Withdrawal? The withdrawal plans that Olmert fears, in the case of victory in the elections coming at the end of the month, are far different from the “retreat” from the Gaza Strip, which many Israelis believe led to the Hamas victory. Olmert has indeed announced a pullback from a few small settlements, but only in order to concentrate and make permanent the Israeli presence in Ariel, Ba’al  Hatzor, Gush Etzion, Maale Adumim, and both inside and around the city of Hebron. Even in the case of the seventeen settlements to be removed, the Defense Ministry has recommended that military control be maintained strategically over water resources. “It will be a civilian withdrawal, not a military one,” declared Avi Dichter, former chief of the Shin Beth. Approximately 15,000 settlers will be shifted into larger settlements, which already have a population of 250,000 in the middle of the occupied territories. The net result of this process, to be carried out over the next four years, will not be a reduction but rather a consolidation of the Israeli presence in the Palestinian territories, all outside the regulations of the Road Map.

 

The Jordan Valley. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem reccently published the results of research that offer a very different viewpoint on Olmert’s plans.  B’Tselem claims that Israel has de facto already annexed the entire eastern part of the Transjordan territories, an area running north and south along the Jordan river as far as the Dead Sea. There are approximately thirty colonies here with some 8,000 residents, compared to 50,000 Palestinians living in cities and towns. When the separation wall was planned along the Green Line (and east of that at many points –editor’s note), the authorities also intended to build a similar wall in the east, along the border between Jordan and the Palestinian territories, but the plan was blocked by the Israeli High Court and international protest. “It is evident,” the B’Tselem report concludes, “that the barrier effect can be obtained in other ways. In fact, Israel established a permit requirement that severely restricts  movement.” Now, only resident Palestinians with a special permit from the Israeli Civil Administration can cross through checkpoints in the area, Only Jericho will remain accessible, but once in the city, it will not be possible to move beyond its boundaries. A spokesman for the Israeli Army announced, “Palestinians found in the Jordan Valley will be arrested.”  Without a Knesset vote or public debate, therefore, a status distinction has been established between various parts of the territories, with Judea and Samaria enjoying privileges denied to the area beyond the Jordan. This de facto annexation violates the rights of Palestinians because it limits their access to the Allenby Bridge at the frontier with Jordan, separating families and cutting off numerous farmers from some of their fields. Israel has also forbidden Palestinian access to the southern part of the Jordan Valley which borders the Dead Sea, an economically important area for industry and tourism. The impression, according the B’Tselem, is that, “this policies are not determined by security concerns, but by political aims.”

 

Jerusalem Cut Off. Israel is also planning to construct a barrier around five villages at the threshold of Jerusalem, including  Beith Hanina  and Qalandia, transit points to Ramallah. The new barrier will create extreme inconveniences for 15,000 inhabitants of the area, who will be cut off from nearby Jerusalem and forced to figure out and take long, tortuous ways into the city. This new separation wall will run along three bypass roads reserved specifically for use by settlers. An announcement  has been  made for a future project to build alternative roads for the Palestinians, but if precedent is any guide, the costs and long time frame for such an undertaking make it unlikely ever to be realized. The main reason for segregating these five villages is to separate Jerusalem from the Palestinian territories,  driving Arabs ever further toward the margins.  Once again a strategic choice will result in great difficulties for the local population, especially because even those with Israeli identity papers will no longer be able to get to their jobs in Jerusalem. Many families will be divided and many farmers will be unable to reach their fields. Factories and workshops in the area will suddenly face a closed market, and the sick will be able to receive treatment only in the small hospital in Ramallah. The paradox of urban planning reaches its climax in the village of Beith Hanina, which will be divided in two: on one side will be the school for boys, on the other the school for girls.