The Alarming Israeli Public Apathy Regarding Palestinian Construction in Area C - by Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen

While Israeli Jews continue to move into urban centers, the Palestinians have been assuming sovereignty in the open lands and leaving the Jews with personal sovereignty solely in their areas of residence. This trend is not restricted to the West Bank. It is also occurring in the Negev, the Galilee, and the Jezreel Valley, where Jews are moving into high-rise buildings while non-Jews are taking control of the open spaces. A contributing factor to this dangerous trend is the complete lack of interest in the subject displayed by most of the Israeli public.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,274..
02 September '19..
Link: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/israeli-apathy-palestinian-construction-area-c/

Over the past decade, 28,650 illegal Arab structures have been built in Area C. Hundreds of kilometers of roads have been laid, and hundreds of thousands of agricultural dunams have been taken over in land that has never belonged to a Palestinian.

This invasion is being implemented with the involvement and guidance of the EU and with major financial support from abroad.

Meanwhile, PM Netanyahu has introduced a plan to build 700 housing units for Palestinians in Area C along with 6,000 housing units for Jews in the West Bank. Despite criticism from settler leadership, cabinet ministers, including Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich, have supported the plan out of a basic understanding that sovereignty in a territory entails not only setting restrictions on building but also issuing permits. In that regard, sovereignty in Area C is no different from sovereignty in other areas of the country.

The basis of a sovereign state – in Area C as in the Negev – is its ability to plan, which includes stipulating what and where it is forbidden to build and what and where it is permitted to build. These stipulations should apply to everyone, Jewish or Palestinian.

Apart from the threat Palestinian building in Area C poses to Israel’s national and security interests, one needs to ask why the issue has not gained traction among the Israeli public. It is this popular apathy that, among other things, allows the PM to keep ignoring this dangerous trend.

Netanyahu’s behavior on this matter is hard to understand. If it is fine with him to give the Palestinians open land for an eventual two-state solution, then presumably the land should be provided as a quid pro quo in an agreement – not simply taken over by the Palestinians in a unilateral process of attrition. If, on the other hand, Israel has an interest in retaining the land, why is Netanyahu allowing the invasion to proceed?

The Palestinians and Europeans understand something Israelis refuse to see. They grasp that while Maale Adumim is a fully-fledged city that will not be evacuated, it can be turned into a threatened and shrinking enclave by fast-tracking Palestinian building all around it and along the roads leading to it. Israeli disregard for the endgame of this tactic, including among most of the defense establishment, is amazing to the point of alarming.

The EU Is Actively Battling Israel in Area C - Prof. Hillel Frisch

Ever since a decision in January 2012, the EU has been expressly committed to the expansion of illegal Palestinian settlement in Area C in conjunction with the PA. This is in blatant disregard of the Oslo accords, which the EU purports to uphold. The object is to create continuous Palestinian settlement throughout the West Bank and thereby isolate and strangle Israeli communities.

Prof. Hillel Frisch..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,275..
02 September '19..
Link: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/eu-battling-israel-area-c/

For the first time in the 100-year-old conflict between the Zionist movement (and later the State of Israel) and the Palestinian Arabs, the Palestinians are surpassing the Jews in strategic settlement, over which the Zionist movement had enjoyed a monopoly. The PA is achieving this under the auspices of the EU.

In July 2011, a report entitled “Area C and Palestinian State Building” was produced by the EU. It was then brought to the European Parliament in December and approved by the European Commission in early January 2012. (In the interim between the writing of the report and its approval, excerpts were leaked to The Independent, a British daily known for its strident anti-Israeli stance.)

In April 2012, the PA’s Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) published a strategic action plan entitled “Planning Support for Palestinian Communities in Area C.” The EU announced its support for this plan in an official document published in 2012 called “Land Development and Access to Basic Infrastructure in Area C.”

By 2016, the European Community had spent a total of 10.5 million euros to draw up and implement zoning plans for 90 Palestinian settlements and support land development projects in Area C in conjunction with the MoLG.

Such aid is explicitly envisioned not only as helping marginalized communities but as part of a blueprint to assist Palestinian state building. The plans for solitary communities, the report noted, “will be linked in a broader planning exercise that aims at clustering the communities and developing regional plans,” a project currently supported by the EU and the UK. This clustering process is itself linked to another arm of the PA, the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development (MoPAD), which is “engaged in the development of a National Spatial Plan, which will include the entire Area C.”

The joint PA-EU strategy to undermine Israeli jurisdiction in Area C focuses on two areas:

The EU's systematic violation of both international law and the Oslo Accords - by Eldad Beck

...The EU routinely rushes to condemn any construction in "illegal" Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line. But to the EU, the illegal but non-Jewish settlement of Khan al-Ahmar is an entirely different matter.

Eldad Beck..
Israel Hayom..
12 September '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/a-historic-day-for-european-hypocrisy/

The first day of the 5779th year of the Hebrew calendar will be remembered as a historic day for EU hypocrisy: On that day, EU member states, including those that claim they are Israel's greatest friends, decided to stand with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and release a statement that completely contradicts the supposed principles of the EU.

By calling on the Israeli government not to act in the spirit of the High Court of Justice's ruling and evacuate and demolish the illegal Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Britain have violated official EU foreign policy, which supports the achievement of peace on the basis of the 1993 Oslo Accords and recognizes Israel as a sovereign state.

According to the Oslo Accords, Israel is responsible for Area C until other diplomatic agreements are reached on the matter. The EU has systematically acted in violation of international law and the Oslo Accords and without coordinating with Israel to establish and encourage illegal Bedouin settlements.

The EU routinely rushes to condemn any construction in "illegal" Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line. But to the EU, the illegal but non-Jewish settlement of Khan al-Ahmar is an entirely different matter. It is the EU's stance on Khan al-Ahmar that makes its objections to "illegal settlements" that much harder to swallow.

Fiction vs. Reality: The true story behind the Jahalin Bedouin in Khan al Ahmar - by Naomi Kahn

The community’s traditional culture and clan-based lifestyle will be fully protected and insulated from outside influences in a location only four miles away that provides electricity, running water, a government-built and many other basic modern “conveniences” that the Jahalin have never had—conveniences the Palestinian Authority has never made any attempt to provide.

Naomi Kahn..
JNS.org..
05 July '18..

David Halbfinger’s recent article, “As Israel Pushes to Build, Bedouin Homes and School Face Demolition” (The New York Times, June 24, 2018, co-authored by Rami Nazzal) begins with a statement that sets the tone for what is to follow: “The herders are being herded.”

The implication, of course, is that Israel is treating the innocent, unfortunate Jahalin Bedouin of Khan al Ahmar like animals, but the facts of the case indicate precisely the opposite: I’m sure there are many hard-working, tax-paying citizens of Israel (and other countries all over the world) who would love to be “herded” into an all-expenses-paid, fully developed plot of land and paid tens of thousands of dollars by the state to move in. In fact, several years ago, another branch of the Jahalin clan agreed to precisely this treatment and voluntarily relocated; the families that remained in Khan al Ahmar agreed to move as well, but were bullied or patronized by their “representatives” into retracting their consent and have been dragged through Israel’s courts ever since.

The history of the illegal outpost at Khan al Ahmar includes some very interesting facts that Mr. Halbfinger neglected to mention: The Jahalin Bedouin are an offshoot of a larger tribe based in southern Israel, in the Arad region. After a blood feud broke out within the tribe, some of the families were forced out and migrated north through the Judean desert, arriving and settling in their present location after the 1973 Yom Kippur War (see aerial photographs of the area here). From day one, they knew that this would not be a permanent solution for their needs. The highway and growing communities around them were already facts of life; the Jahalin knew they would have to relocate.

Despite the claims that Mr. Halbfinger makes in his article, some 80 percent of the residents of Khan al Ahmar are employed in Ma’ale Adumim, Kfar Adumim and other Israeli communities in the area—and have been for many years. Shepherding is a hobby for most, a means of supplementing income and maintaining their connection to Bedouin folklore. The Bedouin of Khan al Ahmar, like Bedouin tribes throughout the Middle East, abandoned their nomadic existence generations ago; the structures (as opposed to tents) at Khan al Ahmar are a very good indication of this trend.

(Continue to Full Column)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Seems the EU continues to build illegal settlements, just to complain when Israel demolishes them - by Elder of Ziyon

...The irony is that the UN is saying what a terrible crime it is to relocate a few dozen families who are nomadic anyway, but it insists that over a half million Jews who have lived in the same area for decades (and many of whose ancestors lived there much longer) must be ethnically cleansed from the area they call "Palestine."

Elder of Ziyon..
05 February '18..

From the UN yesterday:

Statement by acting Humanitarian Coordinator for the OPT, Roberto Valent, on the Israeli authorities’ destruction of donor-funded classrooms in the Palestinian community of Abu Nuwar I am deeply concerned by the Israeli authorities’ demolition this morning of two donor-funded classrooms (3rd and 4th grade), serving 26 Palestinian school children in the Bedouin and refugee community of Abu Nuwar, located in Area C on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The demolition was carried out on grounds of lack of Israeli-issued permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain.

Abu Nuwar is one of the most vulnerable communities in need of humanitarian assistance in the occupied West Bank. The conditions it faces also represent those of many Palestinian communities, where a combination of Israeli policies and practices –including demolitions and restricted access to basic services, such as education – have created a coercive environment that violates the human rights of residents and generates a risk of forcible transfer. This is the sixth demolition or confiscation incident in Abu Nuwar school by the Israeli authorities since February 2016.

This means that for the past two years, every four months, the EU builds an illegal school building and Israel tears it down.

Does it sound like the EU really cares about educating the kids? They could arrange transportation to another school if they wanted, for example.

These games are clearly meant not to help Palestinians but to embarrass Israel, with photos of demolished buildings that they claim were schools that probably never had any classes.

Abu Nawar is located in the E1 section that connects Ma'ale Adumim with the rest of Jerusalem. That is really what this is all about - the international community is hell bent on stopping Israel from connecting the two.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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The Not-Surprisingly Devious European Union-Palestinian Authority Plan for Area C - by Josh Hasten

...these aren’t just small herding communities as they would appear, but strategically placed mini-towns set up by the Palestinian Authority and financed by the European Union to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros, with the explicit goal of taking over strategic lands in Area C with the aim of creating a de facto Palestinian state.

Josh Hasten..
Opinion/JPost..
13 March '17..
Link: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-diabolical-PAEU-plan-for-Area-C-484098

Now I don't want to ruin anyone’s vacation, but the next time you are heading for some R&R at the Dead Sea via Jerusalem, pay close attention to the scenery on the sides of the road.

Over the past decade there has been a huge upsurge in the number of structures going up in illegal Beduin villages and encampments on both sides of Highway 1, from the entrance to the city through what is known as the “E1” area between Jerusalem and the “Adumims” all the way down the mountain toward the Dead Sea.

So why should some illegal Beduin structures spoil your trip? Because these aren’t just small herding communities as they would appear, but strategically placed mini-towns set up by the Palestinian Authority and financed by the European Union to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros, with the explicit goal of taking over strategic lands in Area C with the aim of creating a de facto Palestinian state.

This plot is clearly outlined in a lengthy 2009 policy paper by then Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad. Known as the Fayyad Plan, the logic was that by creating substantial facts on the ground, the PA with the support of the international community would lay claim to those areas, and demand that they be part of “Palestine” in any future negotiations with Israel.

And that’s where the EU comes in – to serve as the key financier of the project. Over 1,000 illegal structures – including houses, bathrooms, storage spaces, etc., with more being erected nearly daily throughout Judea and Samaria, now proudly bear the EU flag. The EU’s false claim is that it is involved in these building endeavors for “humanitarian purposes” to provide for the Beduin in these areas.

Ironic though, that the EU symbol can only be seen on structures in Area C; none can be found in areas A or B, nor can they be found in Beduin communities throughout the rest of the Middle East. It makes you wonder.

Likening Israel's [Non-]Violation of Court Injunction to 'Naqba'

Columnist Bradley Burston takes the false charge to a new level

TS..
CAMERA Snapshots..
16 January '13..

Given that the news pages of Ha'aretz are falsely reporting that Israel violated a High Court injunction by evacuating Palestinian protesters from a tent camp in the controversial E-1 area, it comes as no surprise that their Op-Ed columnists are doing no better. Columnist Bradley Burston takes the false charge to a new level, charging that Israel's alleged violation of Justice Neal Hendel's injunction is no less than a "Naqba"(!). He writes that according to Prime Minister Netanyahu the protest camp:

needed to be destroyed despite a High Court order that appeared to give the new villagers six days to remain on the site. But in a peculiarly contemporary reinterpretation of the Naqba, the police announced that the injunction only applied to the tents. The people could be taken out. In the dead of night.

It's a pity that Burston didn't actually read the court injunction before he spouted off hysterical "Naqba" comparisons. The Palestinian protesters' lawyer did read the document, and accurately characterized it. As the Jerusalem Post reported:

Attorney Tawfiq Jabareen who represented the Palestinians explain this to the High Court of Justice when he secured a temporary injunction against the outpost’s removal on Friday.

But the court’s language spoke of the tents, not the people, and added that security factors could shift the decision, Jabareen said.

So it's not just a police claim that the injunction applied only to the tents. In fact, this is the case. For the benefit of Burston and his colleagues, here is the link to Justice Hendel's injunction. The injunction states (CAMERA's translation):

After studying the petition I hereby impose a temporary injunction according to clause 1 -- preventing the evacuation or destruction of tents that were erected by the petitioners on a-Tur lands, east of Kfar al-Azeem, unless an urgent security need arises.

The respondents [the state] will respond to this temporary injunction within six days.

Traditionally, journalists read a court injunction before they report on it. Burston apparently prefers a peculiarly contemporary reinterpretation of journalism.

Link: http://blog.camera.org/archives/2013/01/haaretzs_burston_likens_israel.html

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.

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No need to downplay our rights - Not now, not ever.

Nadav Shragai..
Israel Hayom..
14 January '13..

The Palestinian provocation outpost in the E1 corridor, which was evacuated with record speed on Sunday, is only the tip of the iceberg in the efforts to prevent Jewish contiguity between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim. There are hundreds more temporary and permanent structures along the E1 corridor, and in the area between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, erected by the Palestinian Bedouin without permits and in violation of the law for many years now. These structures are not for show, like the outpost evacuated Sunday. These structures are far more trouble.

The Israeli authorities are having a very hard time combating this Palestinian settlement, which is fully supported by Israeli and international leftist organizations. Anyone traveling along the road between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim can't miss them. These little outposts, some of which are illegally hooked up to Israel's main water pipeline, are faits accomplis. They are much more of a problem than the "tourism project for the dissemination of the Bedouin heritage" as the Palestinians describe the little outpost they built on private and state owned land in the E1 corridor several days ago.

Paula R. Stern - Within Range

Paula R. Stern..
A Soldier's Mother..
13 January '13..

I've written about E1 several times - its history in one post and the world's ridiculous obsession with it in another post. Late last week, 200 Arabs, accompanied, of course, by many of Israel's leftists moved on to E1 and set up tents - establishing, they claimed, an Arab settlement. Of course, they claimed they have papers that say they own this land.

One has to wonder where those papers were for the last 40 years while Israel held E1 after Jordan attacked us in 1967 and lost it, but I guess it took that long for the ink to dry on the forgeries. Isn't it funny that these Palestinians never came forward during the 19 years of Jordanian rule (1948 - 1967) over the area, not to mention the years of British rule (pre-1947) or Ottoman rule (pre-1917) before that.

I've been living here in Maale Adumim opposite the barren E1 hill for almost 11 years - funny how they never came forward with these documents despite numerous announcements of previous governments, despite our building that police building. But this weekend, they decided there were suddenly papers claiming the land was theirs and the ignorant, left-wing Jews rallied to come and support this absurdity.

Though the left regularly condemns any attempt (usually fictitious attempts at that) of so-called right-wing settlers to establish new settlements, they are quick to show their hypocrisy in rushing to support Palestinians who do the same. What was interesting was how quickly the army moved in. The Palestinians were told they could leave their tents while the courts dealt with the legalities, but they were going to be removed immediately and this morning driving into Jerusalem (and much later on the way home), I saw Border Police guarding the roads up to E1 to prevent the return of the Palestinians.

Arlene Kushner from Israel - A Tough World

Arlene Kushner..
13 January '13..

And getting tougher...

After putative PA president Abbas went to the UN late last year to seek recognition as a state, PM Netanyahu made several announcements, including the fact that planning for building would be advanced in the area between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem known as E1.

This caused a furor among the Arabs and their supporters because, went the claim, building in E1 would prevent a contiguous Palestinian state from being established.

This is simply not the case, and I want to review the situation once again before proceeding.

Here you see a map of the E1 area and Ma'aleh Adumim. Note the arrows saying "To Ramallah" to the north, and "To Bethlehem" to the south. What the Arabs want is continuity of Ramallah and Bethlehem via a tract of land that is directly adjacent to eastern Jerusalem. That is because they still covet eastern Jerusalem (at a bare minimum, and all of Jerusalem, more honestly) as the capital of their state some day. That requires that state to be up against eastern Jerusalem.

Once there is contiguity between Ma'aleh Adumim -- which is itself only seven kilometers (just over four miles) to the east of Jerusalem -- and Jerusalem, via E1, a swath of Arab land that runs along all of Jerusalem's eastern border is no longer possible. This does not mean, it should be noted, that a theoretical Palestinian State could not abut Jerusalem at some eastern points. There just wouldn't be contiguity along the whole eastern border of the city.

Credit: Israel Hayom

But in any event, Jerusalem will never again be divided and is not going to serve in any part as the capital of a Palestinian Arab state. Jerusalem was only divided once in its 3,000 year history: During the illegal occupation by Jordan of eastern Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967. Since then full Israeli sovereignty has been applied to eastern Jerusalem and Israel's basic law stipulates that the undivided city is the capital of Israel.

Corrections Needed in New York Times...Again

Leo Rennert..
American Thinker..
22 December '12..

The New York Times, in its Dec. 21 edition, runs an editorial critical of Israel for its approval of plans to build several thousand homes in East Jerusalem and in an area known as E-1 that would link the capital with nearby Maale Adumim, an Israel town in the West Bank with a population of 40,000 ("The Fading Mideast Peace Dream").

The editorial describes E-1 as a "project northeast of Jerusalem that would split the West Bank and prevent the creation of a viable contiguous Palestinian state."

In making this assertion, the editorial spreads two lies: E-1 development would not split the West Bank. And E-1 development would not prevent creation of a viable contiguous Palestinian state.

How do we know this? The New York Times itself told us so in a recent correction it ran about similar false allegations regarding E-1 that had appeared in its "news" section. In its correction, the Times acknowledged that E-1 development still would leave sufficient room in the West Bank for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.

Who might have a legitimate historical claim to the Judean Desert?

Clifford D. May..
Scripps Howard News Service..
20 December '12..

More than 40,000 people have been slaughtered in Syria, and the death toll rises daily. The European Union does not appear to be particularly concerned. North Korea’s rulers have launched a three-stage rocket, moving closer to their goal of developing a nuclear-tipped ICBM, and they’re sharing nuclear weapons technology with the world’s leading sponsors of terrorism in Iran. The EU does not seem to be worrying about that either.

But Israel is considering building homes on barren hills adjacent to Jerusalem, and the EU’s 27 foreign ministers say they are "deeply dismayed," warning Israel of unspecified consequences if the plan is carried out.

The EU — recent winner, I should note, of the Nobel Peace Prize — has its priorities. So let’s talk about what the Israelis are doing to so distress it.

The area known as E1 in which Israel may build covers 4.6 square miles (11.9 square kilometers). For the sake of comparison, Denver International Airport is 53 square miles (137 square kilometers). The E1 area lies in territory that has a much older name: the Judean Desert. Might Jews think they have a legitimate historical claim to the Judean Desert? This question is rarely asked.

For Israeli military planners, E1’s strategic value is more germane than its history. Developing it would help in the defense of Jerusalem, and connect Jerusalem to Maaleh Adumim, an Israeli town with a population 40,000. Media reports note that both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital. Media reports often fail to note that right now both Jews and Arabs live in Jerusalem — for the most part peacefully, with both populations growing — while Hamas vows to forcibly expel every Jew from Jerusalem. Such threats of ethnic cleansing also do not trouble the EU much.

Israel - As The New York Times Interprets

Jodi Rudoren

Elliott Abrams..
Pressure Points..
18 December '12..


Last Sunday The New York Times printed a summary correction of all the errors made in a December 2 article by its Jerusalem bureau chief, Jodi Rudoren. Her Times story was about Israel’s announcement that it would proceed toward additional construction in Jerusalem and several settlements, including in the area known as E-1 that separates Jerusalem from the city of Ma’ale Adumim in the West Bank.

Here is the correction, in full:

An article on Dec. 2 about Israel’s decision to move forward with planning and zoning for settlements in an area east of Jerusalem known as E1 described imprecisely the effect of such development on access to the cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and on the West Bank. Development of E1 would limit access to Ramallah and Bethlehem, leaving narrow corridors far from the Old City and downtown Jerusalem; it would not completely cut off those cities from Jerusalem. It would also create a large block of Israeli settlements in the center of the West Bank; it would not divide the West Bank in two. And because of an editing error, the article referred incompletely to the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state. Critics see E1 as a threat to the meaningful contiguity of such a state because it would leave some Palestinian areas connected by roads with few exits or by circuitous routes; the proposed development would not technically make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.

By any standard that’s a remarkable correction. Let me rephrase it without the Times‘s defensive use of “imprecisely.” A more honest correction would have said this: “The Times reported, not as opinion but as fact in a news story, that the new construction being planned by Israel would cut Ramallah and Bethlehem off from Jerusalem, divide the West Bank in two, and make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. None of those assertions was true, so we have to withdraw all of them.”

Israel Has to Build in E-1

Evelyn Gordon..
Commentary/Contentions..
13 December '12..

Yesterday, I took issue with the Union for Reform Judaism for condemning planned Israeli construction in the West Bank’s E-1 region. Many liberal American Jews would doubtless respond that they don’t object to E-1 remaining Israeli under an Israeli-Palestinian agreement; they merely object to building there before such an agreement exists. That, after all, is precisely what Ehud Olmert said last week when asked how he could condemn the Netanyahu government for doing something he himself supported as prime minister.

Unfortunately, this response betrays a serious lack of understanding of how the “peace process” actually works. First, as I noted yesterday, insisting that Israeli construction is an “obstacle to peace” even in areas that every proposed agreement has assigned to Israel merely encourages Palestinian intransigence by feeding their fantasies that the world will someday pressure Israel into withdrawing to the 1967 lines. Equally important, however, is that in a world where Israeli security concerns are routinely dismissed as unimportant, construction has proven the only effective means of ensuring Israel’s retention of areas it deems vital to its security.

In theory, construction shouldn’t be necessary to stake Israel’s claim, because the world has already recognized it: UN Security Council Resolution 242, still officially the defining document of the peace process, explicitly recognized Israel’s right to obtain “secure” borders by retaining some of the territory it captured in 1967, since, as then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN Arthur Goldberg explained, “Israel’s prior frontiers had proved to be notably insecure.”

The continuing E1 witch hunt

Zalman Shoval..
Israel Hayom..
13 December '12..

The killing continues in Syria. There is genocide being committed in several places in Africa. There is chaos in Egypt. And still, the foreign ministers of 27 EU countries convened an emergency meeting in Brussels last week to discuss Israel's plan to build a few thousand housing units in Jerusalem and the E1 area, of all things. It is true that the international media, unlike some of the Israeli media, didn't even cover the meeting. But if there is anything that accentuates Europe's bias and detachment from reality (with the exception of a handful of righteous nations, like the Czech Republic and, in this case, also Germany), it is the persistent European disregard for the Palestinians' blatant breach of agreements and the exaggerated outrage over Israel's legitimate responses.

The EU ministers only halfheartedly condemned Hamas' threats against Israel (made at a Gaza rally last weekend). On the other hand, they stated that they were "deeply dismayed" because the E1 construction will "seriously undermine the prospects of a negotiated resolution of the conflict by jeopardizing the possibility of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states." Factually, this isn't accurate, as anyone who looks at a map of Israel will testify. A British reporter working for The Sun wrote that the repeated attacks by some of his colleagues against Israel are a form of "anti-Semitism by proxy." It seems that nameless European diplomats who are threatening Israel with sanctions are motivated by the same type of anti-Semitism.

The significance of the E1 plan, which calls for construction that would physically link the Jewish city of Maaleh Adumim with Jerusalem, stems from the fact that is will prevent, or at least reduce, Jerusalem's exposure to terror attacks from the east. That is precisely why the Palestinians are crying out so harshly against it.

The United and Undivided Capital of the State of Israel

When a capital city with a growing population needs to expand, why does that set off international alarms?

Nir Barkat..
Wall Street Journal..
11 December '12..

Israel's government is under heavy criticism for recently approving building permits in what the international community calls "the settlements." Yet places like Ramat Shlomo, Gilo and Givat Ha'matos are well within the municipal borders of Jerusalem, and the virgin hills of "E-1"—between the city of Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim—have over three millennia of deep Jewish roots. Here in Jerusalem, we stand saddened and appalled by the European Union ministers who condemn these construction projects while ignoring calls from the leader of Hamas for the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.

When the people of Israel left Egypt and came to this region 3,500 years ago, each of the 12 tribes received a piece of land on which they built their cities and developed their ways of life. The exception to the rule was the holy city of Jerusalem, which wasn't divided or given to any of the tribes. Jerusalem served all 12 Jewish tribes equally, as it did the people of other faiths who came to worship here.

Jerusalem became the de facto center of the world, managed by Hebrew kings for 1,000 years. All residents and pilgrims entering her gates were treated with honor and respect.

After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70, the city traded hands from conqueror to conqueror—including the Babylonians, Assyrians, Turks, British and Jordanians—for two millennia. None of these rulers maintained the city's freedom of religion, Jerusalem's essence. These empires never adopted Jerusalem as their capital. The Jewish people, on the other hand—even in their darkest days, amid expulsions, pogroms, the Holocaust and waves of terror—have always comforted themselves with the saying: "Next year in Jerusalem."

About the facts on the ground - Some facts

Nadav Sharagai..
Israel Hayom..
07 December '12..

Soon, we will mark 20 years to the day. Twenty is a nice, round number. It is also a sad anniversary. The subject of this joyous day, which doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, even has a Hebrew name: Mevaseret Adumim. It is also known internationally by its non-Hebrew moniker, E1 (the “E” standing for “East”).

E1, the much-talked-about construction plan which is designed to create a territorial linkage between Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem, supposedly epitomizes an issue that enjoys wall-to-wall backing among the Israeli public. On the one hand, we have the capital, Jerusalem. On the other hand, we have the Jerusalem metropolitan area that encompasses Maaleh Adumim. The plan to connect the two, however, has touched off a “world war.”

The latest round of diplomatic skirmishes began at the United Nations, which recently granted the Palestinian Authority the status of nonmember observer state. In response, the Israeli government announced that it would proceed with the planning phase of its E1 construction initiative. In response to the crime, there’s punishment. Now the Americans are angry — again. Britain and France are threatening to recall their ambassadors for consultations. It seems that E1 will have to wait a few more years. It has long become accustomed to waiting.

“Promises, promises,” sighed long-time Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel, who for years has endured unfulfilled pledges from politicians. He wants to believe that this time will be different, but he has a long memory. In fact, we all do. We flipped through the history books, all the way back to 20 years ago in an effort to understand exactly what it is about E1 that riles up the international community? Why has a building proposal that has won the backing of nearly the entire Israeli political community remained on paper? It seems that everyone championed it. Everyone hailed it. Everyone supported it. But nobody built it.

In the early 1990s, then-prime minister Yitzhak Shamir and his defense minister, Moshe Arens, laid the foundations for the plan when they signed off on a 12,000-dunam north-westward expansion of the Maaleh Adumim municipal boundaries. That was a different era. Washington was less fussy in their dealings with us.

In 1994, then-premier Yitzhak Rabin ordered his housing minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, to produce a plan for a neighborhood that was slated to be built in the area. Rabin, however, did not have the opportunity to see the plan through. He was assassinated. The first Netanyahu government which succeeded Rabin’s administration did complete the initial drawings and the overall master plan for E1. When Ehud Barak replaced Netanyahu as prime minister, the Housing Ministry began to draw up detailed plans which filled in the blanks of the overall master plan. In 2004, these preparations were finally completed. Since then, the plans have grounded to a halt.

The E1 controversy and US media

Fresnozionism.org..
06 December '12..





On Monday, the NY Times published an editorial which included this:

[Netanyahu's actions] could doom the chances for a two-state solution because building in the E1 area would split the northern and southern parts of the West Bank.

Yesterday, NPR’s Philip Reeves, probably the single journalist most responsible for promulgating the 2002 “Jenin Massacre” blood libel against Israel, announced in a “news” broadcast that

There’s particular concern over plans, still at a preliminary stage, for an area called E1. If built, this would cut the West Bank in two. Diplomats say this would make a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict almost impossible.

And today, I was greeted by the following in an editorial in the McClatchy-owned Fresno Bee newspaper:

Yet Israel has decided to … prepare construction of a 4.6 square-mile project near Jerusalem known as E-1. That would effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two and make establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state alongside Israel with Jerusalem as a shared capital, impossible.

Folks, look at a map. If you didn’t see it in yesterday’s post, here it is again:

The PM's Message Was No Blunder

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary/Contentions..
05 December '12..

The conventional wisdom about the Israeli government’s decision to allow new building projects in Jerusalem in the E1 area between the city and the Ma’ale Adumim suburb is that it was a blunder. Critics of Prime Minister Netanyahu claim the move has worsened relations with the United States, alienated European nations and heightened the country’s diplomatic isolation. Others claim that in doing so he has “distracted” the world from concentrating on the nuclear threat from Iran. Even worse, most of his detractors are sure that the only reason he did it was to appease more extreme members of his party so as to secure their support in the upcoming Knesset election. Seen in that light, calling it a blunder would seem to be charitable.

But like most pieces of conventional wisdom, the assumption that Netanyahu has hurt his country is not accurate. Even if shovels went in the ground in the E1 area tomorrow — something that actually won’t happen for a long time, if ever — Israel would be no more or less isolated than it was the day before the announcement. Nor would relations with the Obama administration be any better. All Netanyahu has done is to remind his country’s critics that Israel isn’t willing to lie down and accept the false narrative about the West Bank and Jerusalem that was swallowed whole at the United Nations last week. As Seth wrote earlier, this won’t change Israel’s relationship with Europe. The focus on the European and American positions on settlements has obscured the fact that the primary audience for this move is in Ramallah, not Paris, London or Washington. The E1 decision sends a necessary signal to the Palestinians lest they be deceived by their triumph in the General Assembly. What Netanyahu has done is to show Israel won’t give up an inch of territory unless the Palestinians return to the negotiating table and even then, only if they agree to end the conflict for all time.

The Palestinian Authority tried the UN gambit in order to avoid negotiations with Israel that might place its leader Mahmoud Abbas back in the embarrassing position of having to flee from another Israeli offer of statehood. While he has no intention of ever being put on the spot in that matter again, Abbas may be under the impression that the Israelis can be hammered into more unilateral concessions by means of foreign pressure.

The major asset Israel tends to overlook - Our independence.

Hanoch Daum..
Israel Opinion/Ynet..
04 December '12..

If I were one of the Israeli ambassadors who were summoned for a reprimand by their European host countries I would say: What do you want from me? I wasn't even in the country. But the truth is that we will withstand this minor diplomatic crisis, mainly because the other option is far more dangerous.

The State of Israel has all sorts of assets, but the sympathy of the European countries is not among the important ones. It is certainly not as important as another asset we tend to overlook: Our independence.

The world's empathy is important when rockets are fired at Israel from the south, but it is more important to take out those who are doing the firing. The same goes for the diplomatic arena: If attacked, we must return fire.

There is a certain fact that the European countries have been repressing: The Palestinians have persistently rejected peace. Hillary Clinton mentioned this at the Saban Forum. She said Barak offered Arafat everything. Olmert also spoke of how he offered Abbas everything, including the holy sites in Jerusalem. In both cases the Israeli leaders returned empty handed.