The announcement that the prime minister has directed cabinet ministers not to build in the territories behind his back sounds like a sleight of hand. The prime minister should not instruct his ministers to "increase awareness" of their ministries' actions that might impair negotiations with the Palestinians, but rather he should once and for all bring the Sasson report to the cabinet for approval. The report states clearly how to monitor settlement expansion.
First of all the state must take back the powers it surrendered to the settlers' local councils. Since the Civil Administration is the highest authority in the territories, it can stop the construction of any house in every settlement, if it would only be given the proper directive.
Stopping construction in East Jerusalem is more problematic, but possible. Since East Jerusalem has been annexed to Israel, the usual laws of planning and construction apply to it, and not every decision on the construction of a house is brought before the government. When Ehud Olmert was mayor, he encouraged building in the eastern part of the city through foreign millionaires, who purchased buildings and expanded them into Jewish neighorhoods.
Today, as Olmert attempts to move ahead talks with Mahmoud Abbas, he probably regrets some of his decisions. But meanwhile the system continues to work, and neighborhoods like Ras el-Amud and Har Homa, which were already provocations back then, continue to expand due to construction permits given in the past.
When public land is involved, it is easy to halt projects. When it comes to private property, compensation can be paid and the land expropriated. But for this to happen the government has to want it, and it is doubtful there is any enthusiasm in the coalition to stop construction in East Jerusalem. The attempt to keep the coalition stable has resulted in under-activity in the diplomatic realm and declarations on which there is no intention to make good.
That is evidently the reason Avigdor Lieberman and his party have stayed in the coalition even after the Annapolis summit. Haim Ramon, who heads the ministerial committee on the outposts, is going along with this game. This committee, which was to have implemented the Sasson report, has yet to make a significant decision.
Even if the Olmert government has difficulty dismantling outposts, it must at least find a way to stop their growth. The outposts have grown to 140 and the number of settlers to 270,000. If the government had at least decided to dismantle the settlement division of the Jewish Agency, through which funding continues to flow to expand the settlements, it could be said that a little effort has been made in this direction.
Olmert is trying to navigate between Lieberman and Abbas; but if his intentions to negotiate are real, this does not stand a chance. Therefore the statements this week about directives to cabinet ministers on the need to stop construction in the settlements, or at least to inform the prime minister of any such construction, are pitiful and deceptive. Settlement construction will not be stopped with words.
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