Democratic Palestine : 39 (ص 16)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 39 (ص 16)
- المحتوى
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Ne. ‘(Spat
New Soviet immigrants living
eee se ee we | | ee ee ee ee ee eee
_ Bi : ; : Se
in Ariel settlement in the occupied West Bank.
state’s status as an expanded regional
superpower.
The settlement junta now in place
with Shamir’s new government has
been in the making since mid-April,
when Likud MK Michael Dekel was
appointed Shamir’s advisor on settle-
ments. Dekel was deputy minister of
agriculture in Begin’s government and
became deputy defense minister in
1985 - both posts being pivotal in the
Begin-Sharon land grabs. Dekel was
involved in the promotion of private
land purchase and _ settlement-build-
ing; he was subsequently implicated in
the land scam which came to light in
1985, whereby an estimated 30,000
dunums in the West Bank were
acquired through swindle and violence.
This became a scandal in Israel - not
because Palestinians were being rob-
bed of their land, a daily occurrence
under occupation, but because Israelis
were sold fictitious plots in would-be
settlements; proceeds from these sales
went directly to the Likud’s campaign
coffers.
A record high of 10,000 new im-
migrants arrived in Israel in April. The
government’s official stand has been
that while Jews have «the right» to set-
tle wherever they want, there is no
special effort to settle them in the 1967
occupied territories. This is only
rhetoric aimed to neutralize interna-
tional protests. Already on February
23rd, peace activist Danny Rubinstein
wrote in Davar: «The statement claim-
ing that only half a percent of all arriv-
16
ing immigrants reached the territories
is irrelevant. Thousands of apartments
‘in the territories are in stages of plan-
ning and construction and can be
purchased at better conditions than
anywhere else. Money for absorbing
immigrants from Russia is flowing now
through implanted bypasses to the set-
tlements from public funds and dona-
tions.»
In its March edition, /srael and
Palestine magazine wrote about what
was an open secret in Israel: «namely
- that in the Maaleh Edunim area, a
Greater Jerusalem residential area
built on former Arab-owned land, the
authorities were preparing massive set-
tlement of a considerable percentage
of the 250,000 Jews which some Israeli
officials claim will arrive from the
Soviet Union this year.»
In this light, Gush Emunim’s de-
claration, that it plans to settle at least
10,000 Soviet Jews in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, must be taken seri-
ously. On May Ist, Haaretz reported
that Shamir had agreed to push a plan
to create previously approved settle-
ments, and listed 14 sites being consi-
dered. In the same period, the
ultrarightist parties were calling for 26
new settlements. In April, settlers
moved into the new settlement Allon,
billed as an extension of Kafr Adumin
a few kilometers away on the road bet-
ween Jerusalem and Jericho. Less than
a month later, settlers moved into
Dugit, close to Shatta and Jabalya
camps, whereas most _ settlements
before in the Gaza Strip had been
placed some distance from densely
populated Palestinian areas.
The most obvious provocation
came in Easter week when 150 settlers
occupied St. John’s Hospice which
belongs to the Greek Orthodox
Church. This was the biggest single
land grab in the Old City since the
concerted Judaization attempt began
after the 1967 occupation. The gov-
ernment provided $2 million in funding
towards this new settlement in the
heart of the Christian quarter. Al-
though the Israeli High Court ruled
that the settlers must leave in late
April, 20 were allowed to remain, as
representatives of the Panamanian
company that claims to have leased the
building, while the ownership case con-
tinues. This caused Patriarch Diodoros
I to comment: «The settlers were
taken out through one door and in
through another» (Al Fajr, April 30th)..
On May 3rd, with the Palestinians
of Nablus under curfew, the military
commander of the West Bank, Yitzhak
Mordechai, joined Gush Emunim and:
rightist MKs in celebrating the inaugu-
ration of a settlement under the guise
of a religious school at Joseph’s Tomb.
They had obtained High Court
approval for this move in advance, in-
jecting a new settlement in Nablus in
close proximity to four Palestinian
schools.
Another show of Zionist force
came on May 23rd, which the Israelis
consider «Jerusalem Day» - celebrating
the 1967 occupation of all the city in
accordance with the Hebrew calendar.
That day, Palestinian women protest-
ing the May 20th massacre had been
teargassed in Jerusalem. Hours later,
thousands of Israelis were allowed to
march throughout the city, while the
police protected some right extremists
in their effort to pray at the Temple
Mount, pressing claims to East as well
as West Jerusalem. In his speech to
mark the occasion, Shamir reiterated
Zionist refusal to give up any part of
the city and defended the settlement in
the Christian quarter, saying: «There is
no limit and there is no barrier to
(Jerusalem’s) expansion and nobody
will stop this settlement» (Associated
Press, May 24th) - هو جزء من
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