From: raan@techunix.technion.ac.il (Ran Ever-Hadani)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: Israel Cancels Building in the West Bank
Date: 28 Jul 92 16:24:49 GMT
Organization: Technion, Israel Institute of Technology

In <22051@venera.isi.edu> arens@ISI.EDU (Yigal Arens) writes:

>It's worse than that: Israel has not even stopped settlement building.
>Israel is currently in the midst of a gigantic construction effort in
>the occupied territories begun by Shamir and Sharon, and Rabin has
>decided to continue this with no abatement whatsoever.  Even homes where
>only foundation work has begun are allowed to continue.  [Etc.]

1.  The territories (at least the "political" settlements) are about
    to lose their "developping area" statuts.  This means no more
    income tax reductions, no more subcidized semi-gift mortgages
    etc. .  It is most likely that settlement activity in those areas
    will again be relying on the hard core right wing idealists, as 
    was the case before the Likud came to power, and there aren't 
    that many of those.  Instead of the tens of thousands
    of people per year pushed to the territories during the previous 
    administrarion we will see a dribble a a few hundreds
    moving in per year.  This is a major change in my book.

2.  The new goverment is in the process of unraveling the many
    overt and covert ways used by the previous government
    to pour billions into the territories.  The new government
    will cut this spending to a small fraction.

> ...        And with all the nonsense about how Rabin's talk about
>"security" settlements may be just a smokescreen to hide the fact that
>he'll limit settlements everywhere -- it now turns out that his
>definition of "security" areas is extremely liberal, encompassing large
>portions of the occupied territories.

Actually, a quick look at the maps reveals that Gush Etzion and
Jordan valey (which Rabin calls "security areas") are
mostly unpopulated by Palestinians.  Rabin's policy is similar
to that known as the Alon Plan (after Yigal Alon): the heavily
populated areas are to be turned over to the Arabs in exchange
for peace, and the mostly unpopulated areas viewed as having
strategic importance, mostly Jordan valey, are to remain a part
of Israel.  You may object to this goal, but there is no smoke
screen here;  Rabin adheres to a well established school of
thought within the Labour party.

One immediate result of these views, is that the Likud government
efforts to break the continuity of the Arab settlements, surrounding
them by Jewish settlements, has come to an end.  This is also a major 
change for the better.

Rabin has not started waving the Palestinian flag and singing
"Biladi Biladi" quiet yet, and I am sure the Pestinians have different
plans than Rabin regarding the WB land reserves, (and I have
not even mentioned Jerusalem); However, the current policy change 
cannot and should not be underestimated.

-- Ran
-- 
Withdrawal from the territories is in Israel's vital interest.  I will not 
feel any less at home in Shiloh or Bethlehem if I need a visa to go there.

                                   Moshe Dayan  (quoted from memory)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast