RAMALLAH – The Israeli government gave councils of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territories millions of Israeli shekels in compensation for settlement building freeze.
The Israeli Channel 2 television reported on Friday night that the government secretly channeled 148 million shekels (over $42 million) to the councils that administer settlements across the West Bank in recent years, to “compensate” them for city taxes they did not receive because of a government-imposed settlement-building freeze in 2009-2010.
According to the report, some of the secret government payments were in turn transferred by the local settlement city councils to the Settlers' Council, a private group that lobbies for the settlements and frequently conducts activities criticizing the government for policies deemed as damaging to the settlers. The Israeli High Court of Justice has already ruled that use of public funds by the Settlers' Council to fund such activities is illegal. The Settlers' Council was headed for part of the period in question by Naftali Bennett, who led a campaign against the building freeze and who now heads the pro-settler Jewish Home party in the Israeli government. Bennett, Israel's economy minister, opposes Palestinian statehood, and is a bitter rival of coalition partner Tzipi Livni, who heads Israel's negotiating team with the Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imposed the temporary building freeze on West Bank settlements in November 2009, and it ended in September 2010. It was introduced by Netanyahu under pressure from the Obama administration, as part of an effort to draw the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did resume talks with Israel toward the end of that period, but he walked away from the talks soon after, and Netanyahu refused to extend the freeze. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were then stalled for almost three years before the current negotiations began last July. The report said that because of the freeze, the building of thousands of scheduled homes in the settlements was delayed, and the local councils apparently argued to the government that they should be compensated for the city tax revenue they would have received from residents of those homes had they been built. Thus, every year since the freeze, the government has secretly paid money to the various settlement councils in compensation, the report said. To date, the total amount of public money handed over is 148 million shekels. It added that a substantial portion of this money was passed on to the Settlers' Council lobby group. The Settlers' Council acknowledged receiving some such monies, the report said, but stated that it had done nothing illegal. The report said that news of the secret payments provoked an immediate demand by the opposition Labor Party for an investigation by the Attorney General and the State Comptroller into what it said could be illegal funding. Livni, also Israel's Justice Minister, promised to investigate the affair. On Friday, the Israeli Channel 10 television reported that US administration will soon present a framework for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement that the sides may accept with reservations as a basis for a final deal by the end of 2014. The report quoted Martin Indyk, the State Department's lead envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, as saying during a meeting with American Jewish leaders on Thursday that under the framework agreement about 75-80 percent of Jewish settlers would remain in what would become Israeli sovereign territory through land swaps. Indyk added that it was his impression that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was not averse to allowing settlers who want to remain as citizens of the Palestinian state. He added that the framework would be presented to the sides within weeks, and that there will be “no surprises” for the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, according to four people who were on the off the record call. This was because Indyk and Secretary of State John Kerry consulted closely with the leaders of both governments as Indyk's team drafted the agreement. Indyk reportedly said that the agreement will address: mutual recognition; security, land swaps and borders; Jerusalem; refugees; and the end of conflict and all claims. According to the report, on some sensitive issues — particularly the status of Jerusalem — the framework would be vague, but Indyk went into detail on other issues that participants said was surprising. Among these was the security arrangement for the border between Jordan and the West Bank: Indyk said a new security zone would be created, with new fences, sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles. The US official also said that the framework would address compensation for Jews from Arab lands as well as compensation for Palestinian refugees — another longstanding demand by some pro-Israel groups but one that has yet to be included in any formal document. The US official added that Netanyahu and Abbas would be expected to accept the agreement, with reservations, as the basis of continued negotiations. The PA has already formally refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Abbas has previously rejected the idea of Jewish settlers remaining in a future Palestinian state, insisting there can be no Israeli civilian or military presence. On last Sunday, the chief Palestinian negotiator Sa'eb Erekat firmly reiterated Abbas's position and castigated the settlement enterprise as illegal.
