The Phony Freeze
These days many people in Israel are watching the news. They are beside themselves not necessarily with joy. The reason - P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu has made a "dramatic” announcement that he will freeze settlements in the occupied territories over a period of ten months as a gesture to get peace negotiations started with the Palestinians.
It is a tactical move to satisfy the US yet far short of a genuine freeze of settlement activity. It is not surprising that the Palestinian Authority, under Mahmoud Abbas, is not satisfied. The fact that extreme right wingers such as Ze’ev (Benny) Begin and Bogey Ayalon - support the "freeze" must raise suspicions that the freeze is not genuine nor is the will for reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. The establishment of settlements is such a strong part of Likud ideology that it would be unthinkable for the Likud coalition to change its policy towards settlement in the occupied territories.
The establishment of settlements is so deep in religious right wing Zionist ideology that any attempt to cease or freeze the establishment of settlements is total anathema to their religious ideology. This ideology is tantamount to ridding the West Bank of Palestinians as it is considered the land that God gave the Jews from biblical times.
It will be business as usual in the occupied territories with building operations, demolition of Palestinian homes considered illegal, continuing by stealth. It will be conceivable that permits for building operations will continue. This takes 10 months to fulfill anyway. The building of new homes in the occupied territories will be unaffected.
What is not covered by the "freeze" is the continuation of building operations in East Jerusalem which is considered to be Israeli and not open to negotiation. The Palestinians consider East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and that the settlement freeze should include East Jerusalem as well. In any case, the settlement freeze will exist in name only and the building cessations will be unnoticed. It is highly unlikely that the so-called freeze will be observed in any case. Apart from cosmetic freezes of insignificant outposts, Israel's government has no intention of freezing settlements. If it did, the extreme right wing factions in the Likud would not support it.
Of course it will be argued that even if there was a genuine freeze of settlement building the Palestinians would not accept it as a prerequisite for getting negotiations started again. The Palestinians would only recognize freezing of building operations if it was genuine and included East Jerusalem. The entire world now accepts the fact that East Jerusalem will eventually be the capital of the Palestinian State when established. The right wing, religious Zionist settler movements, with its racist rabbinical mentors, believes in transferring the Palestinian population out of the occupied territories to neighbouring Arab States.
On the other hand, if settlement building in the occupied territories continues, it will be at the expense of the future Palestinian state. It will render the chance of its establishment impossible. This brings back the idea of a binational state and all that it entails. If settlement activity in the occupied territories carries on which is the will of the right wing in Israel, they must also be held accountable for the failure of the two-state solution which has the support of most of the free world.
The freezing of settlements in the occupied territories must be seen for what it really is - a sop to President Obama! Despite this, the right wing Zionist settler movement demonstrates against the phony freeze. At the head of the protests are the pseudo Kahanist racists such as Itamar ben Gvir, whose visage seems to pop up at every right wing extremist demonstration .This kippa and tzitzit cladded protégé of the late Rabbi Meir Kahana is a religious extremist (I still have memories of Ben Gvir ripping off the badges from late P.M. Rabin's car two weeks before his assassination.)
The moratorium on settlements has other ramifications. Violence of right wing settlers against the Palestinians is a strong possibility.
The behaviour of the right wing settler zealots towards the indigenous Palestinian population has the potential to explode into further violence and hatred. It is no wonder that the Palestinian population in the occupied territories refuse to be accommodating towards Israel.
It is a tactical move to satisfy the US yet far short of a genuine freeze of settlement activity. It is not surprising that the Palestinian Authority, under Mahmoud Abbas, is not satisfied. The fact that extreme right wingers such as Ze’ev (Benny) Begin and Bogey Ayalon - support the "freeze" must raise suspicions that the freeze is not genuine nor is the will for reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. The establishment of settlements is such a strong part of Likud ideology that it would be unthinkable for the Likud coalition to change its policy towards settlement in the occupied territories.
The establishment of settlements is so deep in religious right wing Zionist ideology that any attempt to cease or freeze the establishment of settlements is total anathema to their religious ideology. This ideology is tantamount to ridding the West Bank of Palestinians as it is considered the land that God gave the Jews from biblical times.
It will be business as usual in the occupied territories with building operations, demolition of Palestinian homes considered illegal, continuing by stealth. It will be conceivable that permits for building operations will continue. This takes 10 months to fulfill anyway. The building of new homes in the occupied territories will be unaffected.
What is not covered by the "freeze" is the continuation of building operations in East Jerusalem which is considered to be Israeli and not open to negotiation. The Palestinians consider East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and that the settlement freeze should include East Jerusalem as well. In any case, the settlement freeze will exist in name only and the building cessations will be unnoticed. It is highly unlikely that the so-called freeze will be observed in any case. Apart from cosmetic freezes of insignificant outposts, Israel's government has no intention of freezing settlements. If it did, the extreme right wing factions in the Likud would not support it.
Of course it will be argued that even if there was a genuine freeze of settlement building the Palestinians would not accept it as a prerequisite for getting negotiations started again. The Palestinians would only recognize freezing of building operations if it was genuine and included East Jerusalem. The entire world now accepts the fact that East Jerusalem will eventually be the capital of the Palestinian State when established. The right wing, religious Zionist settler movements, with its racist rabbinical mentors, believes in transferring the Palestinian population out of the occupied territories to neighbouring Arab States.
On the other hand, if settlement building in the occupied territories continues, it will be at the expense of the future Palestinian state. It will render the chance of its establishment impossible. This brings back the idea of a binational state and all that it entails. If settlement activity in the occupied territories carries on which is the will of the right wing in Israel, they must also be held accountable for the failure of the two-state solution which has the support of most of the free world.
The freezing of settlements in the occupied territories must be seen for what it really is - a sop to President Obama! Despite this, the right wing Zionist settler movement demonstrates against the phony freeze. At the head of the protests are the pseudo Kahanist racists such as Itamar ben Gvir, whose visage seems to pop up at every right wing extremist demonstration .This kippa and tzitzit cladded protégé of the late Rabbi Meir Kahana is a religious extremist (I still have memories of Ben Gvir ripping off the badges from late P.M. Rabin's car two weeks before his assassination.)
The moratorium on settlements has other ramifications. Violence of right wing settlers against the Palestinians is a strong possibility.
The behaviour of the right wing settler zealots towards the indigenous Palestinian population has the potential to explode into further violence and hatred. It is no wonder that the Palestinian population in the occupied territories refuse to be accommodating towards Israel.
Tags: freeze, likud-ideology, netanyahu, settlement
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Basil Keilani on -
Shimon Klein,
Thank you for this. Zionists of old (some at least) said "A land without people for a people without land". As Eckhart Tolle would say, when you see people as an object, something in your way, then you won't see their humanity. Palestinians are in the way of the Zionist Manifest destiny. In reality, many Americans are ignorant of what's happening, and they consider Israelis to be the victims and Palestinians to be people who are trouble. America, for whatever reason, supports Israel, so America is having trouble fulfilling its obligations as a high contracting party of the Geneva Convention. The American cop is on the take. He is looking the other way.
I was watching Dr. Norman Finkelstein on youtube. He was saying that he supports the existence of Israel, but he feels that Israel has become "satanic" and Germany was "satanic" when it ethnic cleansed all kinds of people and committed the holocaust, that the society became sick. I don' t like the terms satanic that he used. One could argue that Israeli society has become increasingly sick with nationalism. If someone also says Palestinian society is becoming sick or has become sick, I will agree as the occupation is disfiguring my people, and in many ways I don't recognize them anymore. They have become culturally not the same as the Palestinians I used to know in too many cases, though many are still recognizable. The more Israel pushes Arabs, the more Arabs will push back and bring in Muslims with them and this will affect not only Israel but also America and Europe and Africa. Netanyahu and his gang are being selfish.
The freeze is fake. Netanyahu is an old dog who is not out there to learn new tricks. He is trying to hold on to as much of the West Bank. He wants more facts on the ground, to stall for time and placate the Americans. I say, fine, make our people citizens, then, don't leave us with a puny state. We don't want it if you are cutting up so much of it for settlements and we don't want to be without citizenship, and we want one man one vote like in South Africa. Soon, Israel may withdraw from Ghajar, Lebanon. I was anticipating that. It's to deflect negative attention on Israel from the EU and America and Asia after the Goldstone Report, Gaza, and increasing settlements.
We need for the security of the world this to end, because I assure you this is not going to lead to more Muslim moderates and Jewish moderates in the world.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Weis on -
Regarding your first line, that phrase in quotes is mostly a christian saying and has never been a widely used phrase among Zionists.
In regards to the freeze, you should watch video of the latest clashes between the settlers and police. If the freeze was phony, why are the settlers been so physical with the police? The settlers are almost reacting like they did during the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
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Permalink Reply by Basil Keilani on
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Michael, the freeze is kind of phony. Why? The construction that was already wasn't stopped. It's not a true freeze. It's a construction slow down. Even Netanyahu said the same number of homes constructed in a year would happen and that this "freeze" is temporary. A freeze would entail stopping even planned construction.
Also, it doesn't include East Jerusalem and much of East Jerusalem includes West Bank land that was annexed by Israel. I understand the settlers are clashing with the police. I suppose that's normal. They are afriad that this would lead to evacuations in the future. They are afraid of what will come after. That doesn't mean that this is a genuine settlement freeze. It's a slow-down, that's all. For me freeze, means freeze, i.e., a complete stop. I don't want this George Orwell 1984 New Speak language from Israel. How many times has Israel said it won't build settlements and then did?
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Permalink Reply by Edwin Adamek on -
Sorry to disagree with all the naysayers. It is possibly true that the "freeze" is only for show and to placate Obama. It is also absolutely justifiable for Abbas to be totally suspicious of the Netanyahu Government's true motives and intentions - they do have a political manifesto of colonizing more and more parts of what they continue to call "Judea" and "Samaria"- and they will, because they can, continue trying to get away with what they can get away with and still look reasonable in the international media. But if, and I cant emphasise this enough, Palestinian leadership becomes a united front - Hamas and Fatah - and declares once and for all that terrorism "violence against civilians" is no longer an acceptable strategic weapon and will be punishable by law, that true democratic elections will be held and that a new government will govern in the best interest of all Palestians, then pressure on Israel, even from its closest friends will inevitably create change. I truly believe that there are enough people of goodwill on both Israeli and Palestinian sides to counteract the behaviour of their extremists. In other words, Palestinians should proceed on a proactive rather than reactive, non violent strategy which would embrace all the qualities of capable, efficient and compassionate self governance.
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Permalink Reply by Paul RETI on -
The above is obviously "politically incorrect". Nevertheless it is just uncommon common sense that most "genuine peace activists" seem incapable of applying.
Pity...
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Permalink Reply by Neri Bar-On on -
Dear friend,
Yes, peace will bring violance as there are extrimists in both sides.
we need to be clear of our intentions, are we here to punish the bad guys or we here for supporting change and creating a future that include all - include the settlers (as obidence citizens of Israel in its future sustainable agreed borders) and Hamas as obidence citizens of Palestinian National state in its future sustainable agreed borders)
This freeze is an opertunity, not perfect as we wish it to be and not in the timing we wanted to be; we need to think how we can use the event to enable change ... and I see no value it emphsising the posibiity that it wil not bring change and denile that there was no Israeli Government who ever did what Netanyahu and Ehud barak did.
some times we are biased in our "side identity" and we think that if some one who we consider "right wing" do anything it must be for the worst ... I suggest to anlyze how we can build confidence in that change and can we help the Isralies for end the settler activity for good.
The path I see, when Gilad Shalit is releast a change in the Palestinian side and posibility for Palestinians from Hamas and from fatah to find a path to work together. this two movments must shift into "the future of palestine must include all palestinians" and work with other groups to form a political system that is not violant ... this will lead to end of the settelments and open path to the end of Israeli control (occupation) .
So let us be on the builder side insted of the side of people who critisize what ever emerges and distroy any hope of change.
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Permalink Reply by Basil Keilani on
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Frankly, Neri, I don't see Israel stopping what it's doing without some strong outside political intervention and pressure. Israel, you forget talked about, "the freeze" to please America and the European Union. If the European Union and America didn't care, Israel would demolish hundreds of Palestinian homes very quickly, seize land much more quickly than it has in past. Israel's leaders care about its image. Hamas also does care about its image in front of the Palestinian people and in the Arab world to some extent. Of course, it depends on how this pressure is applied. I don't think Israel simply would do the right thing only because it's the right thing to do. I mean Israel could have avoided the 1973 War for example if it negotiated with Sadat before the war instead of losing so many soldiers. Then, it gave Sadat what he wanted in the first place. In Lebanon, Israel left only after Hezbollah got more and more difficult to fight. Then, with Israel's withdrawal Hezbollah had a problem attacking Israel. Why? Not because Israel simply attacked Lebanon but because Israel that time was not occupying much of Lebanon except maybe Ghajar and Shebaa so the Lebanese couldn't accept that. Yet, Israelis accept the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the Golan Heights. How do you propose Israel changes on that score? I don't think violence is the way. Israel's population has to pressure its politicians or other countries will have to pressure Israel. However, because Israel's are descendants of people who went through the holocaust and anti-Semitism and have a sort of political immunity from the US Congress, the European Union and other countries are afraid to say anything to Israel.
There are extremists on both sides. Of course, there are extremists on both sides. I am sure there were Irish extremists when the Irish fought the British. There were extremists Zulus fighting white South Africans. I am sure
some Jews who fought Nazis had extreme views not better than their enemies. What's the point? Palestine shouldn't be occupied, homes shouldn't be demolished, settlements should end.
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Permalink Reply by Neri Bar-On on
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Basil,
Israel is freezing the settlements now, and this government decision is manifesting while Settlers are trying to oppose it as in any normal democratic state.
as I agree with you that- Palestine shouldn't be occupied, homes shouldn't be demolished for political reasons, settlements should end. I think you do not read what happening within Israel.
While there is a strong pro-settlements movement and that some municipalities use municipal laws to make some area more "Jewish" what Netanyahu is doing is out come of Ehud Barak work who strategically enter this government to push it to that direction. while it is very easy to claim that anything Netanyhu do is for the good of the right wing, I think that Netanyahu tries to get into history and believe he can get the Palestinian agreement, and this is why Ehud Barak can manipulate him as he do.
some people think in "us vs. them" terminology. in that position any thing Netanyahu do is for "them" hence is evil driven. most of people I read are trapped in this terminology. and some times as they think they are agents for peace and change they actually serving the people who reject any change.
There are many ways that this announcement fo freezing the settlements will end up in nothing; I know that. but Palestinians who reject it as "israel trick" are missing the opertunity of change and I think that Shimon who is a person devoted to peace in his writing miss this part of reality. he is focus criticize Israel, Netanyhu and the settlers and miss the opertunity that can be manifested.
I think that the ball now is in Palestinian hands, they need to see if they can form a governing system that include Hamas and Fatah and other elements within 10 month. I guess that for getting to that we need to see Gilad Shalit released and maybe an election in Palestine. I hope to see that change, and I do not care if Netanyahu did this freeze for the sake of US, EU, Ehud Barak, Obama or even as a trick; we need to make this announcement real and Shimon do the opposite and in some sense he serve the Settler position in the Israeli internal fight for political dominance.
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