Israeli sources say that land-use plans announced by the government last month for three Arab villages will ensure orderly growth and prevent urban sprawl. But Palestinians and Western analysts describe the three plans, plus seven more which are said to be imminent, as an effort to further entrench Israel in the West Bank by restricting the growth of Arab towns and villages and possibly opening the door to expanded Jewish settlement. Since the start of the Israeli occupation in 1967, between 40 and 60 percent of total West Bank land has been seized for settlements, roads, and military installations. If new town plans are imposed broadly, much land remaining in Arab hands could be placed off limits to Arab construction. The Israelis can see the writing on the wall.
Talks are imminent so they want to strengthen their hand as much as possible.
Israel is under international pressure to relinquish occupied territories in return for a comprehensive Mideast peace. Palestinians say the new plans are also calculated to stunt West Bank development and, by creating conditions of overcrowding and high unemployment, to force emigration from the West Bank. If the only choice is to live in a ghetto, the new generation will think of emigrating. The three villages - Nahhalin, near Bethlehem, and Shibtin and Hizma, near Ramallah have one month to appeal the plans, potentially the first of dozens as Israel attempts to revive a 1982 master plan prepared for most of the villages in the West Bank. Despite several requests, officials of the Israeli civil administration, the agency that administers the West Bank and which drafted the new town plans, declined to be interviewed on the subject.