ICEJ NEWS - 05/11/2001
Israel has launched a diplomatic initiative to explain its settlements policy in a bid to counter the emerging international consensus around the Mitchell Committee's recommendation of a total freeze on Israeli settlement activity in exchange for an end to Palestinian violence.

The Palestinians have endorsed the draft Mitchell Committee report, which essentially calls for a total halt to Israeli settlement construction in Judea/Samaria and Gaza (YESHA) in exchange for a Palestinian cease-fire. But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon objects to the Committee's call for Israel to stop all work on Jewish communities in the "disputed territories," arguing that to do so would "reward" Palestinian violence and be tantamount to "paying protection money so they don't kill us." Instead, he insists that there first must be a total cessation of violence, and then other confidence-building measures - but not a halt of settlement activity - can be taken.

Sharon's broad unity government adopted a policy guideline on settlements that follows an imprecise formula used ever since George Bush. Sr. was in the White House some ten years ago - there will be no new settlements, but existing ones will be allowed "natural growth." The Palestinians, however, are hoping current US President George W. Bush will join European leaders - and his father - in taking a tougher line on expanding the Jewish presence in YESHA by endorsing the Mitchell report as is.

The Mitchell report is not binding on Israel and the Palestinians, since it was compiled pursuant to the unsigned Sharm e-Sheikh truce worked out last year, but there is mounting international pressure for both sides to follow its recommended steps for peace. The reason is that many world capitals are buying the new Palestinian spin that the current hostilities broke out spontaneously due to general Palestinian frustration over the continued expansion of Jewish settlements during the Olso era. In other words, the Palestinians convinced much of the world through the Mitchell inquiry that the settlements caused the violence.

To counter the momentum created by the Mitchell report, which will be finalized next week, Sharon and his foreign minister, Shimon Peres, sent letters this week to their counterparts in Washington to explain Israel's position on settlements. Besides pointing out that the Oslo accords do not restrict settlement growth short of a permanent status deal, Peres set out in his letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell a refined definition of what is meant by "natural growth." In his letter to Powell, Peres wrote that the areas now under Israeli control in YESHA will not physically expand, but the lands within existing communities will be fully utilized to meet "current and everyday needs." He added that, "Being one of the core issues to be dealt with in the future permanent-status negotiations, settlements must not be prejudged as a reason for the outbreak of Palestinian violence."

Sharon and Peres are also engaging a string of European leaders in an effort to soften the impact of the Mitchell report. Peres reportedly clarified in conversations with European officials that "natural growth" in settlements refers to "demographic, not territorial growth." He further explained that "people are born in the settlements and therefore there's a need for natural growth." The new equation aims to strip the Palestinians of the argument that a freeze is needed to prevent Israeli takeovers of more disputed lands.

The Bush Administration is still studying the Mitchell report and awaiting final responses from Israel and the Palestinians, but diplomatic sources in Jerusalem are suggesting that Washington will announce that implementing the report is up to the two sides. Yet in his first public reaction to the Mitchell findings, Powell on Thursday described it as "a very fine report... [that] may also give us a launch pad to start a new initiative."

Back on the European front, Peres met with Germany's foreign minister in Berlin at mid-week and demanded that the European Union issue a clear, unconditional declaration against Palestinian terrorism, otherwise Arafat would conclude that violence is acceptable. In addition, the foreign ministers of Holland and Norway paid separate visits to Israel and the PA this week, giving positive reviews of the Mitchell recipe for ending the violence just ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers next Tuesday. The EU is not expected to impose new trade sanctions against Israel at this time, but is definitely set to strictly enforce a ban on the import of Israeli goods made over the Green Line.

And in another diplomatic move, Likud Cabinet Minister Dan Naveh, traveled to Cairo on Thursday to present senior Egyptian officials with Israel's latest position regarding the alternative Egyptian-Jordanian proposal to end the violence.

Meanwhile, the settlements issue was driven further towards center stage this week when the leftist Hebrew daily HA'ARETZ filed a faulty report of a huge new NIS 1.5 billion budgetary outlay for the settlements. The Sharon government later clarified that the paper's report on the amount of the fund was exaggerated, that it would be spread over several years and that it would be primarily for "security" needs - something HA'ARETZ totally ignored. The budget plan follows recommendations by a panel originally set up under the previous Barak, and now urgently necessitated by the intifada, and includes large sums allocated for the IDF and not the settlements directly.

The US earlier this week jumped on the initial HA'ARETZ report to denounce the bad timing of a large allocation to the settlements. Sharon adviser Ra'anan Gissin said yesterday Israel had explained to the US that the money is strictly for security needs. Nonetheless, the US State Department stood by its earlier assessment that money for settlement activity is "provocative and inflames an already volatile situation."

Israeli politicians and peace activists also gave the PA a boost in the battle against the settlements, with Labor dove Yossi Beilin and several Meretz MKs leading separate delegations to meet with Arafat yesterday in Gaza to exchange notes on the Mitchell report and the Jordanian-Egyptian peace initiative. At the start of the week, Meretz head Yossi Sarid insisted that, "Settlements are also a form of violence, because when you take control over more and more land by force, in conquered areas, that's also violence."

But the Zionist group Professors for a Strong Israel put out a statement reminding everyone of the tragic local events of some 80 ago this week, when Arab rioters murdered 47 Jews in what came to be known as the "incidents" of 1921. British Mandate authorities quickly caved in to Arab demands to curb Jewish immigration in order to end the violence. "Seen in the broader context, this war has been going on for more than 80 years," PSI noted, adding that the current battle is not over the settlements, but "Jewish existence in the Jewish homeland."

Used with Permission from International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.