Last week, the Cap’n informed me (after returning with his Friday morning shopping) that the Associated Press was in the shopping center of Efrat interviewing settlers about the 10-month settlement freeze proclaimed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
I suspect most people opposed it, and for good reason. Settlements are not now, nor ever have been, an impediment to peace here. Economically speaking, settlement building is good for everyone: it provides jobs for Arabs over the Green Line, gets the PA out of having to build a sustainable economy, and provides badly-needed housing in housing-strapped Israel.
Settlements in Gaza were not an impediment to giving away that land. When Jews were forced out of their homes, the buildings were simply bulldozed, and philanthropists who hoped to help the Palestinian Arabs jump-start their new economy purchased the greenhouses left behind by the Jews (which were subsequently destroyed or dismantled and sold to Egyptians during the “impromptu” Rafa border crossing opening).
There is, of course, a second reason why settlements should not be considered an obstacle to peace: Many Arabs (including the PA and Hamas) consider Tel Aviv a settlement. What do I mean by this? Friends of mine, in conversations with Arabs, have been told that peace in the Middle East is simple, and merely requires dismantling the State of Israel, making the entire area including Israel, Gaza, Judea and Samaria a Palestinian Arab state. Or, when asked about his feelings about the settlements, another Arab scoffed, “I don’t want to live in Gush Etzion. I want to live in Tel Aviv. I want to live in Ra’anana. I want to live in Herzliya Pituach.” If these and other Arabs (including those governing the West Bank and Gaza) hold out hope of getting the Whole Enchilada, what’s the big deal about settlements like Efrat, Ma’aleh Adumim, and Karnei Shomron?
But I digress. Netanyahu, I believe, is dealing with the Great World Delusion (that settlements are a stumbling block to peace) by calling everyone’s bluff. He’s saying, “You’re idiots, but rather than telling you you are, I’m going to show you that settlements are just an excuse on the part of the Arabs not to make peace.”
So what will happen? New housing permits are frozen in the West Bank. Infrastructure (schools, shopping centers, health clinics, parks) can still be built in the settlements. Previously approved housing permits will be honored. And not included in the freeze is united Jerusalem.
But won’t that be a problem? Indubitably. But not because “East Jerusalem” belongs to the Arabs. It does not. Arabs are permitted to build legally in any part of Jerusalem, Old City or New City. Jerusalem is united under Israeli governance. Peace-loving people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds are welcome to enter it and see its wonders, or worship where they please. Jerusalem no longer belongs to Jordan, or the Ottomans, or any other Arab colonialists before them. United Jerusalem is Israeli, and (at least under this government) is not negotiable. Arabs will not be transferred out of the city in the event of peace (unlike what Arabs expect will happen to Jews in an eventual Palestinian Arab state). But Arabs lost their sovereignty over Jerusalem—and the Hebrew University, the City of David, and the Mount of Olives cemetery—when Jordan lost them in the Six-Day War (1967). It’s time to move on.
I would like for this freeze to do what it’s supposed to do, i.e. call the bluff of the Arabs who will just come up with another excuse for why they can’t establish a state of their own and blame Israel for it; show the rest of the world the whiners and incompetents that the Arabs are; and provide a relatively low-cost way for Israel to demonstrate cooperation without risking as much as it did by withdrawing from Southern Lebanon and Gaza, both of which led to increased terrorism, kidnappings, daily mortar and rocket attacks, and war. The freeze, unlike a withdrawal, can be called off at any time (and will be, says Netanyahu, if the Arabs don’t belly up to the bar and order their pint of peace within the allotted time frame).
Will the freeze work? Most likely not. The Arabs will assuredly come up with another excuse (already have, in fact), another hand-out they demand from the Israelis before returning to negotiations. The world will refuse to recognize Arab intransigence or criticize their foot-dragging, instead putting more pressure on Israel to sacrifice more land, security, or basic needs to try to coax the Arabs (which in turn will not work either). And in the meantime, housing construction will be slowed, raising housing prices and rents to far above their actual value. The main consolation is that within 10 months, we should be back to business—and intractability—as usual.
Shimshonit 
Sadly, Netanyahu is just an instrument of the Left and it has nothing to do with making a point to the world.
And after 10 months you can expect the Left to extend it and it’s not as if permits were given freely before. Many yishuvim have been strangled by Netanyahu and his predecessors.
If it was k’ilu, just to show the world, why is the govt planning on making it criminal to build? Why did they send inspectors to Tekoa already to give duchot to people building their houses?
Why has Netanyahu destroyed countless ma’achazim? Why can you not tell me s single right wing thing that Netanyahu did when he was PM last time?
I can’t tell you a single right wing thing Netanyahu did when he was PM last time, because I don’t know of one. What makes him an “instrument of the Left,” I believe, is the fact that your politics, despite your chosen moniker, position you firmly to the Right of Likud, which has now become centrist (and the Left is occupied by Kadima and what’s left of Labor and Meretz). I suspect you are either a Feiglin supporter or jumped ship in the last election and voted National Union or Yisrael Beiteinu.
I am not suggesting here that the settlement freeze is a good thing–I hope I made clear in my post that it’s based on bogus claims by Arabs and wild fantasy on the part of everyone else. But it certainly carries with it much lower risk than withdrawing from territory necessary for security. (Incidentally, Westbankmama had an interesting post yesterday that suggests that some of the complaining about the freeze is poorly founded.) I didn’t like Bibi last time (and I wasn’t even as right wing as I am now), but I’m hoping he will have learned from his mistakes. I definitely didn’t like any of the other party leaders in the last election.
Thanks for responding. You’re correct that I’m a believer in the ideas of Manhigut Yehudit.
I’m a bit short on time and then I’m going away for ten days but I hope to relate to one or two of the points you raised at some point.
Good post. I come to a similar conclusion here, in what I call “Israeli Politics Joins the WWE, WCW, WWF (TV Wrestling)”:
“As Conor Cruise O’Brien recognized decades ago (cf. his “Why Israel Can’t Take “Bold Steps” for Peace”, The Atlantic Monthly, October 1985), Israeli and Arab leaders don’t actually expect to reach anything with each other. Israel knows that without giving the Arabs Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, there will be no peace, and the Arabs say as much. So what we do is, Israel makes offers that it knows are too small and that the Arabs will reject (e.g. an offer to give them the West Bank minus Jerusalem), and the Arabs make offers that they know are too large and will be rejected by Israel (e.g. peace if they are given Jerusalem). The result is that both sides know that nothing will happen, but their plan isn’t to get peace; it is rather to curry favor with the world. Israel-Arab politics is like a wrestling match; if you position the camera just right, it looks like his fist really did connect with his face.”
Whereas you think that Netanyahu wants the world to realize the stupidity of this whole affair, I rather think that Netanyahu hopes to truly fool and delude the world into buying his bluff. But either way, we both agree that this whole affair is puerile.
[…] 10, 2009 by Shimshonit I wrote previously about Bibi’s building freeze in the settlements, from an Israeli’s point of view. But perhaps, in honor of yesterday’s large demonstration […]