The Palestinian Authority continues to establish facts on the ground and is rapidly building a new illegal city in the Judean Desert nature reserve under the cover of the ongoing violent conflict. Gush Etzion Regional Council head Yaron Rosenthal describes the situation as a "severe failure" and demands the Israeli government take immediate action.

The construction of the new city was exposed about a year ago in an investigative report by Israel Hayom in collaboration with the Regavim organization. The report revealed that the construction is causing severe damage to the nature reserve. For Gush Etzion, the construction poses a severe security threat, as it isolates the Gush Etzion settlements, turning them into an enclave surrounded by Arab cities and villages, while access to the area is already difficult.

"The Palestinian side shall safeguard and preserve the Nature Reserves in accordance with established scientific standards," the Oslo Accords explicitly stated, strictly prohibiting construction in the reserve area. Even after the areas were officially designated as Area B – under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control – the interim Wye Memorandum from 1999 states: "The Palestinian side has further informed that they will act according to the established scientific standards, and that therefore there will be no changes in the status of these areas...While these standards do not allow new construction in these areas, existing roads and buildings may be maintained."

After news of the illegal city became public, an uproar ensued. Former Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shlomo Ne'eman even brought in influencers to assist in exposing the issue to the public and pressure the government to do something about it. Before Rosh Hashanah, the Yesha Council held a ceremonial toast at the site, attended by Minister for Settlement and National Missions Orit Strock. The event turned into a confrontation with Palestinians.

However, since nothing has been done despite statements from government officials, the construction is rapidly advancing without any intervention from law enforcement. Many new roads and buildings have been built, scattered across a radius of about six kilometers. Another recent step by the city planners is the construction of a Palestinian tourist resort area. This project and its access roads are being built swiftly.

Rosenthal stated: "While some of us have become disillusioned with the concept in Gaza, burying our heads in the sand regarding Judea and Samaria continues. If we do not stop the rampant illegal construction in the reserve today, in a few years we will be dealing with one of the most severe security incidents here. This severe failure is a security threat to the State of Israel - wake up."

The post Palestinian Authority rapidly building illegal city in Judean Desert Nature Reserve appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified on Wednesday that the passage of a measure that allows Jews to return to northern Samaria settlements that were removed in 2005 will not result in new construction there.

"The Knesset's decision to repeal parts of the Disengagement Law put an end to a discriminatory and humiliating act that prevented Jews from residing in northern Samaria, which is part of our historical homeland," the Prime Minister's Office said, noting that "it's no coincidence that senior officials of the Opposition supported this move." The statement stressed that despite the passage, "the government has no plans to re-establish settlements there."

The US expressed its displeasure with the repeal in multiple occasions on Tuesday, including during a meeting between the second-most senior official in the State Department with  Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog, during which the former expressed "concern" over the Knesset rescinding the 2005 West Bank disengagement law.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

"The Deputy Secretary conveyed US concern regarding legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset rescinding important aspects of the 2005 Disengagement Law, including the prohibition on establishing settlements in the northern West Bank," the statement said.

Earlier on Tuesday, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the administration was "extremely troubled" by a move by the Israeli parliament that paves the way for Jewish settlers to return to four West Bank settlements that were part of Israel's Disengagement Plan.

Patel said the amendment of a 2005 law was "particularly provocative and counterproductive" to efforts to restore calm ahead of the Ramadan, Passover, and Easter holidays. The Disengagement Plan was conceived by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and was endorsed by President George W. Bush with a special letter that guaranteed Israeli interests.

Its main component was the eviction of thousands of settlers from the Gaza Strip in the hopes of stopping Hamas' rocket attacks and creating legitimacy for Israeli action. It also included a similar measure in northern Samaria involving the razing of four Jewish communities, which now could be reversed following the passage of the new measure.

The move came just two days after Israel reaffirmed a pledge to pause discussion of new settlements and authorizations of outposts, Patel said, a reference to a joint statement between Israeli and Palestinian officials following talks in Egypt.

"The US strongly urges Israel to refrain from allowing the return of settlers to the area covered by the legislation, consistent with both former Prime Minister Sharon and the current Israeli government's commitment to the United States," Patel said.

"We have been clear that advancing settlements is an obstacle to peace and the achievement of a two-state solution."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Amid US rebuke, PM says Disengagement Law repeal won't result in new settlements appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

More worry than they expected, as well as a sense of a missed opportunity, are hanging over the settlement leadership right now, as we enter the interim period between two US administrations.

Nearly half a million Jews currently live in over 140 recognized settlements and another 70 or so "unregulated" ones, and many settlement leaders are convinced that number could be much bigger if the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had taken the lifeline that the Trump administration threw it.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"Another 200,000 thousand people, 25% more," says chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) and head of the Arvot HaYarden (also known as the Jordan Valley) Regional Council David Alhayani, assessing the "missed settlement potential."

Alhayani and his friends are heart-stricken to see thousands of young couples who wanted to make their homes in the settlements and stay there, leaving them for communities inside the Green Line because of the housing shortage.

Maaleh Adumim on the eastern fringes of Jerusalem, which until recently was a "frozen" city in terms of settlement, is a classic example.

Its long-serving mayor, Benny Kasriel, says that "Since Netanyahu's speech at Bar-Ilan [University] in June 2009, the Netanyahu government has built about 80 housing units a year in our city. Yes – 10 years straight, when the average of the governments prior to Netanyahu was 1,000 housing units per year, sometimes more."

Kasriel says that in this 10-year period, the city has long "many young families who wanted to live close to their parents. It's not Trump or [US President-elect] Biden, it's us."

The change of presidents is creating a lot of bustle among settlers, and what was only whispered during the Netanyahu government is now being spoken aloud. Alhayani and Kasriel are not alone. Still, last-ditch efforts are underway to get as much done as possible while Trump is still in office, and everyone's eyes are on the prime minister. This includes regulating dozens more settlements that have existed under the threat of evacuation and destruction for years.

"It's not easy," Alhayani says. "The Prime Minister's Office is already taking into account the positions of the new [US] administration, and trying to not annoy them at the start or appear like they're trying to make a last grab under the outgoing president."

One thing is already clear: the issue of the settlements and settlement construction will soon come up during the transition period from one administration to another as part of the nascent relations between Israel and President-elect Biden and his people. Jerusalem remembers very well the last few weeks of the Obama administration in 2016, before Trump entered the White House. Biden, then Obama's vice president, was very active in promoting UN Security Council Resolution 2334, to declare the settlements in "occupied Palestinian territory" illegal. Biden and Susan Rice, Obama's national security advisor and now a candidate for secretary of state, convinced the representatives of Senegal and New Zealand to take part in submitting the resolution, and pressured Ukraine to vote for it.

In a move considered a slap in the face for Israel, the UNSC passed a decision not to recognize any changes to the ceasefire border of June 4, 1967, including Jerusalem. Of the 15 members of the council, 14 supported the resolution. The US abstained from the vote, also refrained from exercising its veto.

That history, which involves Biden, is relevant now, not only because of the involvement of the then-vice president in such an anti-Israel resolution, but also because Vice President-elect Kamala Harris opposed the resolution at the time. Harris was even one of the authors of a Senate resolution that expressed opposition to 2334 – not because she supported the settlements, but because she thought that the resolution was biased.

That historic resolution, which the Obama administration promoted only a month after Hillary Clinton lost the election to Trump, and only three weeks before Trump took office, is now being used by the settlement lobby in Israel and the US against Trump and Netanyahu. Activists are arguing that what Obama was allowed to do, Trump is also allowed to do. They are referring to a series of urgent matters that "must be completed before Biden takes office." First on the list is the matter of the unregulated settlements.

Interim decisions

A few days before the US election, the Land of Israel lobby in the Knesset, led by MK Haim Katz (Likud) and MK Bezalel Smotrich (Yamina), held a conference that included a tour of settlement outposts. Chairman of the Republicans Overseas Israel, attorney Mark Zell, took part. Zell expressed hope that Trump would not only not oppose regulation, he would work for it.

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin also attended, which was significant. Levin might be the MK closest to Netanyahu, "closest to the switch," as Katz put it. Levin promised to join the effort and said that "by the end of the year, we need to finish regulation as many matters as we can; clean off our desk; expedite regulation of unrecognized places, regardless of who the next president will be."

That meeting and other similar ones led to a plan of action that combines idealism and pragmatism: legal regulation of unrecognized settlements along with the removal of humanitarian obstacles that currently keep those unrecognized communities from being hooked up to the electricity grid, water supply, roads, mail deliver, and more

There are some 20,000 people living in about 50 of these communities, many of which have existed for over 18 years. The way to regulate them is to declare them neighborhoods of existing settlements. That is how it was done with Kerem Reim, next to Talmon, or Ibei Hanachal next to Kochav Hashachar.

The lobby's list includes dozens more outposts. But in many of them, the process of surveying the land on which they sit as state-owned land is incomplete. The drawn-out process, even though it will likely be completed successfully, convinced the settlers to seek an interim decision, a cabinet decision that will allow these outposts to receive budgets and basic services.

Such basic services include public transportation, water, electricity, mikvehs, nursery schools and daycare centers, sports centers and a long line of standard services enjoyed by all the regulated settlements but not unregulated ones like Har Hemed or the Nahalat Ami neighborhood of Otniel. Even the veteran outpost of Givat HaYovel, next to Eli, which was home to the Maj. Eliraz Peretz, who was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip in 2010 and hero Maj. Roi Klein, who was killed in Bint Jbeil in the Second Lebanon War, falls into the unregulated category. In recent months, the settlers have held a few meetings with Defense Ministry civil and social affairs chief Michael Biton of Blue and White. Biton is showing good will, understands their distress, and is trying to help them on humanitarian grounds.

The Mevo'ot Yeriho precedent

There are also 24 unregulated settlements that appear to have no chance of ever being declared neighborhoods of existing settlements. They are too far away, or legal issues prevent them from being recognized as such. The most obvious communities in this category are Asael and Avigayil in the south Hebron Hills, which are home to over 100 families with 300 children. They were both founded more than 15 years ago. Outposts who share that status are Aloney Shilo, founded 20 years ago not far from Karnei Shomron and named after Staff-Sgt. Shilo Levy, who was killed in the 1997 helicopter disaster; Givat Haroeh, founded in 2002 and home to 40 families and over 100 children; and Nofei Nehemia, home to 50 families and 150 children, which sits to the east of Ariel. The settlers are hoping the government will decide in their favor before Biden enters the White House. The lone precedent, is the story of Mevo'ot Yeriho, which the government in 2019 declared a new, independent settlement just before the 22^nd Knesset was sworn in.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The chances of a repeat of the Mevo'ot Yeriho story are unclear. It would require agreement from Blue and White, but even before that could happen, Netanyahu is loath to start off his relations with President-elect Biden on the wrong foot. Only last November Biden called the settlements "an obstacle to peace," and in May of this year he declared that they strangled "any hope of peace."

On the other hand, Trump has another two and a half months in the White House, and Netanyahu might ask to take advantage of the sort time left to get as much as he can from him, not only in Judea and Samaria, but also in Jerusalem – for example, progress on plan to build in Atarot in the north of the city. The fact that Israel will soon be facing another election could influence the prime minister, who very much needs the support of the settlers and their activists in the Likud.

Alhayani suggests that his cohort ignore the change of US administration and "do what is best for Israel." Alhayani has still not abandoned hope that Israel will declare sovereignty over its settlements in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley. Nor is he willing to panic over the future Biden administration. He says that under Trump, "relatively few housing units were built in Judea and Samaria every year, compared to the number of units constructed under the Obama administration."

Alhayani thinks that this might have happened because "the Israeli government didn't want to clash with such a friendly administration, whereas under Obama, we dared to do more."

He also thinks that the Americans "won't force anything on us, certainly not evacuation of settlements. The reality on the ground is too big for that to be practical, and the declaration in the Trump peace plan – even if Biden doesn't adopt it – that no Jewish settlement will be evacuated also carries weight."

Alhayani makes it clear that his problem isn't with "any one president or another, but with my prime minister. I am really concerned over the possibility that Netanyahu will continue to fudge the matter of settlement regulation, like he has done so far. I also don't really believe he is determined enough to carry out the hugely strategic E-1 construction plan – the plan to connect Maaleh Adumim to Jerusalem, which was approved after years of delays only a few months ago."

A different starting point

Kasriel, who recently received a green light for 700 new housing units in his city after nearly a decade, admits that he does not understand Netanyahu's approach to the settlements.

"Sometimes I feel like he's toying with us. It's not plausible that I've been waiting over a year for the prime minister's approval to add a floor to 16 existing homes here in Maaleh Adumim – that's the greater Jerusalem area, that's consensus. Not some far-flung settlement, although they have rights, too.

"Something doesn't make sense in the way that I need approval from the Prime Minister's Office for a plan to build for industry, or schools, or to add rooms, or build balconies," Kasriel says, disappointed.

"These are things that have nothing to do with the Americans or the Palestinians. I expected more from Netanyahu. Even the 700 new apartments we're building now, after a decade of a construction freeze, we're building in close conditions inside the city," he says.

MKs close to Netanyahu want to calm everyone down. Netanyahu, they say, has done more than any other prime minister to promote settlement in Judea and Samaria, but while taking into considerations the international pressure on Israel and the country's vital interests.

These close associates of the prime minister say that even under Biden, Netanyahu will continue to work for the settlements. They mention the difficult beginning of the Obama administration, when Netanyahu's first meeting with the new president (in May 2009) raised disputes almost immediately about the Iran issue, construction in Jerusalem, and the settlements. John Podesta, head of Obama's transition team, and Mara Rudman, who later became deputy to Obama's special Middle East envoy George Mitchell, even suggested that the president take steps to take away Israel's sovereignty in the Old City of Jerusalem and establish a special international government in the holy parts of the city.

Today, sources close to Netanyahu say, the start of ties between him and Biden will be much better: the US Embassy has been relocated to Jerusalem, and Joe Biden has already declared he will not move it. Even if the new administration does not adopt the Trump peace plan, it will still have an effect, especially the outgoing president's statement that no Jewish settlement will be evacuated.

Biden, the MKs close to Netanyahu believe, is not Obama. His record proves that, even though his positions on the settlements are closer to Obama's than to those of Trump.

The post Settling some big issues appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Speaking to Israel Hayom, Olmert says that "In the cabinet, we were supposed to vote on the disengagement plan. I get a telephone call from Arik [Sharon]. I was in the North, and Arik says to me, 'Listen. I'm thinking of changing the whole disengagement. I'll pull out of five settlements around Gaza.' I asked him, 'What?' and Arik says, 'I can't anymore. I'm sick of this.'"

 Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Q: What was he sick of?

Olmert: "The pressure on him from inside the Likud camp was unbearable. I asked him, 'Arik – will you have a majority for five settlements?' and he answered, 'I think so.'

"I told him: 'Don't be so sure. I, for example, won't vote for that. I won't make a fool of myself. We set up a plan, and now to pull out of only five settlements? That's ridiculous. I won't play any part in it.' And Arik told me: 'Come to the ranch, and we'll talk.'"

Olmert says he went to visit Sharon's ranch, where he told the prime minister he could not cave to the anti-disengagement pressure.

Olmert says he told Sharon he must not "give in to this gang of nothings," that he had opted for a historic move that was the "right thing to do," and he had to stick to it.

According to Olmert, he told Sharon: "If you pull back now, you'll just bring on more pressure. Two weeks from now, you'll come to a faction meeting and the back benches will rise up against you. They smell weakness."

Olmert says that Sharon's son Gilad said, "Ehud is right."

Sharon was convinced. He called cabinet secretary Israel Maimon and instructed him to pull Sharon's revised plan to raze only five settlements, and work according to the original plan that would encompass all the settlements in Gush Katif, as well as four in northern Samaria.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post 'I stopped Sharon from limiting the disengagement to 5 settlements' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.