http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=49531&mador=5
Ha'aretz, June 29, 1999
And for Barak's Next Act, Juggling the
Settlements
By Nadav Shragai
During a candid meeting between Yisrael b'Aliyah and National
Religious Party officials and Ehud Barak several weeks ago, the
prime minister-elect was asked to clarify his precise plans for
the future of the settlements. The meeting took place after it had
already been agreed in principle that Barak would effectively be
the final arbiter of settlement-related disputes between Meretz
and the two parties. However, both Yitzhak Levy (NRP chair) and
Natan Sharansky (Yisrael b'Aliyah chair) insisted on understanding
Barak beyond the generally good impression they had of him. Barak
tried to give the two ministers some friendly reassurance along
the lines of "it'll be alright" and "you can trust me," but it did
not suffice. Barak deliberated a little and then told them
something like this: you have, after all, known me for quite some
time. I am ideologically a centrist and I very much appreciate the
settlements. When I spoke of Beit El and Ofra, I wasn't using
slogans. I meant what I said. But it should be obvious to you that
if someone wants to build a monument for Baruch Goldstein or
create a provocation and not a settlement, I'll prevent it.The
future of the 10 hills taken after the Wye agreement, which is not
mentioned in the coalition agreements or in the government's basic
guidelines, also came up during the meetings with Barak. The prime
minister-elect refused to comment on this in writing but
repeatedly used two words in his spoken remarks: "flexibility" and
"reason." "We'll be as flexible as possible," Barak promised, "but
within the borders of reason."
Barak's borders of reason were not delineated during the talks
with NRP and Yisrael b'Aliyah officials, nor did he show all his
cards. Barak did however let his interlocutors understand that
outposts which had already received the defense establishment's
approval would in the meantime be reclassified as "decisions
already made by the government of [Benjamin] Netanyahu."
Further flexibility would be possible, Yisrael b'Aliyah officials
implied, with regard to illegal outposts established in "areas of
consensus," such as Gush Etzion (Givat Hahish, near Alon
Shvut).
Nevertheless, Barak will apparently not be flexible about
illegal outposts in areas where from the outset he considers a
Jewish presence there superfluous and temporary, such as Nablus
and even the southern Mount Hebron area.
The Nablus area has the most militant group of Jewish settlers,
primarily in the area of Yitzhar and Itamar, where many outposts
were set up before and after the Wye accord, and not all have
received government approval. Netanyahu several times blocked
efforts by his defense minister, Moshe Arens, to evacuate such
places in the Nablus area, and Levy was also involved in
preventing Civil Administration and IDF attempts to do the same,
e.g., hill 777 near Itamar. Barak will probably give the defense
establishment a green light to evacuate these outposts, and the
first clash between him and settlers is expected there.
The construction going on in Hebron - Beit Nahum and Yehuda,
Beit Hashisha and two additional floors for Beit Romano - will
apparently not be stopped by the Barak government. On the other
hand, a special ministerial committee will discuss the plans for
construction of permanent buildings in Tel Rumeida. This
construction has yet to start and Meretz is demanding it be
stopped. Netanyahu approved the project after the murder of Rabbi
Ra'anan and it has been delayed until now, among other reasons,
because of the need to carry out archaeological excavations
there.
There are also decisions from the Netanyahu government which
Barak led his dialogue partners to believe he is satisfied with.
These things were said with a wink as if to say "you've done my
work for me," but in a way that could not have been misunderstood.
That is the case with the decision to link Ma'aleh Adumim and
Jerusalem. Barak made a specific promise on that issue later on,
but the same pattern applied to other areas. The National
Infrastructures Ministry has in recent years been working to cut
off settlements supplied by Palestinian water systems, such as
Beit El and Ofra which received water from Ramallah, or Telem and
Adora which received it from Hebron. Such places were hooked up
directly to the national water project. Similar actions were taken
for electricity supply, and many communities which had received
electricity via the East Jerusalem electric company's grid, were
hooked up to the Israeli grid.
Barak wants this "separation" and also intends to encourage it
in the future. In the spirit of this "separation," the
construction of many of the bypass roads decided on by the
Netanyahu government will continue.
The development of industrial zones in Judea, Samaria and Gaza
(Yesha) which Sharansky took such pride in, is likely to stop with
Ran Cohen's appointment as Trade and Industry minister. The
Housing Ministry, in contrast, will be in NRP hands and this
likely ensures projects to market lands and offer tenders for
government-initiated construction primarily in municipal areas of
Yesha - Ma'aleh Adumim, Beitar, Kiryat Sefer and Ariel. The NRP
will be particularly interested in realizing its age-old dream and
establishing an NRP city, near the village of Brukin, where
construction of 2,000 housing units is planned.
These anticipated projects by an NRP-controlled Housing
Ministry will need the approval of Defense Minister Barak, and
this shows the decisive importance of the adviser on settlement
affairs. Under Rabin, Noah Kinarti served in that capacity, and he
is to this day identified in Yesha with the freeze on construction
in settlements and their being "dried up." Kinarti also served in
that post under Yitzhak Mordechai, but was later replaced by Uri
Ariel, a former secretary general of the Yesha Council. Ariel
resigned the post after concluding that he would not be able to
promote settlement in Yesha under Mordechai. His successor, Eli
Cohen, a Ma'aleh Adumim resident, had free rein from Mordechai to
promote construction programs in Yesha. Mordechai delegated many
of his authorities to Cohen, who spurred the approval of hundreds
of land confiscation orders for the purpose of expanding
settlements and of dozens of master plans for Yesha
settlements.
One of Barak's associates this week speculated that Barak would
handle the settlement issue as did Rabin and Netanyahu. First, he
will limit the number of permits issued, freeze several projects
and order a "reevaluation," all in order to appease the left wing
of his government and primarily, the United States. Then, he will
loosen the strings, primarily in areas of high demand, close to
the Green Line - western Samaria and greater Jerusalem. Then,
finally he will throw a few crumbs to outlying communities from
which Barak will not withhold any protective and security
measures, but whose expansion he will restrict
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