The right-wing government's building freeze

The headlines declared that construction of 1,800 new housing units in the settlements was initiated in 2015, but a closer look at the biased and incomplete report published last week by the Peace Now movement could be titled as follows: "Under the Right, a sharp decrease in settlement construction initiations." It's fun, inventing different headlines for the same data.

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In 2014, according to the report itself, before we delve into the small print, there were 3,100 new housing initiations in the settlements. A simple calculation makes it clear that this is a dramatic drop of 42% between 2014 and 2015. But the headlines shouted what the report's objective and agenda-lacking authors made sure to emphasize. At a time when the attention span of most of us is lower the red line of the Sea of Galilee, and most of us browse headlines and move on, it's more sad than it is amusing.

Destruction of illegal settlements. (Photo: George Ginsberg)

And now, a short plunge into the data. According to the report, more than 40 percent of new housing units were east of the separation fence, and at least 69 percent were in isolated settlements. How can these two data points be reconciled? Only if we really stretch the definition of what exactly an "isolated settlement" is, and also define settlements west of the separation fence as isolated. That's exactly what Peace Now did. They defined Karnei Shomron and Kedumim, two large, established towns as isolated settlements. All of this just to create a headline that implies the Netanyahu administration speaks of a building freeze, but instead builds in isolated settlements.

But the sad truth is that our right-wing government discriminates against settlers. Halting construction creates a severe housing shortage, which has an effect throughout Israel. If there are no houses or apartments for young couples in the West Bank, they are going to settle in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Rishon LeZion, and then they have no choice but to take to the streets in order to protest the rise in prices.

Structure featuring the European Union's flag.

And what else is missing from the report and the headlines? A comparison to Palestinian construction, so we can get some sense of proportion about who's really trying to establish facts on the ground. And I'm not talking about comparing the construction in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, but in C areas, which are under Israeli control. And you know what? You don't have to look at all Palestinian construction in C areas, just illegal construction. These days, the Civil Administration is handling cases against 12,500 illegal Palestinian structures in C areas. According to estimates of the administration, this is just about a third of illegal buildings, which means it is estimated that there are more than 35,000 illegal structures in C areas. But Peace Now will continue to bother us with several dozens, perhaps hundreds, of illegal structures in the outposts.

Merhav Adumim, for example, has become a jungle of illegal construction on state land, and is funded and sponsored by Europeans. Hundreds of illegal structures festooned with the European Union's flag are sprinkled across the area, dangerously close to the main Jerusalem-Dead Sea road. Next to each structure are solar panels and water tanks, all of it funded by Europeans, and all of it in C areas of all places. According to statistics provided by Regavim and the Land Protection Forum of Gush Adumim, there has been a sharp increase in the quantity of illegal buildings in the area, and today there are 1,217 buildings in the Gush Adumim area, 500 of which were set up very quickly during the past year, and they house approximately 3,000 Palestinians who emigrated from A and B areas in order to establish facts on the ground in C areas. The headlines are not interested in this, and it seems that this right-wing government isn't particularly concerned with it either.