Will the government bring to an end the transport of EU funded prefab buildings to Area C where they are used for illegal building? Op-ed.
By David Singer, INN , Jul 05 , 2021 1:11 PM
Dry Bones – Area C, the EU and Bennett : Y. Kirschen
Israel’s decision to evict all 53 Jewish families from the unauthorised settlement of Evyatar in the ‘West Bank’ (Judea\Samaria) this week should send a clear signal to the European Union (EU) that its days of financing and facilitating the building of unauthorised Arab structures in Area C of the ‘West Bank’are over.
Area C comprises about 60% of the ‘West Bank’ and has been under Israel’s full security and administrative control since the 1995 Oslo Accords were signed.
The following Table shows the annual number of targeted structures funded by the EU and EU member states up to July-December 2019 including information about incurred financial losses:
According to the Daily Mail:
Locally, the villages are known as the ‘EU Settlements’, and can be found in 17 locations around the ‘West Bank’.
They fly the EU flag and display hundreds of EU stickers and signs. Some also bear the logos of Oxfam and other NGOs, which have assisted in the projects.”
Relief Web reported in February:
- So far in 2021, the targeting of EU funded aid structures tripled compared with the monthly average in 2020
- 47 EU-funded structures were targeted in February.
Professor Hillel Frisch in 2019 summarised what the EU has been up to:
“Ever since a decision in January 2012, the EU has been expressly committed to the expansion of illegal Palestinian settlement in Area C in conjunction with the PA . This is in blatant disregard of the Oslo accords, in which Area C is under full Israeli jurisdiction, and which the EU purports to uphold. The object is to create continuous Palestinian settlement throughout the ‘West Bank’ and thereby isolate and strangle Israeli communities.”
Professor Frisch detailed the genesis of the EU’s unlawful involvement in the ‘West Bank’:
“In July 2011, a report entitled “Area C and Palestinian State Building” was produced by the EU. It was then brought to the European Parliament in December and approved by the European Commission in early January 2012…
In April 2012, the PA’s Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) published a strategic action plan entitled “Planning Support for Palestinian Communities in Area C.” The EU announced its support for this plan in an official document published in 2012 called “Land Development and Access to Basic Infrastructure in Area C.”
By 2016, the European Community had spent a total of 10.5 million euros to draw up and implement zoning plans for 90 Palestinian Arab settlements and support land development projects in Area C in conjunction with the MoLG.”
Buildings – mainly modular in form – were transported to various areas during the night and erected by the next morning.
An apparently unauthorised Palestinian school located near Adam Junction in Area C – funded by the EU and flying the EU flag – is pictured below:
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s declaration in January 2020 – made before he was elected Israel’s Prime Minister – should now set off alarm bells in the EU:
“Our objective is that within a short amount of time, and we will work for it, we will apply [Israeli] sovereignty to all of Area C, not just the settlements, not just this bloc or another… We are embarking on a real and immediate battle for the future of the land of Israel and the future of Area C”
The EU then responded:
“Demolitions and seizures of humanitarian assets are contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law”.
Representing these EU-funded structures as “humanitarian assets” was deceptive and misleading. They are “political structures aimed at stopping Israeli sovereignty being applied in Area C “.
EU intervention and meddling in Area C of the ‘West Bank’ over the last ten years will seemingly no longer be tolerated by Israel’s new Government.
Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.
@stevenl
It was Netanyahu who permitted the Arab construction in Area C financed by the EU.
This is why it is NOT illegal.
Time to think of new elections without the Leftist factions and Arab support parties.
No to Brotherhood and no to Bennet.
Avigdor2
It seems clear that IL has been authorizing these EU funded Arab settlements!!!
The obvious question is WHY?
Wait and see what Bennett’s government. Throwing sand in the air because one is predisposed to dislike Bennett does not make for a convincing logical conclusion. Proof is in the result.
Frankly today’s vote on the Reunification was a black for the Knesset Zionists and the government. In my mind I know have doubts if this government will succeed in passing a budget. If they do what will it look like. Even though I like Bennett, Shaked and others such as the MKs in New Hope that are in this government. I truly think having Meretz and Raam as elements you need to convince to pass legislation is a serious problem for a Zionist government.
Bibi and Company are also putting Israel second to their desire to get back into power as evidenced by their sabotaging of the Reunification bill. So I do NOT support Bibi as Prime Minister again.
@adamdalgliesh
It’s funny you should blame this government for all the sins against the settlements when Netanyahu worked towards the establishment of the “Palestinian” state in Judea and Samaria, freezing and destruction of the Jewish settlements, and holding Jews to the much higher standards than the Arabs for all of his 15 (12+3) years in the office.
Family Reunification bill fails as 2 Brotherhood members are not swayed by the reported promise of thousands of additional Arabs being allowed to enter the state. MK Chikli also voted against the bill
Meretz: 3,000 Palestinian Arab families, ie 1500 Arabs, to be granted legal status in Israel in exchange for passage of Citizenship Law.
It should be fairly noted that petty politics via political boons is the only basis upon which this gov’t was formed or may be possible to continue. Not exactly 10 steps to the right of Bibi on a very basic Zionist measure.
Looks like they have 6-months to ignore the most basic of Zionist measures possible – following which there seems to be a suggestion of humanitarian changes to the law…sounds like the pourous net will shorly be a little more porous. I guess the pleas to Druckman did not succeed. It is a strategic move to ignore a small problem which really displays the bigger problem that plagues this gov’t – namely that this Zionist nation has no methods at present to produce legislation necessary to produce Zionist results. So, now, on to the budget. No way this gov’t tackles the issues in Area C.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/debate-ahead-of-citizenship-law-vote-begins-in-knesset-672976
@Adam
@greenrobot
I totally agree with you Adam, only I would replace the word ‘guts’ with ‘capability’. I think Bennett has shown the world that he has plenty of guts, perhaps too much so.
Yet, a sense of boldness does not necessarily create the miracles that would be needed for this gov’t to survive consideration of such a bold measure as addressing the EU funded land grabs in Area C. Indeed, last I checked, the Family Reunification bill has yet to be passed, or even considered.
If Singer’s thesis should occur, greenrobot, you won’t have to wish for a 5th election, as this would cause the 5th election with no outside wishing necessary. In truth, there really isn’t anything to support Singer’s theory outside of Bennett’s stand on the issue back before this recent election when he was a leader of a Right wing party and was not leader of a gov’t dominated by Leftists and Brotherhood members.
This was long before Horowitz was on the Security Committee and Abbas was stationed in the Prime Minister’s office. Furthermore, don’t forget everything that Bennett does must pass the test of Lapid’s veto, the same Lapid who is looking for any reason he can manufacture to restart the Land for Peace slaughterhouse fiasco.
Hence, Bennett does not have a free hand currently and probably never will. Should he find a way to achieve this, though, with the support of the Right, such a Zionist move as Singer suggests would certainly destabilize or collapse the Left/Brotherhood gov’t – forgive me a moment of glee at the thought of Lapid, Michaeli, Horowitz and Abbas out of power as their positions in the halls of power should not be seen as being without consequence, but let’s not digress.
So Bennett’s hopes may be consistent with Singer’s thesis, but that doesn’t necessarily move the mountain that would be needed for this thesis to become fact. Let’s see what compromise is made by the gov’t to pass the Family Reunification bill, which should be an easy task by comparison to the Area C reform.
My guess is that there is likely no compromise that Bennett should make that will win his so-called allies to this task, which would, in my opinion, render the topic of Area C as quite an unapproachable topic.
If this happens , my wish for 5th elections dissolves…
The government’s willingness to destroy a Jewish settlement is hardly evidence that it has the guts the demolish EU-backed Arab settlements, THe Israel government has destroyed many Jewish settlements over the past twenty years. But I don’t think they have destroyed even one Arab settlement during this period. Certainly not any one that is backed by the EU. The author isn’t the brightest bulb on the ceiling.