Settlements | The American Task Force on Palestine

Meet Daniel Pinner - an extremist West Bank settler
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - (Interview) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Daniel Pinner, whose monologue follows, lives in the settlement of Kfar Tapuah, which was founded in 1978 by a core group of members of Moshav Bareket belonging to the Hapoel Hamizrachi movement and is defined as a "religious communal" settlement. In 1990 Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane (the son of Meir Kahane, founder of the extreme right-wing Kach party, which was banned in 1994) moved there; he was murdered, together with his wife Talia in 2001, in a shooting on a highway south of the settlement of Ofra. Following the younger Kahane, others identified with the Kach movement moved to Tapuah.

Settlers protest Netanyahu plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - (Analysis) December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Mayor Malachi Levinger does not consider himself a lawbreaker, but when Israeli building inspectors arrived in his West Bank town Tuesday to check for compliance with a newly imposed moratorium on construction in Jewish settlements, he and several dozen local residents blocked their path to ensure that work continued.

Jewish West Bank settlers vow to defy Netanyahu's building freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Aron Heller - December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Defiant West Bank settler leaders rejected a personal plea from the Prime Minister yesterday to respect a government-ordered residential construction freeze, vowing to keep confronting security forces sent to enforce the edict. In the West Bank, Jewish settlers blocked inspectors from entering a settlement to search for unauthorised construction, the third straight day of such confrontations. There has been no violence, but authorities have made at least four arrests. The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, summoned settler leaders in a bid to defuse the tensions.

West Bank settlers reject Netanyahu's pleas for order
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Defiant West Bank settler leaders rejected a personal plea from the Israeli prime minister Thursday to respect a government-ordered construction freeze in their communities, vowing to continue to confront security forces sent to enforce the edict. Jewish settlers blocked inspectors from entering a West Bank settlement to search for unauthorized construction, the third day of such confrontations. There has been no violence, but authorities have made at least four arrests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned settler leaders in a bid to defuse the tensions.

Settlers gird for battle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Efrat Weiss - December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

The Yesha Council is planning several steps in an effort to avert the settlement construction freeze recently announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

IDF fears settlers may attack Palestinians in response to freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson, Anshel Pfeffer, Barak Ravid - December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel Defense Forces officers in the West Bank have expressed concerned that settlers may escalate their acts of opposition to the freeze on settlement construction by targeting the Palestinian population. In recent days, inspectors delivering freeze orders to the settlements have been met with acts of violence, yet the troops from the Judea and Samaria Division and the Central Command - who are responsible for their safety - are nowhere to be found. Instead, the brunt of the security work has been carried out by police and Border Police troops.

Israel forces detain Jewish settlement mayor
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli security forces arrested the mayor of a Jewish settlement Wednesday as he and other residents tried to prevent government inspectors from entering the community to enforce new restrictions on building in the West Bank. The skirmish in Beit Aryeh was the most serious in five days of confrontations across the territory between a government that appears intent on limiting settlement growth over the next 10 months and a settler movement determined to defy the effort.

Barak: Settlements are part of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Tal Rabinovsky - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with four West Bank council heads in his office on Wednesday, and stressed to them that "the settlement blocs are an inseparable part of Israel in all future negotiations with the Palestinians. The Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea are regions that are dear to my heart." Present at the meeting were Alfei Menashe Council head Hasdai Eliezer, Megilot Council head Mutzi Dahman, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council David David Elhayani, and Oranit Council head Shumi Langer.

Crisis Spurs Migration to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Sarah Toth Stub - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM -- Immigration into Israel and the Palestinian West Bank is surging after the financial crisis and economic downturn evaporated jobs elsewhere. After years of a brain drain from the region, and despite the lack of a peace settlement, by the end of this month about 4,000 North American Jews will have immigrated to Israel this year, an increase of 33% over 2008 and the most in one year since 1973, according to Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that oversees and assists with immigration to Israel from North America.

Ethnic cleansing, pure and simple
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel stripped over 4,500 Jerusalemite Palestinians of their “residency rights” in 2008. This marks a huge acceleration of a policy that has been in force since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967. In these 41 years, Israel has now stripped over 12,000 Palestinians of their “permits” to live in Jerusalem, 35 per cent or so of those in 2008 alone. It also maps out exactly where the current right-wing Israeli government, which has made no secret of its wish to Judaise Jerusalem, a travesty of history if ever there was one, is heading.

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