Settlers' Spin

The Israeli settlement issue has been dominating the headlines in both Arab and Israeli media. It has also been the single biggest source of friction between the United States and Israel since Benjamin Netanyahu became Israel's prime minister in March.

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that the Obama Administration has issued a stiff warning to Israel not to build in the area known as E-1, which lies between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. Any change in the status quo in E-1 would be "extremely damaging", even "corrosive", the message said. Four years ago, after resigning from Sharon's government, Netanyahu criticized him for giving in to American pressure on E-1. "A sovereign government must build in its eternal capital," he said. "Sharon set a precedent that will lead to the division of Jerusalem."

Controversy over illegal Israeli settlement activities is not something new. It has been in and out of the limelight ever since Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. In the past it was an ongoing subject of dispute between the Israeli government and the U.S. Administration, most notably under presidents Jimmy Carter, and George Bush Senior. Now it is Barack Obama's turn.

Meanwhile the number of settlers living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Palestinians regard the area as the heart of their future state, is swiftly approaching half a million. Israel has, in the former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir's words, been successfully "creating new facts on the ground." However, the past U.S. policy toward Israel's illegal settlements construction in the Occupied Territories has been largely non-interventionist so that demand for a moratorium on settlement building in East Jerusalem by the Obama Administration is seen today as "hard line."

Meanwhile, the recent confrontations between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama over the settlements issue has been posing a PR nightmare to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and The Israel Project, the organization spearheading Israel's public relations efforts in the United States, which has recently released its 2009 Global Language Dictionary, authored by Republican pollster Frank Luntz.

When discussing Israeli settlements, the author suggests avoiding religious arguments or quoting from the Bible, warning that "even your Jewish audiences will recoil."

Claiming that the land really "belongs" to Israel is "unconvincing because, officially, Israel itself defines the territories as 'disputed.'"

In 2005, I co-produced the documentary Occupied Minds with my Israeli colleague David Michaelis. During our visits and interviews conducted in settlements across the West Bank, we faced the very arguments that the Israel Project is trying to avoid being made by fanatical settlers whose strategy is to make life so miserable for Palestinians living in nearby villages that they will eventually flee, enabling them to occupy their abandoned land. These settlers justify their right to this land as being "granted to them by God."

Victims of these unchecked settler incursions; the poor villagers live in cramped neighborhoods either menaced by settlers, surrounded by either Israel's "Separation Wall" or barbed wires or all of these. They are not beneficiaries of Israel's ludicrous "natural growth" argument although Palestinians childbirth rate is three times greater than that of Israelis. One settlement leader suggested Palestinians move to Jordan... "It is a generous offer," he added.

Will Obama succeed where other U.S. presidents have failed? Only time will tell... With more settlements and more "facts on the ground," the road to a two-state solution has hit a dead end.

Follow Jamal Dajani on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jamaldajani

Comments

[newsjunkie5]

The French refer to settlements "colones" = colonies, a more accurate label.

[joz22]

The reason Bibi Netanyahu was elected is due to the settlers' and Russian immigrants' votes, money and influence. There is no way on earth he will do anything to anger them...that will be political suicide. His Foreign Minister Avigador Lieberman wants to transfer Palestinians to Jordan! The Russian immigrant also lives on a settlement stolen from a Palestinian village.

[jad114]

One settlement here and there ain't gonna make a diffirence! The only solution is the One State Solution where everyone can live an prosper as citizens of the state. Enough of this Biblical stuff! Enough with the killing!

[cohen238765]

This will be the end of Israel a s Jewish State. Are you advocating this?

[jad114]

A SECULAR state for both Israelis and Palestinians. Not Jewish, Not Muslim and Not Christian.

[EspressoAtNoon]

Think about the kinds of apartheid practices, ethnic cleansing, etc. needed to ensure that Israel remains a 'Jewish' state. You can't be a true democracy and create laws that ensure that one race/religion/ethnicity holds complete power.

South Africa tried that. Is that what you're advocating for?

[alexa07]

Equal rights for all; share all resources regardless of ethnicity or religion; a huge program of reeducation & reconciliation for all groups. Get rid of all WMDs. Create a secular democracy.

[leonardox1]

Thanks you very much Mr. Dajani for your brave postings. I watched Occupied Minds and it is a great film.

[justice2008]

This is the litmus test for Obama whether he's got Chutzpah to stand up to Netanyahu and "faschist" Lieberman. If he let's this issue go they'll walk all over him.

[joz22]

This is an old tactic by Netanyahu to create a confusion around the peace process so that the Obama Administration gets entanggled over the settlements issue rather than focusing on the big picture: the creation of a Palestinian state.

[cohen238765]

Not ALL settlers are are gun-toting fanatics. There are some nice Israeli families with children that live on these settlements for economical reasons.

[justice2008]

"There are some nice Israeli families with children" OH REALLY!

What about the nice Palestinian families with children who were kicked out of their homes to make way for these illegal settlements?

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
Because the government literally pays them to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.

[phute]

Lucky that they can then eh?
You know there's some nice Palestinian families wtih children too - shame they had their land stolen so that these nice Israeli families could lead a nice subsidised lifestyle.
Just one more thing - why don't these nice Israeli families with children do something about their rabid, violent hate filled settler neighbours?

[jad114]

You must be kidding! Most settlers are fanatics. I saw them with my own eyes especially in Hebron.

[newsjunkie5]

This is the sadest argument I've ever heard...making the perpatrator the victim