As part of the political crisis around the Ulpana Hill outpost, PM Netanyahu announced a "compensation package" for the settlers in which 851 new units will be built in disputed areas in the West Bank.
According to the announcements new houses will be built in:
Beit El - 300 units
Ariel - 117 units
Efrat - 114 units
Adam (Geva Binyamin) - 144 units
Kiryat Arba - 84 units
Maale Adumim - 92 units
Almost all of the announced construction is located precisely in disputed areas which could prevent the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The formal negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as informal negotiations such as the Geneva initiatiive, have revealed the critical disputed areas that are threatening the viability of the Palestinian state, and in which the construction of settlements could prevent the chance for an agreement.
1. Ariel -- 117 units -- Ariel is one of the most sensitive points in terms of the possibility for a two states solution, as it is very big and important for Israel, and at the same time located 20 kilometers from the Green Line at the heart of the West Bank. CBS Figures show that in the last decade the number of settlers leaving Ariel was greater than the number coming to live in it and its current number of residents is less than 18,000. Nonetheless, on December 8, 2011 the government issued a tender for 277 new housing units in Ariel. On May 22, 2012 another tender for 14 units in Ariel was issued.
2. Efrat -- 114 units -- According to reports in the media, the 114 units in Efrat are for the construction of 114 permanent homes in Givat Hatamar, which is a hilltop one kilometer north of the built-up area of Efrat. This is a dramatic expansion of the area of Efrat towards the suburbs of Bethlehem. Like Ariel, Efrat is one of the most disputed settlements that could prevent a two states solution. With 8,000 settlers, Efrat is adjacent to Bethlehem in the south, and is located east of the main highway (60) connecting the southern West Bank with Bethlehem. The future annexation of Efrat to Israel would sever the southern West Bank from Bethlehem. The Netanyahu government began working in recent months to advance plans that were halted for years. On December 8, 2011 a tender was issued for the construction of 40 new housing units in the Givat Hadagan neighborhood. Another tender for additional 213 units in Givat Hazayit in Efrat was issued on December 29, 2011.
Givat Hatamar is now inhabited by trailer homes (caravans). The expected tender will enable the construction of 114 permanent homes at the hill, which is only a few meters away from the houses of the Palestinian village of Alkhadr.
3. Adam (Geva Binyamin) -- 144 units -- The settlement of Adam (AKA Geva Binyanin) is located south east of Ramallah, east of the separation barrier and east of the main road from Ramallah to the south of the West Bank. In some of the maps presented by the Israelis in the official negotiations with the Palestinians the settlement of Adam was suggested to be annexed to Israel as part of "a finger" that would include other settlements (Kochav Ya'acov, Beit El and Psagot) all the way up to Ramallah. Those maps were never accepted by the Palestinians.
There are approximately 5,000 settlers living in Adam, and during the last year about 40 new housing units were built in it. The new 144 could be part of the plan that was approved as an alternative for the settlers of Migron and of which the infrastructure work had began in recent weeks.
4. Kiryat Araba -- 84 units -- Kiryat Araba is adjacent to the Palestinian city of Hebron, east of the separation barrier with 7,500 settlers. Kiryat Arba was never considered to be part of Israel and will undoubtedly need to be evicted in a case an agreement.
5. Ma'ale Adumim -- 92 units -- Like Ariel and Efrat, Ma'ale Adumim is one of the most disputed settlements. It is a city of 35,000 settlers, and is considered in Israel as a normal Israeli city that "will never be evicted." However, it is located at the heart of the West Bank, separating between the North and the South of the West Bank, and closing the potential development of East Jerusalem.
6. Beit El -- 300 units -- There is no approved plans for such construction in Beit El . In order to build, the government will need to prepare new plans, approve them, and only then will it be possible to allow the construction. This would take years.
In addition, all of the land of Beit El is privately owned by Palestinians which was seized for security needs in 1978 (just before the 1979 court ruling that stopped the use of military seizures as a means to build settlements). The government might face the need to expand the seizure order or to use old seizure orders that were truly used for military purposes in the past, and change the use into settlement. This could be problematic from a legal perspective. Of all of the announced units, the 300 units in Beit El are the most hard and far from being implemented.
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" The families moved ... to temporary homes down the hill that the Defense Ministry had constructed"...
."a dozen families were trying to find space for bookcases and beds in their new homes, which are about two-thirds the size of the ones they left. Workers were still connecting telephone lines as women wiped down kitchen shelves in the modular yellow stucco buildings known here as "caravillas."
Fresh flowers and trees in pots were placed outside each door, and next-door neighbors mostly found themselves next door to each other in the new place, a former military base where the Defense Ministry had rushed to pave a new road, install water, gas and sewage lines, and construct the temporary homes."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/world/middleeast/jewish-settlers-begin-evacuation-of-ulpana.html
Basically, for her, every major settlement over the 67 armistice line is "most disputed".
In my opinion, it isn't the Israel government that is the problem. It is the people who encourage the view that compromise (on either side) is not necessary. This situation could have been settled many times over many decades if the Palestinians were willing to compromise. They are being enabled in their intransigence - to their detriment - by people like the author.
Second, Cant you read a Map? The reason that these areas are disputed is because they extend almost to the middle of the west bank, carving it up in a way that makes a state almost virtually impossible.
The settlements are the primary reason the occupation now exists. They ARE the conflict, and It is Israels intransigence towards just about every single other nation on earths desire to see the settlements removed that is the only real barrier to peace.
I wonder if Rosin can tell us how much (what percentage) of the WB is wholly controlled by Israel? I think not....
I'm gonna get another drink and sit down comfortably while we wait...and wait...and wait...
At your and Mr Raviv’s request, I am enclosing herewith a copy of my memorandum of 14.9.67 on the above subject, which I submitted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Regards,
[signed]
T. Meron
http://www.soas.ac.uk/lawpeacemideast/resources/file48485.pdf
- President of the International Criminal Tribunal and Presiding Judge of the Appeals Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the ICTY, Judge of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Honorary President of the American Society of International Law.
Judge Meron was legal counsel to the Israeli Foreign Ministry
Art. 49.
The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
WB is a disputed territory whose status will be resolved only within comprehensive peace agreement between parties. So, Art.49 and even Art 51 and 57 do not work here.
Forced to. Both times.
The land It is not waiting for Palestinian to one day condescend to accepting.
Palestinian were strongly advised to take the Camp David deal.
Instead they frittered away the opportunity. As usual.
The longer they wait, the less land they get. Simple formula for peace.
Swisher, the Director of Programs at the Middle East Institute, concluded that the Israelis and the Americans were at least as guilty as the Palestinians for the collapse.
Actually, that is a simple formula for never-ending conflict. Negotiations don't close a gap between parties when one party is actively moving away from the middle ground. Instead, it leads to the other side hardening its position, as you have seen with the Palestinian refusal to negotiate without a settlement freeze.
The WB territory is disputed by all accounts. So Israeli homes are as illegal as any Arab ones.
If it is 'disputed by all accounts' can you give me a list of countries aside from Israel who are in 'dispute'? I think not.
I would also mention that Gaza has the same status as the WB so is Gaza also "disputed by all accounts" and if so by whom?
"So Israeli homes are as illegal as any Arab ones"
Let me get this straight, you are claiming that all the Palestinian villages which are located in the WB and which have existed long before the 1940's are all 'illegal'?!
Where are earth are you getting this idea from? Do you have a shred of independent evidence to back up these two claims you make?
Even if you disagree with the ICC, the EU, the USA and every other coutry on Earth which all agree that the settlements are illegal, in this instance they are also illegal under Israeli law.
Anything beyond the borders of 1948 israel isnt disputed by anybody except israel. It is not israeli territory and never has been. There is no gray area and no confusion about the matter.
one of them crops up everyday....OCCUPIED...has been merely changed to soften the stance....DISPUTED TERRITORIES
Israel was handed a very large CAKE which was to be divided into sections, Israel has been eating so much of it there is not much left over for any other intended party
In short they are EATING the WHOLE THING.
They do when they land has been stolen. People like yourself think that Arabs are sub human and incapable of loving their land as much as you pretend to.
Hey HP! Not far from where I live they are going to bulldoze a shopping mall and build a high rise with a new mall under it...now that's a story worth reporting.
Just ask the refugees.
OMG!!!
He built his house on land stolen at gunpoint.
please notice that these are disputed territory's and not "Palestinian" territory's .
morose the Palestinians have refused all offers reached in negotiations both with olmert and barak before him who were much less supportive of settlements then netanihu .
the election of netanihu and right party's is the result of continued hostility and refusing negotiating by the Palestinians ...
one may and should ask - why did the Palestinians refuse ? what issue is keeping them from agreeing to a final status solution ??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_casualties_of_war