The last few weeks have seen a European-led political and economic assault on the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria (commonly referred to as “West Bank settlements”). The British government has advised her citizens not to do business in the ancient historical Jewish homeland, including parts of Jerusalem. Some European supermarkets have even begun labeling our produce to encourage boycotts. This well- orchestrated effort to demonize and delegitimize our communities is bearing its poisonous fruits. However, it will not bring peace any closer nor will it serve the cause of justice or advance the values in which Europe holds dear, as in reality, the “settlements” are legal, legitimate and necessary for peace.Israel’s claim over Judea and Samaria is legally stronger than any other claim. It stems from the never-revoked 1922 League of Nations resolution, which allocated the entire area for the “establishment of a Jewish national home” and even encouraged “close settlement by Jews on the land.” Although, UN Resolution 181 called for the establishment of two separate states, one Jewish and one Arab, it was rejected by the Arabs, making it null and void.The Kingdom of Jordan, which conquered the area in 1948 during the armed Arab attempt to prevent the creation of the State of Israel, illegally annexed it. The 1949 Armistice Demarcation Lines, popularly known as the “Green Line”, therefore have no legal or diplomatic significance. The Armistice Agreement explicitly states that the lines are purely military in nature and devoid of any political significance. Forty-six years ago, Israel did not capture Judea and Samaria from a Palestinian State that never existed, but rather from Jordan, which has since relinquished all its claims to the area.Therefore, the claim that anything west of the 1949 armistice line is Israel and anything to the east is “Palestinian Occupied Territory” in which Israelis may not reside is baseless from a legal perspective.The Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria are not only legal but are impeccably legitimate. Shiloh in Samaria and Hebron in Judea are the cradles of Jewish civilization, and as such the centers of the Jewish sovereignty, preceding even Jerusalem. These are the sites in which the ancient Jewish Tabernacle stood and where the founding fathers and mothers of the Jewish people were buried, where King David set up his first capital and where Jews have lived from time immemorial.Nevertheless, Israel has agreed time and again – for the sake of peace– to relinquish these areas. When the UN decided in 1947 to partition the Land of Israel, establishing a diminutive Jewish state with implausible boundaries – that even excluded Jerusalem. The Jews went out to the squares of Tel Aviv to dance the hora in celebration. The Arabs attacked that very same night, attempting to take it all by force.
Between, the wars of 1948 and 1967, the Jordanian occupiers of Judea and Samaria, didn’t establish a Palestinian state or make peace with Israel – they founded the Palestine Liberation Organization, dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Then came the Arab aggression against Israel in 1967, defined by the leader of the PLO Ahmed Shukeiri as an attempt “to throw the Jews into the sea.” Israel prevailed.After surviving two attempts of extermination, it would be immoral for Israel to wind back the clocks and go back to square one. It would mean giving the aggressor immunity, and a retroactive security net that assures him no harm if he does not succeed with his heinous goal of wiping Israel off the map. Israel did not capture Judea and Samaria as part of a grand expansionist design, but rather in a defensive war for survival. We returned to the heart of our ancestral homeland despite our readiness to give it up for the sake of peace and coexistence. Nothing could be more legitimate than to renew Jewish presence there.Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria is also necessary for true peace. Twenty percent of Israel’s citizens are currently Palestinians. While this poses numerous challenges to Israeli society, it also enriches it. Jewish cities and villages in Judea and Samaria, alongside the Palestinian ones, are no different. Peace is not achieved through ethnic separation. Reconciliation is not achieved by the disappearance of your adversary but by your learning to coexist with him. The Palestinian President’s demands to establish a Jew-free Palestinian State are the true obstacle to peace.  Peace is not achieved through ethnic separation. Reconciliation is not achieved by the disappearance of your adversary but by your learning to coexist with him. That could well be Nelson Mandela’s most important teaching.The possible paths toward a political resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are diverse. But none should include the exclusion of the right of Jews to reside, build and thrive in their ancestral homeland. Only when Jews and Arabs, Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side, will there be a true chance for peace.

Israel said to ready more settlement construction

Netanyahu to give green light for new West Bank expansion after release of third wave of Palestinian prisoners, official says

By Times of Israel staff December 25, 2013, 8:45 pm 0
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will announce new settlement construction next week following the upcoming release of Palestinian prisoners, the third of four phased releases agreed to as a precondition to peace talks, an Israeli official said Wednesday.Channel 2 reported that the plan called for 1,000 to 2,000 new homes.Despite a recent uptick in violence in the past week, with attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza and the West Bank, and the attempted bombing of an Israeli bus in Bat Yam, the cabinet decided Wednesday it would proceed as planned with the release the 26 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons next Sunday or Monday.The reported move to approve new settlement construction in the West Bank flies in the face of American requests to halt construction over the Green Line. After the last prisoner release, amid bitter criticism of Israel’s West Bank policies, Netanyahu in November halted plans for new settlement construction, saying the move to push forward tens of thousands of new units over the Green Line was a “meaningless step” that would create pointless tension with the international community.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, since the beginning of 2013, 32,290 construction sites for housing units were erected across Israel, an increase of 5.5% compared to the corresponding time frame in 2012.The release of Palestinian prisoners was one of the preconditions to negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Israel in July agreed to release 104 prisoners, most of whom were convicted before the 1993 Oslo Accords, in four phases over the course of the nine-month negotiation process.According to a Channel 2 report, Israel said that it would stick by its commitment to the US, which is brokering the talks with the Palestinians, and that the spike in terrorism did not justify breaching that commitment. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Wednesday, however, that security officials would review which prisoners to release and which would remain incarcerated.Ya’alon remarked that Israel was not overjoyed to let them free, but reiterated that the release of these prisoners “stems from broader considerations.”AP contributed to this report.

After Gaza terror surge, Iron Dome deployed near Sderot

Palestinian prisoner release still on for Sunday, with PM also to announce settlement building; worker shot dead at Gaza fence wasn’t given protective gear

By Ilan Ben Zion December 25, 2013, 5:57 pm 1-The Times of Israel
An Iron Dome missile-defense system. (photo credit: Flash90)
An Iron Dome missile-defense system. (photo credit: Flash90)
The IDF on Wednesday deployed an Iron Dome missile interception battery to the area near the southern town of Sderot, amid heightened tensions between Israel and the Palestinians following a string of attacks against Israeli civilians, police officers and soldiers.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Israel was taking measures designed to ensure it was ready for any escalation of hostilities, although IDF sources said they did not expect an escalation.On Tuesday a Defense Ministry civilian worker was killed by sniper fire from the Gaza Strip, prompting retaliatory attacks by the Israeli Air Force. On Monday, a rocket fired from Gaza landed next to a children’s bus stop in southern Israel.Relatives of the slain Defense Ministry worker, 22-year-old Saleh Abu Latif of Rahat, said Wednesday the IDF abandoned him and that the Defense Ministry didn’t provide him with body armor or a helmet while he was performing maintenance work on a damaged stretch of the border fence.Abu Latif was laid to rest on Wednesday. His family and co-workers said he had been sent to work on the fence with no protective vest or helmet.A Defense Ministry spokesperson said in response that the IDF, not the ministry, was responsible for protecting civilian contractors and providing them with the necessary hardware. The IDF said it was investigating, and would “draw conclusions” at the end of the investigation.Following Tuesday’s killing, the IAF launched airstrikes against Hamas targets and IDF ground forces gathered along the border and fired into the Strip. Palestinian sources in Gaza claimed two people — a 3-year-old girl named Hala Sabiha and her father — were killed during the Israeli strikes, and nine were injured. The IDF did not comment on the claims.In the wake of the violence, the IDF closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the Gaza Strip to all commercial traffic.According to Ynet, the IAF plans to deploy another Iron Dome battery in southern Israel, in addition to the batteries stationed near Ashkelon and Sderot. An IDF spokesperson said that the army usually moves its six anti-missile units around the country to address operational and training needs.
In spite of the heightened readiness on the border with Gaza and the deployment of Iron Dome, sources in the IDF said they expected a deescalation by Hamas.
22-year-old Saleh Abu Latif, killed by a Gaza sniper Tuesday, December 12 (photo credit: screen shot/ Channel 2)
22-year-old Saleh Abu Latif, killed by a Gaza sniper Tuesday, December 12 (photo credit: screen shot/ Channel 2)
In Jerusalem, the cabinet met on Wednesday, with ministers saying that Israel would retaliate with force against any attacks from the Gaza Strip, but that silence would be met with silence.“As far as we’re concerned Hamas is the sovereign power in the Gaza Strip and it is responsible for what happens there,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said. “We expect it to impose its authority on its people and on the members of other groups, and if it doesn’t do so we will continue to retaliate like we responded [on Tuesday] in a forceful and pointed manner.” “For greater security, we are planning for the possibility of an escalation [of hostilities] — with deployment of an Iron Dome battery and with other preparations — in case someone on the other side thinks otherwise,” the defense minister added.
Bereaved families demonstrate with signs saying "stop the release of terrorists," in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday, December 25, 2013. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash 90)
Bereaved families demonstrate with signs saying “stop the release of terrorists,” in front of the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday, December 25, 2013. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash 90)
Despite the uptick in violence in the past week, with attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza and the West Bank, and the attempted bombing of an Israeli bus in Bat Yam, the cabinet decided Wednesday it would proceed as planned with the release the another group of Palestinian prisoners next Sunday. This is the third of four phased releases of long-term terror convicts, agreed as part of the preconditions to negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Israel in July agreed to release 104 prisoners convicted before the 1993 Oslo Accords in four waves over the course of the nine-month negotiation process.According a Channel 2 report, Israel said that it would stick by its commitment to the US, which is brokering the talks with the Palestinians, and that the spike in terrorism did not justify breaching that commitment. Ya’alon said, however, that security officials would review which prisoners to release and which would remain incarcerated.Ya’alon remarked that Israel was not overjoyed to let them free, but reiterated that the release of these prisoners “stems from broader considerations.”Channel 2 said the prisoner releases would be accompanied by an Israeli announcement of new building plans in the settlements, which it said had been coordinated with US Secretary of State John Kerry. The pro-settlement Jewish Home was not pushing for the announcement of new settlement building, since it felt the linkage of prisoner releases to West Bank settlement construction was damaging to the settlement enterprise. Thus, the report said, the announcement would be at the personal choice of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.