http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=34759&mador=1
Ha'aretz, November 24, 1998
PM: 'No Such Thing as a Freeze' on Settlements
By Nadav Shragai and Sharon Gal, Ha'aretz
Correspondents
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured Jewish
settlements in northern Samaria yesterday,
promising they will expand, remaining under
Israeli control.
On visits to three settlements, Netanyahu also
asserted that Israel has nearly ended the phase
of further IDF redeployments in the West Bank.
"The process of the redeployments has for all
practical purposes ended," he said. "They
[Palestinian Authority] will get another one
percent. If they want it, they'll take it. If
they don't want it, they won't take it."
The prime minister faced numerous questions from
Jewish settlers over their future. He tried to
assuage the concerns of some that the settlements
in northern Samaria are a bargaining chip for the
final status talks with the Palestinians.
"You are our people, our brothers and sisters,
our flesh and blood," Netanyahu said in Kadim.
"In no way, do we see you as bargaining chips."
Accompanied by Transport Minister Shaul Yahalom
and deputy Housing Minister Meir Porush,
Netanyahu was greeted by applause and cheers in
Chomesh, Ganim and Kadim. The prime minister said
he shared the concerns of one resident who warned
that the PA will seize land belonging to
settlements outside the fences of their
communities.
"We will make sure that we will expand,"
Netanyahu said. "This issue must be coordinated
behind closed doors with the army and not in
front of the media."
Netanyahu also pledged to build community
centers, swimming pools, nurseries and scores of
apartments in the four communities in the
northern West Bank. "There is no such thing as a
freeze [on construction]," he said. "The dry days
are over. Our policy is to grow and expand."
Later, Netanyahu's media adviser told Ha'aretz
that the government is allocating 15 new
apartment units to Chomesh, Ganim and Sa-Nur. He
said Chomesh and Ganim contain empty apartments
and thus construction is not required.
In Chomesh, which numbers 55 families, Netanyahu
vowed to accelerate the construction of bypass
roads and improve public transportation to the
settlements. He added that the government would
grant the regional council NIS2.5 million "so
there's something in the kitty."
Netanyahu also promised to include the
settlements in the government's project to
provide computers to school children. He also
said he would consider a proposal for the
government to cover the debt of these
settlements.
Still, some settlers responded with skepticism.
Benzi Lieberman, head of the Northern Samaria
Regional Council criticized what he termed the
handover of territory to the PA in return for "a
vain peace and putting communities in danger."
Later, the Council of Jewish Settlements of
Judea, Samaria and Gaza issued a statement saying
Netanyahu's pledges for funding cannot eliminate
the shadow cast on the fate of the settlements as
a result of the Wye accord.
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