Per Haaretz, the West Bank is not under Israeli sovereignty, so international law applies to the territory. Approval by Israel's defense minister is needed.
The purchase of an asset by Israelis in the heart of a Palestinian population is not only a controversial matter in Israel, but is also seen by the local population as a provocative act, and this is liable to lead to violent opposition against the residents of the asset, the Jewish community and the settlements, as well as against soldiers deployed in the territories.
A large compound has been recently been purchased on Palestine land in Hebron, without needed approvals:
Now, after the settlers are already living in the house, even though Defense Minister Amir Peretz has ordered the IDF to evict them, it is not at all clear that such an eviction will be carried out soon, if at all.
The failure to take action immediately and firmly, or at least to make a clear and immediate political decision after the entry into the house, conveyed a clear message to the settlers: The decision regarding the settlement map in the territories, and to a considerable extent the decision on how the IDF will be deployed, is in the hands of those who take the law into their own hands and violate it, rather than in the hands of the Israeli government.
http://www.haaretz.com/...
They say that can get millions from Americans to purchase more, settlers hope government OKs presence at Hebron house; will Olmert back them?
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The people of Hebron know this is a test case. If the Olmert establishment, which leans that way anyway, allows them to hold on to the asset, this would mark a breakthrough. They can get many donors who would purchase many homes at the heart of the city of our forefathers at full price. They would then be able to create a continuum between Kiryat Arba and Tel Rumeida. They would be able to establish facts on the ground that would make it harder to evacuate them later, snip
Peretz only sane voice?
The evening before that, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced that there is no immediate reason to evacuate the residents. snip
Yet Defense Minister Peretz didn't accept this. "The State determines the policy, and I, as the defense minister who is the sovereign in this territory, seek to prevent settlement at a controversial area found at a point of friction with the Palestinians," he said. "Those are the government's Basic Lines, to reach a compromise with the Palestinians, rather than creating new points of friction."
snip
For him, this is a delusional situation where a bunch of Jews with a messianic mission seeking to take over Hebron's Old City are sitting in the midst of a furious Palestinian mob angry at the foreign body implanted within it. Yet Peretz is part of a government that backs a move that could reignite the fire in Hebron, and not only there, should it be implemented.
http://www.ynetnews.com/...
Who "officially" leads the settlers and how are they selected?
Copyright approved.
On the local and regional level, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are organized in the same way as communities inside Israel: individual settlements elect representatives to run their local affairs and to represent them in the 24 local and regional settlement councils.
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As a result, the settlements as geographic entities are not represented in the Knesset. However, settler voting patterns favor particular parties which are responsive to or reflective of the settlers' ideology.
Settlers in the Knesset: Settlers who are elected to the Knesset are, by definition, prominent figures in the settlement leadership.
Writing about the settlers in October 2005, Ha'aretz columnist Nehemia Strasler observed:
"...the State of Israel is considerate and surrendering, makes concessions, and in general bows down to the state of Judea. That's how the State of Israel has behaved since 1975, when the Sebastia settlement went up. Since then, and to this very day, Gush Emunim and lately the Yesha Council have set the priorities for the State of Israel. Since then and to this very day, a religious-nationalistic minority has taken over the free majority and been the exclusive setter of the agenda: settlements and more settlements. As the holders of the balance of political power, there was no way to maintain an administration without them. They decided, in effect, who would be premier and how long he would last in office. Since the Sebastia settlement, all Israeli governments have squirmed, stuttered, and lied when it comes to the settlements, but in effect, they have executed the plans of the state of Judea: to spread as many settlements as possible throughout the West Bank to make compromise and evacuation impossible..."
There is no doubt that the Yesha Council was for many years the strongest lobby in Israel. If power is measured by access to authority, ability to interact directly with decision-makers, and success at making sure that your views are taken into consideration during any discussions that impact your interests, then it is fair to say that the Yesha Council remains very powerful even today, notwithstanding the trend toward disengagement and separation.
How is it that the Yesha Council has so much power?
Yesha Council members have always had extremely close ties with politicians and officials across the political echelons and within the Israeli military – ties that continue through the present day. Commenting in the context of the investigation into the Yesha Council's funding of anti-government activities, Samaria Regional Council Bentzi Lieberman bragged that the settlers have even better access than elected officials from areas inside Israel, telling investigators that "often our colleagues from other municipal councils within the Green Line (pre-Six Day War borders) ask us to set up a meeting with one minister or another for them."
These strong relations have meant that the settlers have enjoyed close cooperation with the government and military, at times leading to the impression that, insofar as day-to-day activities within the West Bank are concerned, both the government and IDF have been largely co-opted to serve the interests of the settlers. This co-option extends from the arena of construction and settlement expansion – where the Sasson Report formally confirmed that for years elements of the Israeli government have turned a blind eye to settler transgressions and, worse yet, actively colluded in them; to the daily activities of the IDF, whose mission to defend the security of Israeli citizens has been abused by the settlers, forcing the IDF to divert vital resources and endanger soldiers in order to protect extremists who may undertake deliberately provocative and illegal activities.
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In a recent study conducted by researcher Anat Roth of the Israel Democracy Institute, entitled "The Secret of its Strength: The Yesha Council and its Campaign Against the Security Fence and the Disengagement Plan," Roth enumerated some of the main factors that have helped the Yesha Council solidify its political strength.
These include several observations about the Yesha Council:
- As holders of official offices recognized by the government (i.e., heads of the local or regional councils) and responsible for relations with the government, Yesha Council members have direct access to the levers of power and decision-making at virtually every level in the Israeli government.
- Yesha Council members control large sums of money (mainly diverted from funds provided by the government to local and regional settlement councils).
- The Yesha Council has an ability to mobilize and organize mass numbers of activists that is unparalleled in any other sector or by any other group in Israel.
- The settlers in general enjoy the sympathy of a large part of the Jewish Israeli public, reflecting the settlers' success at defining themselves as representing "genuine Zionism," both in the sense of settling the land and confronting the Palestinians.
- The government of Israel has (until the summer 2005 disengagement) consistently failed to seriously rein in the settlers, lacking the unity, strength, and political will necessary to take any sort of meaningful action against them [even in the face of the most provocative actions; for example, during the early days of the Madrid process, when the settlers greeted each visit of then-U.S. Secretary of State Baker to Israel with the establishment of a new settlement, much to the chagrin of the government of Israel].
In addition, it is also clear that the Yesha Council enjoyed, for many of the reasons enumerated by Roth, a clear asymmetry of strength relative to its opponents. While enjoying the veneer of respectability that comes from official positions and access to official power and privilege, settlers and their supporters have portrayed those who oppose them as, among other things, naïve, foolish, suicidal, anti-Zionist, and pro-Palestinian. They have also made it clear that a high cost will be extracted from any political leader who attempts to hurt them (which is perhaps why the first Israeli leader to successfully confront the settlers came not from the Left, but from the pro-settler Right). The single-minded focus, ruthlessness, and relative wealth of the movement, coupled with the built-in political privileges and public sympathy they enjoy, have put competing ideologies at a distinct disadvantage in virtually every arena in which they have tried to confront the settlers. It is only recently that Peace Now has recorded successes against them in the Israeli High Court of Justice.
http://www.peacenow.org/...
Many still believe that all of Palestine is their heritage:
Amana is the (unelected) settlement arm of the Gush Emunim movement, and has played a role in the construction of most settlements in the West Bank.
This core group of leaders, who are all committed to the traditional religious-nationalist ideology of Greater Israel, is the engine driving most of the political positions and tactics adopted by the Yesha Council. In addition, important decisions taken by the Yesha Council are coordinated with the settlers' political allies in the Knesset as well as the religious leadership of the settlers.
How is the Yesha Council funded?
Since the outset of the settlement enterprise, one of the great ironies has been that while the settlers have often pursued policies that were at odds with the policies of the government of Israel (or were even illegal), much of the financing for their activities has come, directly and indirectly, from the government itself. This remains true today, with the Yesha Council drawing a substantial portion of the funding for its various activities – including organizing opposition to the policies of the government of Israel – from the budgets of regional settlement councils. These are funds provided by the government of Israel to meet the municipal needs of the settlements, which are then transferred to the Yesha Council by the regional councils.
These transfers raise serious questions about the appropriate uses of Israeli taxpayer funds. For example, the Yesha Council organized and financed a campaign opposing then-Prime Minister Sharon's disengagement plan.
http://www.peacenow.org/...
This is the biggest deterrent to a negotiated peace in Palestine. The settlements have to stop.
Yesha communities lead Israeli population growth
http://www.geocities.com/...
These people expect Americans to pay for these neighborhoods, and Olmert is backing down from the Settlers again:
Hebron settlers try to buy more homes
Settlers have plans to purchase additional homes in Hebron with the monetary backing of right-wing Jewish Americans, to expand the size and property holdings of the Jewish community in the city, defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
The officials said they were aware of a number of right-wing Jews in the United States - in New York, Chicago and Miami - who were helping to financing the purchase of Palestinian homes in Hebron.snip
The officials said that while they were aware of the plans, they could not stop settlers from buying homes in Hebron.
The legal basis for Defense Minister Amir Peretz's decision to evacuate the home in Hebron also comes from a 1980 cabinet decision, when then-prime minister Menachem Begin's government decided that the cabinet was the only body authorized to approve the expansion of the Jewish community of Hebron.
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Peretz has said he plans to evacuate the structure even though sources close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have said the prime minister is looking to delay such a move.
http://www.jpost.com/...
The current America and Israel policies in the West Bank bring us no closer to peace. We should not be afraid of this debate.
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com...
Settlements in focus:
http://www.peacenow.org/...
Wiki settlement maps and information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Many settlements offer a very nice family homes compared to the Palestinians slums were garbage lines the streets:
http://www.geocities.com/...
Settlements ....suburbs continue to grow faster than Israel proper:
http://www.geocities.com/...
UPDATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE:
Original thought or NOT:
If Israel is really really serious about peace....they HAVE to stop growing settlements. Stop Now. No dollars for settlements.