Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Israel makes hay while peace effort in limbo

Israel makes hay while peace effort in limbo

REPORTS that Israeli authorities and settlers have seized large tracts of land in the Palestinian West Bank for security zones around Jewish settlements beyond the Israeli-built barrier that runs along the occupied territory expose the reality that the Jewish state is pressing ahead with its expansionist ambitions while stonewalling efforts for a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
According to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, some 12 settlements east of the "separation" barrier had been fenced off under an official "special security area" plan designed to block Palestinian farmers from reaching their fields.
The group estimates that the overall area of some settlements in the plan had more than doubled. Some 300,000 Israeli settlers live in colonies that fall on the western side of the "separation barrier" and another 70,000 settlers live on the eastern side of the barrier made up of barbed wire-tipped fences and cement walls.
The Israeli army has confirmed that it had set up security zones around settlements. It says that the zones are aimed at preventing Palestinian armed attacks on the colonies.
According to B'Tselem, a rough estimate of the total territory closed to Palestinians shows that at least 450 hectares — the bulk of it privately owned by Palestinians — have been "unofficially annexed" outside the 12 settlements.
These figures become simply technical in light of the steady Israeli push to grab as much West Bank land as possible to the point that any possible deal with the Palestinians would be devoid of real territorial substance if, as and when a peace agreement is worked out. Effectively, the Israeli land grab would deprive the Palestinians of a viable and contiguous state in the West Bank.
Israeli policy has always been based on fait accomplis by creating physical realities on the ground in the occupied territories regardless of the state of peace negotiations.
This is a fact that the Palestinians have been raising with the US, but Washington, despite its self-assumed posture of a honest mediator for peace in Palestine, has done little to check the Israelis other than making sympathetic noises.