(1) NYT calls for UNSC Resolution on Palestine, in Lame Duck Season (2) New West Bank Settlement is Obama's Red Line (3) US Criticizes Israel over West Bank Settlement Plan - NYT (4) Approval of New West Bank Settlement - Statement from State Dept  (1) NYT calls for UNSC Resolution on Palestine, in Lame Duck Season   At the Boiling Point With Israel  By THE EDITORIAL BOARD  OCT. 6, 2016  If the aim of the Israeli government is to prevent a peace deal with the Palestinians, now or in the future, it’s close to realizing that goal. Last week, it approved the construction of a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank, another step in the steady march under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to build on land needed to create a Palestinian state.  The Obama administration, with every justification, strongly condemned the action as a betrayal of the idea of a two-state solution in the Middle East. But Mr. Netanyahu obviously doesn’t care what Washington thinks, so it will be up to President Obama to find another way to preserve that option before he leaves office.  The best idea under discussion now would be to have the United Nations Security Council, in an official resolution, lay down guidelines for a peace agreement covering such issues as Israel’s security, the future of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and borders for both states. The United Nations previously laid down principles for a peace deal in Resolution 242 (1967) and Resolution 338 (1973); a new one would be more specific and take into account current realities. Another, though weaker, option is for Mr. Obama to act unilaterally and articulate this framework for the two parties.  The new settlement, which would consist of up to 300 homes, is one of a string of housing developments that would nearly divide the West Bank. It is designed to house settlers from a nearby illegal outpost, called Amona, which an Israeli court has ordered demolished because it is built on private, Palestinian-owned land.  In a statement, the State Department denounced the new construction plan, saying it would create a "significant new settlement" so deep into the West Bank that it would be "far closer to Jordan than Israel." It said the project would "effectively divide the West Bank and make the possibility of a viable Palestinian state more remote" and contradicts earlier Israeli government assurances that it would block more settlements.  A failure to freeze settlements has long been at the center of tensions between successive American administrations and Israel. This latest decision was especially insulting, coming just a few weeks after the United States and Israel concluded a defense agreement guaranteeing Israel $38 billion in military aid over 10 years. If the new settlement was known earlier, it might have affected those negotiations. Theoretically, the aid gives the United States leverage over Israel, but various administrations have been loath to exercise it; the first President George Bush withheld $400 million in loan guarantees from Israel in 1990 over the settlement issue. The move was later assumed to have been one factor in his re-election defeat.  However important weapons and military assistance are, the best chance of improving Israel’s security lies in reaching a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians. The ever expanding settlements have poisoned Palestinian hopes and functioned variously as a spark, a target and an excuse for violence, intensifying the conflict.  Mr. Netanyahu, however, feels no real pressure to halt the construction. Certainly not from the Palestinians, who are divided under a weak leader. Certainly not from Arab states like Saudi Arabia, which have shown little real commitment to Palestinian statehood and now are forging business and intelligence ties with Israel, a former enemy that is now a thriving economic and technological hub.  The most plausible pressure would come from Mr. Obama’s leading the Security Council to put its authority behind a resolution to support a two-state solution and offer the outlines of what that could be. That may seem like a bureaucratic response unlikely to change anything, but it is the kind of political pressure Mr. Netanyahu abhors and has been working assiduously to prevent.  A version of this editorial appears in print on October 7, 2016, on page A26 of the New York edition with the headline: At the Boiling Point With Israel.  (2) New West Bank Settlement is Obama's Red Line   Is a new West Bank settlement Obama's red line?  If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on defying the US president and building a new West Bank settlement, Barack Obama could respond by abstaining in a UN Security Council vote on Palestinian Statehood.  Author Akiva Eldar Posted October 11, 2016  Translator Ruti Sinai  If it were up to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister would have asked the settlers to rein in their passion for real estate at least until Barack Obama vacates his seat for the next US president. Netanyahu can already take comfort in the fact that despite the protests of the outgoing Obama administration, since it took office in 2009 the number of Jewish West Bank settlers has grown from some 300,000 to about 400,000. Nothing troubles the prime minister more these days than the possibility that Obama will take advantage of the transition period between Nov. 9 and Jan. 20 to leave him a poisoned farewell gift. And nothing makes the Obama administration angrier than the construction of a new settlement.  Unfortunately for Netanyahu, the American calendar is not in sync with the Israeli one. Dec. 25 marks the expiration of the two-year delay granted to carry out the court-ordered demolition of the West Bank outpost of Amona. The chief justice at the time, Asher Grunis, wrote in his ruling that the difficulties of the settlers notwithstanding, illegal construction on private Palestinian land cannot be allowed and does not justify non-enforcement of the law. The judge stressed that not vacating Amona constitutes a violation of the state’s reiterated commitment to carry out the demolition orders, in addition to being a serious violation of the Palestinian inhabitants’ rights. A report by the state comptroller several months prior to the ruling described Israel’s planning in the West Bank as "every man did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25).  On one hand, in a democratic state a prime minister is supposed to respect court rulings. But on the other hand, Netanyahu is dependent on his coalition partner, the nationalist-religious party HaBayit HaYehudi — whose leader, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, operates according to the rulings of a higher power that transcends that of flesh-and-blood authorities. In July 2015, Bennett climbed onto the roof of a house in the Beit-El settlement to protest the razing of a building ordered by the Supreme Court. He demanded that Netanyahu inform the nation’s top court that the demolition (of Jewish homes, of course) "does not fit the spirit of the government."  In an attempt to have his cake and eat it, Netanyahu decided to establish new residences for the Amona evacuees. On Oct. 1, several hours after President Barack Obama delivered his stirring eulogy of Shimon Peres at the Jerusalem graveside of Israel’s ninth president, Channel 2 News reported that the top planning committee of Israel’s civil administration in the West Bank had authorized a plan to build 98 housing units in a new settlement to be built near the settlement of Shvut Rahel. According to the plan, up to 300 housing units can be built in the designated area. As a consolation prize, the Amona squatters have also been promised permission to build an industrial zone in their new settlement. In order to circumvent a pledge delivered in Netanyahu’s 2009 Bar-Ilan speech to Obama and to the entire world to refrain from building new settlements in the West Bank until a permanent arrangement is reached with the Palestinians, the new settlement has been defined by the committee as a "neighborhood" of Shvut Rahel.  Israel (as well as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] lobby in Washington) claims that in 2004, on the eve of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, President George W. Bush OK'd Israeli construction in the "settlement blocs" of Area C, the area of the West Bank under total Israeli control. As far as Israel is concerned, it, of course, is the one that defines these "blocs." Israel and AIPAC claim that this unwritten presidential authorization was an annex to the written commitment (letters exchange) provided by Bush to late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the effect that negotiations on a permanent agreement with the Palestinians would factor in "new realities on the ground" created since 1967, when Israel took over the West Bank. But it was then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said in 2009, "With respect to the conditions regarding understandings between the United States and the former Israeli government and the former government of the United States, we have the negotiating record. … There is no memorialization of any informal and oral agreements."  She went on to say, "If they did occur, which, of course, people say they did, they did not become part of the official position of the United States government." She even pointed to the existence of documents suggesting that oral agreements should not be viewed in any way as contradicting commitments Israel had undertaken to the Road Map for Middle East peace. "These commitments are very clear," she noted, referring to the Middle East Quartet’s 2003 blueprint for Israeli-Palestinian peace. The document obliges Israel to totally refrain from construction in the settlements, without distinguishing between a "neighborhood," a "bloc" or "outside a bloc." That same year, at the initiative of Bush, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the Road Map.  Israel is taking seriously the Oct. 5 White House announcement that the new settlement constitutes a violation of the Israeli government’s commitment to the United States. An Israeli violation of commitments it gave regarding settlements would make it easier for the United States to extricate itself from its commitment to oppose unilateral moves against Israel. If Netanyahu insists on establishing the new settlement, despite Obama’s anger, the president could well be encouraged to abstain in the UN Security Council vote on the recognition of a Palestinian state.  Paradoxically, the Amona settlers might turn out to be the ones to pull the irons out of the fire for Netanyahu. Their refusal to move to the site designated for their relocation makes the new settlement redundant. An upgraded 2016 rerun of the 2006 evacuation of nine houses in the settlement of Amona, a move that ended in a violent confrontation with security forces, could push HaBayit HaYehudi into the opposition. Netanyahu has already ascertained that the other parties in his ruling coalition would gladly welcome opposition leader Isaac Herzog to their ranks, thus cementing a coalition majority even if HaBayit HaYehudi leaves.  After Netanyahu evacuates the settlement that has become a symbol and replaces HaBayit HaYehudi with Herzog’s Zionist Camp, Obama will have no choice but to praise him. And what about Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas? He will probably have to wait until Nov. 8 and hope that Democratic candidate Clinton knows that the letter "C" does not designate the third article of the Second Oslo Accord between Israel and the Palestinians that her husband signed while in office, but is the designation of the Palestinian territory that Israel is only supposed to rule temporarily. The deadline for Israel to cede control of Area C came and went when she was still the first lady.  (3) US Criticizes Israel over West Bank Settlement Plan - NYT   United States Criticizes Israel Over West Bank Settlement Plan  By MARK LANDLER  OCT. 5, 2016  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday castigated the Israeli government for approving plans to create a new Jewish settlement on the West Bank, three weeks after it signed a lucrative military aid package with the United States and just as President Obama was traveling to Jerusalem for the funeral of Shimon Peres.  In an uncommonly harsh statement, the State Department "strongly condemned" the move, asserting that it violated Israel’s pledge not to construct new settlements and ran counter to the long-term security interests Israel was seeking to protect with the military deal, which provides $38 billion in assistance over the next decade.  The new settlement, one of a string of housing complexes that threaten to bisect the West Bank, is designed to house settlers from a nearby illegal outpost, Amona, which an Israeli court has ordered demolished.  The timing of the approval especially infuriated the White House, American officials said, because it came after Mr. Obama met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations. Mr. Netanyahu, they said, gave the president no advance warning, even though Mr. Obama expressed deep concerns about Israel’s continuing settlement construction. The officials declined to speak for attribution owing to the sensitivity of the issue.  "It is disheartening that while Israel and the world mourned the passing of President Shimon Peres, and leaders from the U.S. and other nations prepared to honor one of the great champions of peace, plans were advanced that would seriously undermine the prospects for a two-state solution that he so passionately supported," the State Department’s deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, said in the four-paragraph statement.  The harsh words also rekindled speculation that Mr. Obama might lay down guidelines for a proposed peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians before he leaves office, either in a speech or, less likely, by backing a resolution at the United Nations Security Council.  "The administration has been escalating its rhetoric in opposition to West Bank settlement activity for more than a year," said Martin S. Indyk, who served as Mr. Obama’s special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. "The government of Israel doesn’t seem to be listening."  "At a certain point," said Mr. Indyk, who is now the executive vice president of the Brookings Institution, "the administration may well decide that there needs to be consequences for what it now sees as an effort to close off the two-state solution."  Mr. Obama, officials said, has kept his own counsel about whether to thrust himself back into the peace process. After two failed attempts to broker an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, the president is leery of getting involved in another hopeless effort, aides say. He would also likely consult with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, were she to win to make sure his move did not complicate her plans.  The plan for a new settlement grows out of a bitter impasse between the Israeli authorities and settlers in Amona, which sits on a hilltop near the Palestinian administrative capital, Ramallah. Israel’s High Court of Justice has ordered the residents of Amona, which is built on private, Palestinian-owned land, to leave by Dec. 25.  The government’s plan is to move them to the newly approved settlement, built on public land, which would initially have 98 houses and eventually could accommodate up to 300 houses. The settlers have so far refused, creating an acute political crisis for Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition government.  The Israeli authorities have dealt with other such standoffs by seeking to retroactively legalize the settlements. But because Amona is built on private Palestinian land, it cannot solve the problem with legal machinations. Israeli authorities view the settlement as a "satellite" of another settlement, Shvut Rachel, which itself was retroactively legalized and lies within the redrawn boundaries of an established settlement, Shilo.  "The 98 housing units approved in Shilo do not constitute a ‘new settlement,’ " Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement issued on Wednesday. "Israel," the ministry added, "remains committed to a solution of two states for two peoples, in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the Jewish state of Israel."  For American officials, the problem is that Israel is establishing a string of settlements, which the administration’s statement said "effectively divide the West Bank and make the possibility of a viable Palestinian state more remote." The latest settlement, the State Department said, was "deep in the West Bank, far closer to Jordan than to Israel."  No matter how strongly worded its condemnations, some former diplomats said, it would do little to change Israel’s behavior. They urged Mr. Obama to lay down his version of a road map to a peace deal.  "Of course he should," said Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former American ambassador to Israel and Egypt. "These statements are meaningless if there is no action. The U.S. should expect Israel not to do these things, especially as ‘compensation’ for removal of an illegal outpost."  Israel has a long history of ill-timed announcements on settlements.  In 2010, four months after Mr. Netanyahu had agreed to a moratorium on the construction of settlements in the West Bank, municipal authorities in Jerusalem approved 1,600 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish housing development in East Jerusalem that had been excluded from the agreement. The announcement came as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was visiting Israel, and was viewed in Washington as a slap in the face.  At Mr. Obama’s behest, Mrs. Clinton, then secretary of state, delivered a 43-minute lecture to Mr. Netanyahu over the phone. Officials said the episode angered the president more than Mr. Biden himself.  Settlements have poisoned the relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu from the earliest days of the administration. Mr. Obama demanded that Israel halt construction as a gesture to draw the Palestinians back to the bargaining table. Mr. Netanyahu complained that the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, frittered away most of the 10-month moratorium before sitting down to talk.  The timing of this approval, administration officials said, was particularly galling: Israeli authorities approved the settlement on the day that Mr. Peres, one of Israel’s founding fathers, died — and two days before Mr. Obama arrived in Jerusalem. That raised the possibility that the news could have leaked out while the president was at the funeral, which officials said would have dwarfed the diplomatic uproar during Mr. Biden’s visit.  For Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu, it is a bitter coda to a relationship that seemed to end on an uncharacteristically gracious note in New York, when the two men smiled for the cameras, and the prime minister invited the president to Israel to play golf at a course next to his house.  Privately, the president raised concerns with Mr. Netanyahu about settlement construction and what Mr. Obama regards as its corrosive effect on the peace process. On Wednesday, Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said the administration felt misled yet again by the Israelis.  "We did receive public assurances from the Israeli government that contradict this announcement," Mr. Earnest said. "I guess when we’re talking about how good friends treat one another, that’s a source of serious concern as well."  Follow Mark Landler on Twitter at @MarkLandler.  Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem.  A version of this article appears in print on October 6, 2016, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Condemns Israeli Plan for New Settlement.  (4) Approval of New West Bank Settlement - Statement from State Dept   Approval of New West Bank Settlement  Press Statement Mark C. Toner Deputy Department Spokesperson Washington, DC October 5, 2016  We strongly condemn the Israeli government's recent decision to advance a plan that would create a significant new settlement deep in the West Bank.  Proceeding with this new settlement, which could include up to 300 units, would further damage the prospects for a two state solution. The retroactive authorization of nearby illegal outposts, or redrawing of local settlement boundaries, does not change the fact that this approval contradicts previous public statements by the Government of Israel that it had no intention of creating new settlements. And this settlement's location deep in the West Bank, far closer to Jordan than Israel, would link a string of outposts that effectively divide the West Bank and make the possibility of a viable Palestinian state more remote.  It is deeply troubling, in the wake of Israel and the U.S. concluding an unprecedented agreement on military assistance designed to further strengthen Israel's security, that Israel would take a decision so contrary to its long term security interest in a peaceful resolution of its conflict with the Palestinians. Furthermore, it is disheartening that while Israel and the world mourned the passing of President Shimon Peres, and leaders from the U.S. and other nations prepared to honor one of the great champions of peace, plans were advanced that would seriously undermine the prospects for the two state solution that he so passionately supported.  Israelis must ultimately decide between expanding settlements and preserving the possibility of a peaceful two state solution. Since the recent Quartet report called on both sides to take affirmative steps to reverse current trends and advance the two state solution on the ground, we have unfortunately seen just the opposite. Proceeding with this new settlement is another step towards cementing a one-state reality of perpetual occupation that is fundamentally inconsistent with Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state. Such moves will only draw condemnation from the international community, distance Israel from many of its partners, and further call into question Israel's commitment to achieving a negotiated peace.  -- Peter Myers website: http://mailstar.net/index.html |
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