Aronson: Sharon Key to New Settlement Drive
NOTE: The following article was part of the September 1996
REPORT ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENT IN THE
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
-- A Bimonthly Publication of the Foundation for Middle
East Peace, Volume 6, Number 5, September 1996
http://www.fmep.org/
Sharon Emerges as Key Player in Likud Settlement Policy
By Geoffrey Aronson
Ariel Sharon is very good at two things. He knows how to
make headlines . . . and he gets things done.
An early communique from his newly formed Ministry of
National Infrastructures announced in late July that
construction would commence before year's end on two new
West Bank roads, the rehabilitation of a third, and
construction of new bridges linking Israel and the Golan
Heights.
Sharon does not like doing things quietly. As minister of
agriculture after Camp David, he set up "dummy"
settlements in Sinai to rattle the Egyptians. As Yitzhak
Shamir's minister of housing, he e xasperated former U.S.
secretary of state James Baker by building thousands of
homes in West Bank settlements and creating new "Baker"
settlements on the eve of the secretary's numerous
visits. He has earned the nickname "bulldozer"--ignoring
or brushing aside whatever obstructs his path.
Now under a new prime minister he is keeping to form and
establishing for himself a mandate to expand Israel's
civilian presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The
very day that Benyamin Netanyahu , in a meeting with
settlement leaders, counseled them that loud declarations
to the press can be counterproductive. . . . Sharon's
announcement produced headlines in papers around the world
and was the subject of the first question asked at the
joint White House press conference of President Bill
Clinton and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. A reluctant
American president responded, "I don' t want to blame them
for something they haven't done yet."
Dreaded by the Americans because he doesn't much care what
they think, Sharon forces them to confront issues--like
the proposed roads--that Labor leaders were expert at
finessing. He is an object of almost equal concern in
Netanyahu's inner circle, and even among some settler
leaders who fear his penchant for headlines will put the
spotlight unnecessarily on their expansion plans. As
El ihakim Ha'etzni, a settlement leader close to Sharon,
remarked, "If Netanyahu adopts an aggressive political
line and a large-scale settlement campaign in the
occupied territories, the last thing he needs is to write
on his forehead is 'extremist.'" And Sharon has extremist
written all over him.
Sharon's Agenda
At the top of Sharon's agenda today, as always, is
creating physical and demographic obstacles to any
Israeli retreat from territories captured in June 1967.
Let the diplomats chatter, when the maps are drawn it
will be the "facts" that Sharon has created in various
posts since 1967 that determine the future. The Oslo II
map, for example, is almost a mirror image of Sharon's
"cantonization" plan, which envisages the creation of
noncontiguous Palestinian cantons in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip surrounded by Israeli settlements and roads.
The creation of Israeli settlements is the keystone of
Sharon's strategy. "Were there not Jewish settlements
today on the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria,"
declared Sharon in an interview last y ear, "Israel would
long ago have returned across the Green Line. The Jewish
settlements are the only factor that has prevented the
agreement of this [Rabin] government to withdraw and
created difficulties for it in negotiations."
The new Ministry of National Infrastructures, with a 1996
budget of one-half billion dollars, was created especially
for Sharon. The powers that he has already been able to
concentrate there offer him an extensive platform to
advance his vision for the future of the occupied
territories. Most important, Sharon has wrested control
of the Israel Lands Authority (ILA), which Netanyahu
originally wanted under the direct control of the prime
minister's office. The ILA, which controls over 93 percent
of the land within Israel and tens of thousands of dunams
in the occupied territories, provides Sharon with an
enormous land reserve that he can allocate to suit his
settlement objectives. Sharon has long considered the ILA a
critical element of his executive power. As minister of
agric ulture under Menachem Begin, and as minister of
housing under Yitzhak Shamir, he fought for, and won,
control of the ILA and the lands that it commands.
The ILA, Sharon explained, "Is not only a source of state
revenue. As I see it, it is the main tool the government
has to attain national goals"--foremost of which in
Sharon's view is expanding control over land. Sharon's
promotion of new roads is a consequence of his authority
over the Public Works Department, formerly in the Ministry
of Housing. He views roads as a key element, assuring Isr
aeli control of the occupied territories as well as the
expansion of the Israeli presence there.
In addition to the bypass roads, Sharon's ministry wrested
control in July over the 1,500 km network of main and
arterial roads in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from the
civil administration. Sharon wants to tie the West Bank to
Israel by creating a modern integrated road system of
east-west and north-south highways, and he wants to
establish a modern network tieing the Israeli settlements
to e ach other--the "bypass" roads--and the metropolitan
areas of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Extensive Powers
His assumption of the powers of the now abolished Ministry
of Energy gives him authority over the provision of
electricity to settlements, a key element in their
ability to expand and accommodate industrial development,
and it puts him face to face with Palestinians
negotiators on this important subject. Sharon will also
lead negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, Jordan,
Syria, and Turkey on water issues. This power places him
at the center of Netanyahu's diplomacy with Israel's
neighbors.
Sharon has established a consultative mechanism with the
important Ministry of Housing and Construction to prepare
a comprehensive plan for development and construction in
the occupied areas. The I sraeli press reports a renewed
effort by Sharon associates to purchase thousands of
dunams of land in the West Bank through companies
established specifically for this purpose in Brazil, the
United States, and Cyprus.
Control of land, water, electricity, and transport issues
in a new ministry offers Sharon opportunities he will not
fail to exploit--and dangers that may yet haunt
Netanyahu. The new road construction, for example,
was first conceived in a plan authored by Sharon in 1984.
The two routes were supported in principle by Rabin and
Peres but no monies were allocated to construct them. The
Netanyahu government has also not provided Sharon with
the $50-plus million budget specifically for their
construction, but it is assumed that he will cobble
together the necessary funds. The $10 million
rehabilitation of the main road through the Jordan Valley
was budgeted by the previous government.
The announcement that caused so much controversy was
therefore first and foremost a political statement.
Sharon was informing his antagonists in America and the
Arab world that he is back. And he was firing a shot
across Netanyahu's bow as well, declaring that he will
operate as he always has, not quietly, but with guns
blazing.
