of the Middle East where Jews have traditionally been oppressed.

And so in the name of appeasing Obama and Palestinian Arab terrorists, Netanyahu's actions have touched off tensions among Israelis and worsened the economic situation of many working class families. And all for nothing. The "confidence building gesture" did not build any confidence on the Palestinian Arab side, which is confident enough to bypass negotiations entirely in the hopes of bullying Israel into agreeing to yet more concessions before even bothering to sit down at the negotiating table. Neither did it appease the Obama Administration, which remains frustrated that it could not get Jews barred from living in East Jerusalem, which under Jordanian occupation had its Jewish population ethnically cleansed. Like every confidence building gesture that Israel has made in the past, this one has been both destructive and futile, forcing Israel to pay dearly with nothing to show for it.

Unfortunately from the very beginning, Israel's leaders harbored a false dream of peace that has never been fulfilled. And that mirage of a friendly Middle East has tricked Prime Minister after Prime Minister into cutting deals that cut Israel's throat. In 1947, Israel was prepared to accept a UN partition plan that would have left a fingernail of territory for native Israelis and refugees from the Holocaust to build a state on. But the Arab powers rejected the partition plan, and the resulting War of Independence enabled Israel to hold on to at least marginally defensible borders. Had Egypt's Nasser and Jordan's Hussein not chosen war with Israel in 1967, Israel would have remained within those same weak borders and with its capital city cut in half. But Nasser and Hussein chose war and so Israel reunited Jerusalem and liberated some of its villages in Gaza and Judea and Samaria that had fallen into enemy hands in 1948, such as Kfar Darom, villages that the international community would insist on calling "settlements" and "occupied territories". And without those territories as buffer zones, it is likely that Israel would have been cut and half, and destroyed in the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Israel's False Dream of Peace

Love of the Land: Abbas Still Says No to Talks but Everyone Still Blames Bibi

Abbas Still Says No to Talks but Everyone Still Blames Bibi

Jonathan Tobin
Contentions/Commentary
15 December 09

The decision of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a freeze on building homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank has earned him little credit either in Europe or among his country’s Arab foes. Rather than respond to Israel’s gesture aimed at re-starting peace talks, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas raised the ante today by telling the PLO Central Council that he won’t engage in talks unless the international community recognize the 1967 lines as the borders of a Palestinian state and unless Israel halt all construction work not only in the settlements but also in Israel’s capital Jerusalem. In other words, until the Israelis make concessions that ensure that nothing be left to negotiate about, he won’t engage in negotiations.

Abbas, whose term in office will probably be extended without holding an election because his Fatah Party knows it might lose to the Islamists of Hamas, has been telegraphing his lack of interest in talks all year. Given the fact that the Palestinian public still won’t accept any deal with Israel no matter where the borders are set, it’s not likely that this will change. Having turned down a Palestinian state in virtually all of the territories as well as East Jerusalem when former Israeli leader Ehud Olmert offered it last year, it’s hard to understand why anyone would think the supposedly moderate Abbas would make peace now. But the focus of pressure and international speculation about peaceful intentions continues to be put on Netanyahu, not on the Palestinians.

(Continue article)

Love of the Land: Abbas Still Says No to Talks but Everyone Still Blames Bibi

Love of the Land: Europe Says Jerusalem Should Be a Two-State Capital

Europe Says Jerusalem Should Be a Two-State Capital

Soeren Kern
pajamasmedia.com
13 December 09

The European Union on December 8 adopted a resolutionthat for the first time explicitly calls for Jerusalem to become the future capital of both a Palestinian state and Israel. Backing away at the last minute from a more controversial Swedish proposal to officially call for the division of Jerusalem, the EU endorsed a watered-down declaration that states: “If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states.”

The original proposal drafted by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, a well-known pro-Palestinian activist whose country currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, had called for the creation of a “State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.” Israeli officials, angry over EU efforts to prejudge the outcome of issues reserved for permanent status negotiations, persuaded French diplomats to remove the offending text, as well as other references to a Palestinian state that would comprise “the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.”

Israel has always maintained that Jerusalem will remain its undivided capital, regardless of any future peace settlement with the Palestinians. This has been the declared policy of all Israeli governments, left or right.

The EU statement, which comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a 10-month freeze on construction in West Bank settlements, will be viewed by many as a European attempt to preempt any possible resumption of Middle East peace talks by helping the Palestinians improve their negotiating position vis-à-vis Israel.

Although the 27-member EU has limited clout as a diplomatic player in the Arab-Israel conflict, the EU is the biggest donor of financial assistance to Palestinian Authority, which has been accused of diverting the money to promote terror against Israel. The EU statement, which is predictably one-sided, could end up disincentivizing a new round of negotiations. Indeed, Palestinians may well be emboldened by the EU’s tacit acceptance of their key positions and be led to believe that if they hold out longer, the EU will support them on other core issues as well.

The EU resolution is overwhelmingly supportive of Palestinian statehood. For example, paragraph 3 of the EU text states:

The EU stands ready to further develop its bilateral relations with the Palestinian Authority reflecting shared interests, including in the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy. Recalling the Berlin declaration, the Council also reiterates its support for negotiations leading to Palestinian statehood, all efforts and steps to that end and its readiness, when appropriate, to recognize a Palestinian state. It will continue to assist Palestinian statebuilding, including through its CSDP [EU Common Security and Defense Policy] missions and within the Quartet. The EU fully supports the implementation of the Palestinian Authority’s Government Plan “Palestine, Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State” as an important contribution to this end and will work for enhanced international support for this plan.

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Soeren Kern is Senior Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.

Love of the Land: Europe Says Jerusalem Should Be a Two-State Capital

Love of the Land: Suspend your Zionism

Suspend your Zionism

Yisrael Medad
Opinion/JPost
08 December 09


I won't keep you in suspension, nor in suspense. I will be very clear: While I can comprehend Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's concern for what he considers more primary national interests than keeping his electoral platform promises to those who voted for him regarding the continuation of the Jewish return to the national homeland, his recent decisions are quite incomprehensible. To think that even the opposition leader, Kadima chairwoman MK Tzipi Livni, can justifiably criticize him from a right-wing perspective says much about Netanyahu's policies.


A settler looks on as Palestinian construction workers build a synagogue in Kedumim, in the northern West Bank last week.
Photo: AP
On the Likud Web site, which oddly appears as netanyahu.org.il, as if a personal plaything, one can read the aims of the Likud which include: advocating the integrity of the Jewish homeland, bringing together the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, cultivating love of the country, safeguarding the right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel as an eternal, inalienable right while working diligently to settle and develop all parts of the land of Israel, and extending national sovereignty to them. All admirable missions, well-steeped in the tradition of the nationalist camp of Zionism.

And yet, on November 25, Netanyahu told his security cabinet that international circumstances dictate that for the promotion of Israel's broad national interests, a moratorium on construction across the Green Line will be adopted over the next 10 months. And its purpose? To convey the message that the government wants to enter into negotiations with the Palestinians.

That's it? His Bar-Ilan speech was insufficient? His running off to meet US President Barack Obama at the UN wasn't enough? His subsequent White House late-night powwow didn't make things understandable?

IN THE fashion of literary criticism, let's deconstruct Netanyahu's words. Obviously, "international circumstances" mean that Obama can't mobilize Europe and Russia and is going independent - with Iran, with North Korea Korea and other hot spots.

(Continue full article)

The writer, who resides in Shiloh, serves as a spokesperson for the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities, was director of Israel's Media Watch and was a political aide to Members of Knesset, 1981-1994. He is also secretary of the To the Temple Mount advocacy group. He blogs at www.myrightword.blogspot.com

Love of the Land: Suspend your Zionism

Love of the Land: Disturbing absence of compensation provisions in settlement freeze

Disturbing absence of compensation provisions in settlement freeze

Weekly Commentary
Dr.Aaron Lerner
IMRA
03 December 09

It could have been different.

It should have been different.

The announcement of the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria could have already established both the mechanism and formula for compensating Israelis expected to suffer a financial loss as a result of the freeze.

And this with steps taken so that sufficient funds were already earmarked from the budget to cover the projected compensations.

But that's not what happened.

Israeli property owners, possessing all the necessary permits to build their homes, will now face the costs of having the completion of their homes delayed by ten months.

And the building contractors and others associated with the construction activity that has been frozen will also face various costs through no fault of their own.

One might debate if the Government of Israel has the right to impose a building freeze on private Israeli housing construction in Judea and Samaria, but the unspoken assertion that such a move might be taken without the provision of appropriate compensation is something that deserves condemnation regardless of one's position on the freeze itself.

That's why I, as an Israeli, am embarrassed, disappointed - and yes - concerned - that my government had no qualms seriously impacting the property rights of Israeli citizens without making provisions, in advance, to compensate those harmed by its decision.

Love of the Land: Disturbing absence of compensation provisions in settlement freeze