Construction Freeze
Monday, January 25, 2010
By: David Dolan

In Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, clashes erupted between Israeli settlers and security forces several times during December as protests took place against the Netanyahu government's late November freeze of all Jewish homebuilding projects in the disputed territories. This came as government agents fanned out to enforce the building ban, to the chagrin of many local residents.

Cracks appeared in the government coalition after the left of center Labor party vigorously endorsed the construction halt while the Russian immigrant-based Yisrael Beiteinu party strongly questioned the action, along with several lawmakers inside the Prime Minister’s own Likud party. Cheered on by the Israeli business community, Netanyahu defended the building ban as unavoidable if Israel is to nurture and guard its vital relationship with the United States. At the same time, he renewed efforts to woo the rival Kadima party to join his government coalition, hinting he might work for Kadima’s dissolution if party leaders do not jump on board.

Israeli intelligence officers confirmed media reports in early December that Hamas now possesses Iranian-built longer range rockets that can strike Tel Aviv, some 30 miles north of the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Meanwhile Iran announced it would step up financial aid to several of its regional allies, including Hamas and the Lebanese Hizbullah militia force. This came as Iranian leaders continued to verbally defy international calls to cease enriching uranium and come clean on all aspects of the country’s alarming nuclear development program.

As Israeli government leaders worked tirelessly during the last month of 2009 to free kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the general public waited and prayed that the young prisoner would soon be released. However, many politicians and media commentators questioned the high ransom being demanded by the Palestinian Hamas movement in exchange for Shalit, who was abducted in June 2006 by Hamas fighters during a cross border raid into Israeli territory.

Freeze Welcomed and Rebuked

Abbas said Israeli leaders must agree in advance that the final borders of a future Palestinian state will be established along the ceasefire lines that existed at the end of Israel’s Independence war in 1948-49. A total Jewish settlement freeze, including in every portion of the eastern half of Jerusalem, must also be enacted, Abbas repeated. Israeli officials insist that adjustments must be made to the 1949 truce borders to reflect the many significant changes that have occurred on the ground since Israeli forces captured the area in 1967, particularly the fact that nearly 300,000 Israelis now reside in the contested zone.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s late November announcement that he would enforce a ten month residence building ban in all Jewish communities located in Judea and Samaria was quickly condemned by most leaders of the settlement movement, even as it was welcomed and praised by the Obama administration and many governments in Europe and elsewhere.

The Palestinian Authority rapidly condemned the move, terming it totally insufficient to lure them back to the peace table. PA leaders decried the fact that the building ban is only designed to last a pre-set limited time and does not include construction of new Jewish homes inside Jerusalem’s sprawling municipal boundaries. Netanyahu has made clear that he will never take any action that might call into question his long held commitment to guard Jerusalem’s current status as Israel’s undivided capital city.

Netanyahu stressed that he was only proposing “a temporary halt” to construction, pointing out that work would continue unabated on public buildings like schools, medical clinics, and synagogues. Construction would also progress on 3,000 apartment units currently nearing completion.

Analysts said Barak was basically repeating what Netanyahu essentially said: Israel has no practical choice other than giving in to the strong White House-led pressure for a settlement freeze. The small Jewish state, especially its core business and security sectors, are loathe to do anything to irritate the elected leaders of America, let alone outright offending Israel’s most important strategic and economic ally. Analysts add that this is particularly the case in these tempestuous days when Israel is preparing for a possible nuclear showdown with Iran.

Thousands of Jewish demonstrators protested the construction freeze in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and elsewhere. Hundreds gathered just outside Jerusalem on December 7 where they succeeded in temporarily shutting down the main highway linking the two large cities. Police forces worked to reopen the road amid scuffles with many of the irate protestors.

As the Knesset met in special session to discuss the building ban, the financial cost of the move was also under scrutiny. Likud legislator Ze’ev Elkin said research conducted in his office showed that the freeze would cost the government around 500 million shekels (over 100 million US dollars) in lost tax revenues and higher unemployment payments. The government will also need to cover compensation costs for homeowners who are struggling to pay back bank loans on their suddenly frozen property projects.

As the first decade of the new millennium entered its last year, Israelis can be thankful that a year which began with warfare in and around the Gaza Strip amid a worldwide financial crisis ended in a relatively peaceful manner. Of course, many challenges lay ahead, especially the threat of war with Iran and its proxy forces. But whatever occurs, the God of Israel reigns supreme, and His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven! “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:7).

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David Dolan is a Jerusalem-based author and journalist who has lived and worked in Israel since 1980.