West Bank Settlers Optimistic Over New Israeli Government …
Posted By admin on May 14, 2015
As the new Israeli government prepares to take office, the West Bank settler movement appears poised to wield influence perhaps like never before.
After squeezing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in coalition negotiations, the pro-settler Jewish Home party has gained control over several powerful government ministries putting it in position to push forward with an agenda that includes nationalist school studies, money for settlement construction and an assault on a judiciary it believes to be too liberal. This ambitious plan seems sure to raise tensions at home and speed up a seemingly inevitable clash with the international community, which is still eager to promote the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In his previous governments, Netanyahu generally included more moderate voices and has at least paid lip service to peace efforts with the Palestinians. But the current government is dominated by hard-liners who reject territorial concessions to the Palestinians, and with a slim 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament, Netanyahu is heavily dependent on both the Jewish Home and settler advocates within his own Likud Party.
Some mystery shrouds the question of what the settlers might have been promised.
But among the settlers themselves, there is widespread expectation that the government will remove restraints on construction and push for aggressive expansion, said Yigal Dilmoni, the spokesman for the Yesha Council, an umbrella settler lobby.
"There is a pretty permanent reality in Judea and Samaria, one that is almost irreversible," he said, referring to the West Bank by the biblical names favored by nationalist Israelis. "We are optimistic but not power drunk. ... We are not looking to fight, but the world cannot dictate something that Israeli democracy voted against."
More than 350,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and 200,000 more in east Jerusalem alongside more than 2 million Palestinians who, unlike the settlers, cannot vote in Israeli elections. The Palestinians want these areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war included in their future state, and say the ever-growing population of settlers could make it impossible to divide the territory. The international community regularly denounces Israeli settlement of occupied lands as illegal or illegitimate.
In recent days, U.S. President Barack Obama has reiterated that he expects the new government to work toward a two-state solution, and European leaders have hinted at taking a harder line against Israel over settlements.
Dani Dayan, another Yesha official, said Netanyahu will have to navigate between these opposing agendas. "At the end of day in Israel the prime minister has most of the power and it is he who will have to decide which path to follow," he said.
Dore Gold, a confidant and unofficial adviser to Netanyahu, played down the settler influence, saying the international community was well aware that Netanyahu calls the shots and has proved in the past his abilities to cut deals with Israel's neighbors.
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West Bank Settlers Optimistic Over New Israeli Government ...
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