The Israeli government would like the outside world to believe that removing settlers and settlements from the West Bank — a prerequisite for any future Palestinian state — will be very difficult, almost impossible and could be fatal. Warnings are growing louder within Israel that evicting tens of thousands of Jewish settlers from the West Bank will be bloody, and will perhaps fail. The defense minister says extremism is spreading among ultranationalists like “a cancerous growth,” the intelligence chief warns of a growing readiness by the settlers to take up arms to resist evacuation, and some settler rabbis are urging religious soldiers to refuse orders. All these warnings are, of course, paving the way for the news that there will be no meaningful dismantling of settlements and, hence, only a truncated Palestinian state should be expected. Israel is citing the example of a house in Hebron from which settlers were recently evicted. Israeli officials highlighted the scuffles that broke out and ensuing physical protests. The fact is that it took only 20 minutes to remove the 250 settlers. Only minor injuries were reported. There were scattered riots afterward but they, too, were contained. Dire warnings also accompanied Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip; yet it was completed in a week against passive resistance and with minimal injuries. Only a few dozen soldiers refused orders in Gaza. True, the West Bank presents a bigger challenge. Its settlers are nine times the number of those removed from Gaza, and they are more extremist. But if Gaza repeats itself, the majority will accept compensation and move. As for the Israeli Army, it is supposedly one of the most disciplined in the world. It will follow orders and, if ordered to, will protect one and all, including Palestinians from the settlers.
The Israeli claim that it is no longer official Israeli policy to expand settlements in the West Bank, and that the government has been trying to reduce them since peace talks restarted last year is false. Settlers have built more than 100 unauthorized outposts, and despite promises to the Palestinians and the US that they would be removed, they have not been taken down. If anything, roads have been built and services provided to some of them. Instead of confronting the problem, the government continues to approve construction in settlements, even in those slated for removal. All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, and would have to be removed for a two-state peace deal. But Israel is not dismantling settlements, has not stopped expanding them and is coming up with new ones. It is using and abusing the period of time of negotiations in order to get more land that means that the Palestinian state will shrink in size as days pass by. And what is the point of negotiating with the Palestinians while the settlement activities continue uninterrupted. Besides the settlers, there are other problems. Elections are due on Feb. 10 and the front-runner, hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu, opposes major territorial concessions. Another obstacle: Israel is willing to give up only 10 percent of the West Bank for the purpose of a Palestinian state. Purportedly shying away from evicting settlers is one more way for Israel to proclaim a fait accompli on settlements.
As Jewish settlements rise, hopes of a settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute are receding into sunset. When will Israel and its Western backers recognize something that is very obvious to the rest of the world?
