Israel Matzav

Revenant leaders not celebrating yet

Although thousands of activists plan to rally on Sunday in the Revava settlement to mark the end of the West Bank construction freeze, which is due to expire at midnight, few settler leaders see any cause to rejoice now that bulldozers can lay foundations for new homes on Monday.

“We are not going to celebrate,” Samaria Citizens’ Committee Chairman Benny Katzover said. “There is a feeling of relief that the freeze is over, but I am sure there will be other restrictions [on construction], so there is no reason for a party.”

“We look forward to resuming building,” said Dani Dayan, who chairs the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

But for settlers, the true test that all their lobbying efforts in the last months have succeeded lies not in the expiration of the 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction, but rather in the future actions of the government.

According to Dayan, the moratorium is only truly over if the government actively authorizes permits for new construction. Otherwise, he said, it is as if the freeze has continued.

According to a Peace Now report published earlier this month, there are 2,066 housing units that can be built without any further authorizations and another 11,000 that need only a stamp from the local municipality.

But settlers leaders have explained that many of those 11,000 units exist in settlements where there is little need for new construction, while some of the communities with acute housing shortages lack permits, particularly in the main settlement blocs that Israel expects to keep in any final-status agreement.

“If there is no new construction in the pipeline, that means there is a freeze,” Dayan said.

“We will not agree to a situation similar to that of east Jerusalem, where there is a de facto freeze,” said Dayan.

He added that he expects the government to respect all the terms of the moratorium, including those that, based on his understanding, allow for new permits to be issued.

“I know that people expect a dramatic statement from me. But I see the situation like a film where someone pressed the pause button and the video frame remained frozen for 10 months. Now that we press the play button, it does not make the action more dramatic,” Dayan said. He cautioned against expecting an earthquake on Monday.

Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika was equally low key. The moratorium was born “in sin,” and just because Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had finally righted an injustice did not mean that the problem of new settlement construction had been solved, Mesika said.

MK Danny Danon struck a much more optimistic note in his message to the media on Saturday night in which he detailed the Revava rally organized by World Likud, which he chairs.

According to Danon, 100 buses filled with Likud activists will tour Samaria settlements on Sunday, in a show of solidarity.

In addition, they will gather for corner- laying ceremonies, first in the Kiryat Netafim settlement and then in the Revava settlement, both of which are in Samaria, 30 km. and 35 km. east of Tel Aviv, respectively.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:44 PM