FRESH AIR

Ha’aretz reveals claims about major settlement expansion are wrong

October 17, 2017 | Ahron Shapiro

Ha’aretz reveals claims about major settlement expansion are wrong
news_item/parsha.jpg

Last Wednesday, the top headline on Page One of Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper was “Pledge of 3,800 settlement units is vastly inflated”.

Online, the headline of the same article noted that “only 600 will be actually built”, while the sub-head added that “Close examination of the list of construction plans expected to be approved next week reveals that the number of units presented to the public inflated and recycled”.

Inside the article, we read:

The 3,800 units presented to the public is an inflated, recycled number, with the government expected to give immediate building permits to only 600 units.
Of these, 300 homes will be in Beit El, promised to the settlement after the demolition of the homes in Ulpana Hill over five years ago. The plan has gotten all the required approvals and bids will now be solicited from contractors. There are also 86 units slated for Kochav Yaakov for those evacuated from the illegal outpost at Migron, the fulfillment of a promise made in 2012. There will also be a significant expansion of the settlement of Nokdim, which is where Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman lives and where 146 new homes will be built. Also to be approved are nine homes in Psagot and 30 in the Jewish area of Hebron.
So what happened to the other 3,200 promised homes? All will be advanced a stage in the lengthy bureaucratic process, but building will not begin soon and these plans could easily be halted at any time by either Netanyahu or Lieberman.

 

The bottom line is that – contrary to the impression given by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu himself as well as in most news reports – the Netanyahu government has continued a policy of general restraint in settlement activity, especially outside of the settlement blocs Israel is expected to retain in any potential peace agreement, via land swaps.

One must pause to reflect on the source of the story, which may seem incongruous with the theme, which seems to cast Netanyahu in a positive light. Have the article’s authors, Barak Ravid and Chaim Levinson, somehow become Netanyahu supporters at a paper which remains the editorial voice of Israel’s left-wing?

Not at all. Rather, the article, which was given equal prominence in the Hebrew print and online versions of the paper, was almost certainly intended to foment unrest among far-right pro-settlement factions of Netanyahu’s narrow 61-59 Knesset coalition, especially at a time when the Israeli PM is facing growing legal troubles. At the same time, bearing in mind that Ha’aretz’ journalists are known to generally abhor settlements to the same degree they detest Netanyahu and the Likud, it is safe to assume that Ha’aretz isn’t fudging any figures.

There have actually been many stories in Ha’aretz detailing Netanyahu’s restraint on West Bank construction over the past few years. I’ll give just three excellent examples here, though there are many more:

Two years ago, Levinson wrote a story headlined in print “Rise in settler numbers due to births, not building” with the subhead “Building rate under Netanyahu lowest since 1995” (the link to the online story with slightly different headlines can be found here).

In January 2016, the paper headlined another article penned by Levinson that “West Bank building resumes after 18 months” (Online: “Israel approves new West Bank homes, marking end of informal building freeze”)

The opening paragraphs read:

Israeli planning authorities approved the construction of 153 new apartments in West Bank settlements last week, effectively putting an end to a construction freeze that has lasted about 18 months.
For almost two years now, the government has largely refused to advance new building plans in the territories, due to fear that the U.S. administration would retaliate by refusing to veto anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council. The only plans that did move forward involved either legalization of existing outposts or master plans for areas where petitions to the High Court of Justice spurred the government to act.

 

It almost goes without saying that this lengthy informal freeze had not been reported abroad, though settlers were certainly acutely aware of it, as this advertisement by settlers in Israeli print media from January 2016 lamented: “Bibi is freezing us and [right-wing Jewish Home party leader Naftali] Bennett is silent!”

Finally, in June of this year, Ha’aretz columnist Yossi Verter, who sums up the week in politics in the paper each Friday, commented:

Eight years they [the settlers] heard from Netanyahu how he wanted to build, to cover the land with homes, kindergartens, health clinics – what not – but that the evil Barack Obama was preventing him from doing so. After Trump was elected, Netanyahu asked for patience, until after inauguration day. Once the new president was in the White House, the prime minister asked again for an indefinite respite, until it became clear what was happening with the peace initiative taking shape in Washington. I’ll get back to you, he promised. Maybe he got back to them with sweet words about their pioneering Zionism, but construction permits? No way.

Netanyahu’s restraint on the matter of construction in the settlements has made him the target of increasing attacks on his right in recent days.

And while the newest plans include some new housing outside of the blocs, the number of homes, even if they are built, would be relatively negligible and make no impact upon the footprint of the settlements, which take up less than two percent of the West Bank.

Many well-meaning people have bought into the argument that settlement housing announcements are counterproductive for peace, while missing the point that talking about building settlements and actually building them are two different things. It’s an important distinction that isn’t made often enough.

Ahron Shapiro

 

 

Tags:

RELATED ARTICLES

(image: Shutterstock/Svet Foto)

Military strikes alone won’t stop the Houthis without direct pressure on Iran

Mar 20, 2025 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Image: X

Pay-for-Slay is likely still Pay-for-Slay

Mar 7, 2025 | Fresh AIR
Image: X

The missing pieces of the Thai hostages story

Feb 21, 2025 | Fresh AIR
Damaged section of Kamal Adwan Hospital (image: World Health Organisation)

The latest IDF raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital debunks absurd UN report

Jan 9, 2025 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (left), the late Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and the late commander of the IRGC's Qods Force Qassem Soleimani

The Axis of Resistance is not dead yet

Dec 19, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Iranian women being ushered into a van by "Morality police" (Image: X)

Iranian human rights have significantly worsened since the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests

Dec 18, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
D11a774c 2a47 C987 F4ce 2d642e6d9c8d

Bibi in DC, the Houthi threat and the politicised ICJ opinion

Jul 26, 2024 | Update
Image: Shutterstock

Nine months after Oct. 7: Where Israel stands now

Jul 10, 2024 | Update
Palestinian Red Crescent workers from Al-Najjar Hospital in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip (Image: Shutterstock)

Hamas’ impossible casualty figures

Mar 28, 2024 | Update
455daec3 C2a8 8752 C215 B7bd062c6bbc

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire for hostages deal

Nov 29, 2023 | Update
Screenshot of Hamas bodycam footage as terrorists approach an Israeli vehicle during the terror organisation's October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, released by the IDF and GPO (Screenshot)

Horror on Video / International Law and the Hamas War

Oct 31, 2023 | Update
Sderot, Israel. 7th Oct, 2023. Bodies of dead Israelis lie on the ground following the attacks of Hamas (Image: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/Alamy Live News)

Israel’s Sept. 11, only worse

Oct 11, 2023 | Update
Screenshot 2025 03 28 At 11.35.48 AM

The day after the end of the Gaza war – and the new opportunities it presents: Ehud Yaari at the Sydney Institute

Mar 28, 2025 | Featured, Video
Screenshot

Jonathan Conricus in conversation with Joel Burnie

Feb 24, 2025 | Featured, Video
Sydney, January 2025 (Image: X)

Reacting to the latest antisemitic attacks: Colin Rubenstein on SBS Hebrew radio

Feb 3, 2025 | Video
Screenshot

Antisemitic bomb plot “a massive escalation”: Colin Rubenstein on Sky News

Jan 30, 2025 | Featured, Video
(Image: screenshot)

Antisemitism database “first step of many more that need to be taken”: Dr Colin Rubenstein on ABC TV

Jan 22, 2025 | Featured, Video
Screenshot 2024 12 20 At 12.44.43 PM

AIJAC speaks out against hate… Will you join us?

Dec 20, 2024 | Featured, Video

RECENT POSTS

Anti-Hamas protests in Gaza (Image: Reddit)

Gaza protests: A turning point or a moment of desperation?

A “deep well of hatred” in segments of the Muslim community contributed to the recent outburst  of extremism and antisemitism in Australia (Image: Diana Zavaleta/ Shutterstock)

Essay: The Politics of Hatred

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (left) may hint at agreeing to nuclear negotiations, but it is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (right) who will ultimately make the decision (Image: Khamenei.ir)

Iran: Moving beyond diplomatic delusions

A statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments (Image: Shutterstock)

The Last Word: One Story

Israeli PM Netanyahu controversially announces he needs to fire Shit Bet chief Ronen Bar (Screenshot)

Marching toward controversy and division

SORT BY TOPICS