[WCUSP] Fw: Settlements grow on Arab land

[Libby or Mort Frank]

Almost hidden in the description of  this awful situation is that the 
Israeli establishment doesn't want to make the info public in order to 
"avoid a crisis with the U.S."   Could  that mean that the U.S. opposes this 
particular Israeli violation?  If so, does that give us a foothold?  Is the 
relationship between Israel and the U.S. beginning to change?

Libby

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG>
To: <PORTSIDE at LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG>
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 2:41 AM
Subject: Settlements grow on Arab land


> Settlements grow on Arab land, despite promises made to U.S.
>
> By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
>
> Haaretz - Oct. 25, 2006
>
> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/778767.html
>
>
> A secret, two year investigation by the defense
> establishment shows that there has been rampant illegal
> construction in dozens of settlements and in many cases
> involving privately owned Palestinian properties.
>
> The information in the study was presented to two
> defense ministers, Amir Peretz and his predecessor
> Shaul Mofaz, but was not released in public and a
> number of people participating in the investigations
> were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements.
>
> According to security sources familiar with the study,
> the material is "political and diplomatic dynamite."
>
> In conversations with Haaretz, the sources maintained
> that the report is not being made public in order to
> avoid a crisis with the U.S. government.
>
> Brigadier General Baruch Spiegel, assistant to the
> Defense Minister, retired earlier this month. Spiegel
> was also in charge of the various issues relating to
> the territories, which Dov Weisglass, chief of staff in
> prime minister Ariel Sharon's office, promised
> Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in writing that
> Israel would deal with. These commitments included
> illegal settlement building, improvements in the
> conditions of Palestinian civilians, and a closer
> oversight over the conduct of soldiers at IDF
> roadblocks.
>
> One of Spiegel's tasks was to update the data base on
> settlement activities. During talks with American
> officials and non-government organizations such as
> Peace Now, it emerged that the defense establishment
> lacked up to date information on the settlements, which
> was mostly based on data provided by the Civil
> Administration in the territories.
>
> The lack of updated information stemmed from the fact
> that the defense establishment preferred not to know
> what was going on, but was also linked to a number of
> key officials in the Civil Administration actively
> deleting information from the data base out of
> ideological allegiance with the settlers.
>
> Spiegel and his team compared the data available from
> the Civil Administration to that of the Americans, and
> carried out dozens of overflights of the territories,
> using private aircraft at great expense, in order to
> complete the data base.
>
> The findings of the study, security sources say, show
> an amazing discrepancy between the Civil
> Administration's data and the reality on the ground.
> The data in Spiegel's investigation served as the basis
> for the report on the illegal outposts prepared by
> attorney Talya Sasson and made public in March 2005.
>
> "Everyone is talking about the 107 outposts," said a
> source familiar with the data, "but that is small
> change. The really big picture is the older
> settlements, the 'legal' ones. The construction there
> has been ongoing for years, in blatant violation of the
> law and the regulations of proper governance."
>
> Three years ago, in talks with the Americans, Israel
> promised that all new construction in the older
> settlements would take place near existing
> neighborhoods. The idea was that construction would be
> limited to meeting the needs of the settlements'
> natural growth, and bringing to an end the out-of-
> control expansion over territory.
>
> In practice, the data shows that Israel failed to meet
> its commitments: many new neighborhoods were
> systematically built on the edge of areas of the
> settlement's jurisdiction, which is a much larger
> territory than the actual planning charts account for.
>
> The data also shows that in many cases the construction
> was carried out on private Palestinian land. In the
> masterplans, more often than not, Palestinian
> properties were included in the construction planned
> for the future. These included Palestinian properties
> to which the state had promised access.
>
> However, exploiting the intifada and arguing that the
> settlers should not be exposed to security risks,
> Palestinian farmers were prevented access to their
> properties that were annexed by Israeli settlements.
>
> In many settlements, including Ofra and Mevo Horon,
> homes have been constructed on private Palestinian
> land.
>
> "The media is busy with the outposts, but how many of
> these are really large settlements like Migron? In most
> cases, it's a matter of a few mobile homes. Spiegel's
> study shows the real situation in the settlements
> themselves - and it is a lot more serious than what we
> knew to date," one of the sources said.
>
> A senior security official expressed concern that with
> Spiegel's retirement, the data base will not be updated
> and the data will be lost.
>
> "The [defense] establishment does not necessarily have
> an interest in preserving this information. It may
> cause diplomatic embarrassment vis-a-vis the Americans
> and cause a political scandal. It is not unlikely that
> there will be those who will seek to destroy the data,"
> the senior officer says.
>
> Other relevant sources said it is necessary for an
> objective, external source, like the State
> Comptroller's office, to intervene in this matter.
>
> A statement issued by the Defense Minister's office in
> response said that "the matter is being examined
> internally and staff work will be completed soon, and
> the parts of the report that can be published will be
> made available. The Defense Minister will discuss the
> matter with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert."
>
> Meanwhile, construction in the new outposts has
> intensified. Sources in the Yesha Council say that
> since the Lebanon War, "Junior officers on the ground
> are in our favor and in many instances turn a blind eye
> regarding mobile homes in place."
>
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