Five Palestinian cities to expand into Area C

T. Belman. This is wrong for a number of reasons. In principal we shouldn’t be making their life easier, so long as they are committed to our destruction in word and deed. We should keep the pressure on. If the change their covenant, their propaganda war, stop the incitement and stop the terrorism, then and only then should we consider expanding Area A in exchange for them agreeing to the expansion of all our settlement blocs including Arial, Maaleh Adumin and Gush Etzion. And they must acknowledge that these Jewish cities will be part of Israel in any settlement.

But our policy on Qalqilya should be to have it removed, not expanded.

Right-wing politicians are up in arms over the idea of expanding Palestinian cities in Area C.

BY TOVAH LAZAROFF, GIL HOFFMAN, HERB KEINON, JPOST

Israel notified the Palestinian Authority that five Palestinian cities – Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarem, Jenin and Kalkilya – would be allowed to expand from Area A into Area C, MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint List) told Army Radio on Thursday night.

Tibi spoke prior to the anticipated return of US envoy Jason Greenblatt to the region, who was last here two weeks ago to speak with Israelis and Palestinians about US President Donald Trump’s peace efforts.

The expansion plan fits into the contours of an emerging US effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of a vision of a wider peace deal that would involve some of the Sunni Arab states.

The US wants Israel, the PA and some of the Sunni Arab states to take steps to benefit one of the other sides of this triangle, thereby significantly improving the atmosphere to facilitate the renewal of negotiations.

Washington is believed to be pressing Israel to “moderate” settlement construction and enable more Palestinian development in Area C.

The White House is also pushing the Palestinian Authority to end payments to terrorists in Israeli prisons as well as their families and to halt incitement.

Trump has also reportedly asked Saudi Arabia to lift its ban on the overflight of Israeli planes headed east, a move that would reduce the travel time bertween Israel and places like India and China.

Right-wing politicians are up in arms over the idea of expanding Palestinian cities into Area C, viewing such a move as a de facto transfer of that territory to the PA.

Its clear that once those cities are given territory in Area C, that land would not be part of Israel’s borders in any final status agreement with the Palestinians.

Late Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed a report on Channel 2 that the security cabinet in 2016 authorized 14,000 new homes for Kalkilya allowing it to expand into Area C.

Area C is under Israeli military and civil control.

All the Palestinian cities, including Kalkilya, are under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority and are located in Area A of the West Bank.

On Thursday, Environment Minister Ze’ev Elkin wrote to Netanyahu explaining that the Kalandiya plan was never approved by the Security Cabinet.

Prior to Trump’s visit last month, the Security Cabinet also approved Area C construction for Palestinians, but very few details were made public.

Likud Ministers Miri Regev, Yariv Levin and Haim Katz called on Netanyahu to cancel the Kalkilya plan.

Regev said that Netanyahu must first authorize more settlement building in Area C.

“Construction in Beit El must come first,” Regev said in a video statement to the press.

“Only after that can we discuss the housing crisis in Kalkilya. Our rights over Judea and Samaria are not theoretical, and it must be expressed by building freely throughout Judea and Samaria. I expect that in our next meeting we will authorize marketing thousands of housing units in Judea and Samaria.”

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also expressed vigorous opposition to the plan Thursday, noting that she and her ally, Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett, voted against it in October 2016 when it was approved.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned in response that Bayit Yehudi’s appetite in the settlements had grown too great.

Speaking in an interview with the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) radio station Kol Chai, he noted that in 1992, when the right-wing Tehiya Party helped topple former Likud prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, he was replaced by Labor leader Yitzhak Rabin, who ended up signing the Oslo Accords.

June 16, 2017 | 10 Comments »

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  2. Some good news instead:

    “2005 ‘Disengagement’ General: Northern Samaria Withdrawal Was a Mistake, We Must Go Back”
    By JNi.Media – 22 Sivan 5777 – June 16, 2017 0

    http://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/2005-disengagement-general-northern-samaria-withdrawal-was-a-mistake-we-must-go-back/2017/06/16/

    “…The Naveh interview was conducted ahead of a special conference to be held next Monday, with representatives of all the coalition factions, to initiate a law to allow the return of residents of northern Samaria who were evacuated from their homes as part of the “Disengagement.” The four settlements in northern Samaria: Ganim, Kadim, Homesh and Sa-Nur, have remained empty since the IDF still controls the area which has not been transferred to the Palestinian Authority – unlike the total capitulation to PA and then Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip…”

    This is big. He was the general who oversaw the “disengagement” from Gaza who now says:

    “…In an interview with Israel Hayom published Friday, Naveh says that he supports the return of the residents to the Homesh and Sa-Nur settlements which are standing empty in Samaria, insisting that even today there are strong security justifications to populating those settlements.

    “There is no doubt that neither in Gaza nor in Samaria have we forged any security advantage,” Naveh states. “If it could be said that the disengagement from Gaza had one historic contribution, in proving that [Arab] terrorism is not related to settlements – forever showing that such an evacuation can never again be executed against people’s will –the northern Samaria evacuations didn’t yield even that value. There was no benefit there, zero. Nothing has changed there for the better. ”

    Naveh stresses that “there has been no added security or any other value associated with our departure [from northern Samaria]. It was a frustrating event that left us with a sense of emptiness…””

  3. “Jerusalem Post Fake News: Five Arab Cities to Expand into Area C”
    By David Israel – 22 Sivan 5777 – June 16, 2017 0

    http://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/jerusalem-post-fake-news-five-arab-cities-to-expand-into-area-c/2017/06/16/

    “…In the actual story, they revealed the source of this frightening revelation – MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint Arab List), who spoke to Army Radio Thursday night.

    Environmental Protection Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud) went on Army Radio Friday morning to respond to the Arab MK’s “scoop,” and stated: “He makes a whole salad here from all sorts of unrelated things. The decision he was talking about did not talk about building permits, but about priorities in enforcing building regulations. Tibi, as usual, is mistaken or misleading…”

  5. It appears that Trump & Tillerson are pushing Israel to allow the PA to expand into Area C. Hopefully when the PA does not follow thru on stopping payments to terrorists that Trump & Tillerson are demanding Israel will kill this expansion of the PA into Area C.

  6. I do NOT at all with what is going on in expansion PA cities. This will be hard to reverse. To analyze what is going on:

    Bibi is managing the conflict. He is trying to make the Palestinians lives tolerable. He does not think they are going to move to Jordan or anywhere else. He is not planning on annexing all of Area C. He is just pushing things downstream as he does not believe you can get to an agreement and you can not too much more than unilaterally aside from the incremental settlement building which is going on in the existing settlements, aside for the one new settlement to be built to replace Amona.

    So unless we can get a Prime Minister who is bold and willing to take the international heat of applying Israeli Law to Judea/Samaria or parts of it without anyone outside of Israel agreeing with this move we are stuck with what is going on, to my chagrin.

  7. Ted says it’s wrong. It certainly is WRONG, and I don’t see how the Israeli people will stand for it, unles they are still, underneath, ghetto sheep.

    Now only should the Arab cities NOT expand, which encourages them to have more children and spread like locusts all over our Land, but will cause them to put up unauthorised buildings anywhere they think will cause us the most damage.

    And I’m surprised at Ted even hinting at a quid pro quo, indeed he’s more than hinting. We should be able to build wherever we want to and squeeze the Arabs out with the variety of good and workable methods I’ve seen on thses pages time and time again.

    In 30 years ther’ll be no Israel to worry about if it goes at this rate. I really can’t believe that the politicians are serious, but only pushing out the idea to placate the Americans. I’ve said, and will keep saying, that it will kill Aliyah. There may be temporary spurts like the French one right now, but the large pool of Jews has gone, they have either come to Israel like the Russians, or will go to America or Australia. The Arabim will spread like locusts all over our Holy Places in YESHA. and they will be gone for ever.

    The Israelis talk about the EU committing suicide with their inviting the barbaric “refugees” in, but Israel has also caught the bug, using their own home-grown terrorists. Sad.

    Everyone seems to have thrown the League of Nations British Mandate and San Remo Convention into the dung pile. SHAME ON THEM, making them only a useless exercise in platitudes and insincerity..

  8. Ted says it’s wrong. It certainly is WRONG, and I don’t see how the Israeli peopel will stand for it, unles they are still, underneath, ghetto sheep.

    Now only should the Arab cities NOT expand, which encourages them to have more children and spread like locusts all over our Land, but will cause them to put up unauthorised buildings anywhere they think will cause us the most damage.

    And I’m surprised at Ted even hinting at a quid pro quo, indeed he’s more than hinting. We should be able to muild wherever we want to and squeeze the Arabs ouit with the variety of good and workable methods I’ve seen ion thses pages time and time again.

    In 30 years ther’ll be no Israel to worry about if it goes at this rate. I really can’t believe that the politicians are serious, but only pushing out the idea to placate the Americans. I’ve said, and will keep saying, that it will kill Aliyah. There may be temporary spurts like the French one right now, but the large pool of Jews has gone, they have either come to Israel like the Russians, or will go to America or Australia. The Arabim will spread like locusts all over our Holy Places in YESHA. and they will be gone for ever.

    The Israelis talk about the EU committing suicide with their inviting the barbaric “refugees” in, but Israel has also caught the bug, using their own home-grown terrorists. Sad.

  9. also, area A is under the PA’s exclusive authority. Area B is joint. So, the man who extols murderers of Jews as heros and heroines will be in sole charge of formerly Jewish territory that will be put these animals closer to Jewish cities and towns as this is going to be part of Area A not B. When the celebrations die down, it will be like after Oslo and after the retreat from Lebanon. Remember that game from school? Look at the person on your right and then on your left? And wonder what the future holds for them. This is a government that when it comes to caring for its own people, truly gives with one hand and takes with the other. What’s needed is a peaceful revolution and Shaked is the leader of that revolution. What would we do without her?

  10. “It took Nixon to go to China.” Under openly hostile U.S. Presidents, nothing like this would have occurred. It’s a disaster. Abbas could easily retreat from anything he promised. If he had promised anything. Which he hasn’t. Israel can’t retreat from this. Extending the hours on the Allenby bridge is an acceptable good will gesture. It can always be reversed. Not giving away the land to the Arabs. Is it secularists who want to cut the legs out from religious Zionists or are these guilt-ridden fools who have bought into the fake Palestinian narrative despite what they say to their constitutents or are they just too eager to obey the whims of whoever the U.S. President is if he so much as smiles at them or are they just stupid.