One of the “killer” promises that Benjamin Netanyahu has made Israeli voters in order to persuade them to re-elect him in Tuesday's general election is that he will not only press on with the building of 3,000 new homes in the West Bank to complete a network of illegal settlements, but also that no existing settlements will be removed. This does not of course apply to Palestinian homes and land which are being swept aside to make way for new Zionist enclaves. Last week, around 100 Palestinian protestors who set up a tented encampment on part of the land soon to be seized to build the new settlements in contravention of international law were quickly arrested and taken away by police and military. The only “facts on the ground”, as Netanyahu calls them, which the Israelis will permit are enclaves of bigoted Zionists intent on marginalizing the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, both physically and economically. Those in the international community who oppose the aggressive Israeli expansion into land that is not theirs are hoping that Netanyahu will no longer have the chance to be prime minister when the votes have been counted on Wednesday. The reasoning is that the whole settlement program will be brought to a halt with a political check to Likud. This is pie in the sky. For a start, there is every evidence that the Israeli public will swing politically to the right, toward Zionists dedicated to expanding the country's borders to include all the biblical lands claimed by the Jews, to create “Eretz” (“Greater”) Israel. Even if, after the extended horse-trading that characterizes Israeli coalition politics is completed, Netanyahu is no longer premier, the illegal settlement construction on the so-called “E6” portion of Palestinian land will go ahead to complete the effective division of Palestinian territory. There is, however, something more fundamental to the settlement policy. It has been underway, ever since the West Bank was occupied in 1967. Long undeclared, at various times vigorously denied, sometimes even briefly suspended, there has been during the last 45 years a slow but dogged pursuit of a blueprint to divide Palestine and ring Palestinian East Jerusalem with settlements. From the moment that Israeli soldiers moved into the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights in Syria, the then-Israeli government of Levi Eshkol was looking for ways to exploit the situation. The ultimate ambition was to have a linked network of settlements that would not only suck up the farmland and natural resources, most particularly the water of the Palestinian inhabitants, but would also constitute a defensive barrier, an extended line of fortifications, from which Zionist settlers could dominate the territory which they had stolen. The web of connecting roads would also allow for easy movement of Israeli forces from Israel itself into Palestinian territory. Ever since 1967, the political complexion of Israeli governments has not really mattered. All, to a greater extent, have pursued and stuck to the plan that was evolved in 1967. Now, almost half a century later, that criminal scheme is nearing its completion. The suddenly strident protests from governments around the world are now completely meaningless. The demand that Israel stop the illegal construction of settlements should have been made far more forcefully many years ago. Tragically it was not. Therefore, it doesn't matter who finally forms the new Israeli government; the Israeli stranglehold of settlements in Palestine will be completed.
