By Karen Farrell
News of Israel putting up its settlements for sale leaked into the occupied territories as settlement expansion continued at full force and a West Bank settler physically attacked a foreign delegation.
Al-Quds Arabic daily broke the story on April 17, when it reported that Israel has been meeting with investors from Palestine and from the Gulf states, represented by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, for the purpose of selling settlements slated for evacuation. Among those targeted for abandonment are Netzarim and Kfar Darom settlements in the Gaza Strip, and Ariel settlement near Nablus.
While the rumours could not be confirmed, the same type of secrecy surrounds them as occurred just prior to the announcement of the signing of the Declaration of Principles in September 1993.
The secret talks are centered on buying up settlements in the Gaza Strip especially, but also throughout the Palestinian lands where many of the settlements stand empty. The sources say the settlements will be visited soon by European brokers who will assess the value of settlement property.
The newspaper reported that donor countries have been supportive of the idea and are even encouraging Israel to turn over the settlements to residents of refugee camps, the families of Palestine Police officers and employees of the Palestinian National Authority.
Its sources added that many Israeli investors are buying up property in the settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in order to sell it in the future and turn a profit. The settlements are believed to be a highly profitable investment, as they offer an infrastructure already in place: roads, water, electricity, essential services, schools, markets and gardens.
While the issue was reportedly undergoing serious discussion abroad, it failed to reach Israelis enforcing the day-to-day activities of perpetual occupation. Chief among these was the revelation on April 19 by three Palestinian notables that settlers have begun work on a new settlement in the city of Hebron.
Community leader and attorney Diab Sharabati said that the new project is a clear declaration by the Israeli government of its unwillingness to commit to the peace agreements. He added that a new settlement in Hebron will mean more suffering for residents and additional embarrassment for the PNA.
Awni Zughayar, assistant to the mayor of Hebron, said that allowing settlers to construct a new settlement for the purpose of increasing the number of settlers in Hebron is a very dangerous decision. He explained that this means the Israeli government and Israeli society are still attempting to Judaise the whole area in spite of the Oslo agreement.
"This also means that Israelis are underrating international laws and UN Security Council resolutions and depending on the support of the United States and European countries. Israel is clearly not abiding by the peace accords. Israel is convinced that the Arab world cannot prevent if from doing what it wants in the occupied territories", he added.
Residents of Na'eleen and Deir Qaddis villages near Ramallah also protested settlement expansion in their area by organising a large rally on April 14 near Kiryat Sefer settlement. The settlement was built on their lands, and more land is slated for confiscation and levelling.
In the Jenin area, Israeli authorities informed the mayor of Arrabeh and the mukhtar of Ijja on April 9 that 33 acres [13.3 hectares] of land belonging to citizens will be confiscated.
Another 84 acres were seized to expand the Ramot settlement near Jerusalem. According to Khalil Tufakji, geographer at the Arab Studies Society, a declaration was signed by Israeli finance minister Avraham Shohat authorising the land to be confiscated under Article 5 of the 1943 Law of Confiscation for the Public Interest. This declaration resulted from a statement of intention announced by Israeli housing minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to confiscate enough land to build 1000 housing units around Jerusalem.
Land not only continues to be expropriated for Israeli settlement use, now supposedly so that it can be sold for a nice profit in the near future, but settlers have adopted more aggressive tactics in their bid to retain control over the land already confiscated.
According to the Palestinian Centre for the Study of Non-Violence, a number of members of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and other Swedish academics attempted to go to Ma'ale Amos settlement on April 12 to view the trees hewed down by armed settlers last week. When the group saw a bulldozer on a nearby hill, they decided to go over to talk to the driver.
As the group assumed the bulldozer was being operated by a villager to replant the trees, they were surprised to see it guarded by a boy about 13 years old aiming his Uzi at them. Still, the group was intent on speaking to the two they now realized to be settlers, until the bulldozer driver turned and charged at them with the front of the bulldozer raised in attack. The bulldozer chased the delegates to the main road, where they escaped, all under the watchful eye of the armed teenager.
[Reprinted from the Jerusalem Times, PO Box 20185, East Jerusalem via Israel.]