The PA is the one building in Judea and Samaria

What is happening on the ground in Area C is nothing less than a scandal, and it’s happening on PM Netanyahu’s watch.

By Nadav Shragai, ISRAEL HAYOM 08-21-2020 12:16

While the normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is real cause for joy, and the historic missed opportunity to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria is a serious disappointment, what is taking place on the ground on Netanyahu’s watch when it comes to promoting and preserving the settlements, is mostly a source of deep sadness. In truth, it’s nothing less than a scandal.

In the past few years, the Palestinians have been spreading out in Area C, which is officially under Israeli defense and security as well as civil control. They are on the offensive and are working in an orderly and consistent, not to mention well-funded, manner. Hundreds of thousands of dunams of state land or land that is currently in the process of being registered have been grabbed and turned into farmland. The Palestinians are also building tens of thousands of homes at the most strategic points, which will ultimately decide the battle for Area C. In the past decade, the number of illegally-built Palestinian structures has risen from about 30,000 to 50,000.

Israel is dealing with this phenomenon, which is critical to the future of these parts of the homeland, by doing almost nothing. The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, headed by MK Zvi Hauser, recently discussed what is taking place in that no-man’s-land and discovered to its amazement a secret cabinet decision made a year ago, according to which Israel must thwart the Palestinians’ plan to snatch Area C. That same decision even demanded that the Defense Ministry map the area, appoint a coordinator and bring the cabinet facts and recommendations. But nearly none of that happened.<
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We are very weak, not only in terms of “doing no evil,” but also in terms of doing good. It’s clear that we are not sovereign there, but also that there is no real settlement. About a year and a half ago, the cabinet made a decision about several dozen outposts and neighborhoods in an attempt to remove the threat of expulsion and demolition. Pinchas Wallerstein, who has such rich experience, was appointed to coordinate those efforts, but when he realized he was not being allowed to work, he resigned. The result was that the status of only a few outposts was regulated, while dozens of others are still at risk of being evacuated and razed, thanks to the work of the Palestinians and left-wing organizations in Israel’s courts.

The solution to that, too, is simple, but a decision has to be made, and Netanyahu is dawdling. All that is necessary is to give Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit a list of illegal outposts and allow him to decide which ones will be attached to existing settlements, and which should be declared new settlements. Netanyahu also stopped former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett from asking the Jerusalem District Court to cancel the Hebron Municipality’s temporary residence in the city’s old market area, which is Jewish property that was stolen in 1929.<
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Even Atarot, a neighborhood of 10,000 housing units that is part of greater Jerusalem, and which will determine the fate of the northern “finger” of the capital, is waiting for Netanyahu, as is construction in A-1, the strategic area that connects Maaleh Adumim to Jerusalem, and several dozen more plans, some of which are pivotal and others of which are less so.

In general, the built-on territory of the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria comprises about 1.5% of Judea and Samaria, whereas the settlement blue line encompasses about 9.5%. That is a huge discrepancy, but the Netanyahu government hasn’t been rushing to narrow it. Netanyahu might be a hawk on diplomacy, which his approach is “Herzliyan.” The way he sees it, the main thing is international recognition to the rights of the Jews in the Land of Israel. He is far from the socialist movements’ tactic of one acre after another, which effectively shaped the map of settlements and the map of Israel and could have allowed a diplomatic artist and acrobat like Netanyahu to use the settlements and the facts on the ground to pave the way to a diplomatic success.