Dear Friends,
Below please find Hillel Fendel's and Hagai Huberman's news reports
about the on the ground struggle against the creation of a Palestinian
State.
Please forward this email on to your lists.
With love for Israel,
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
------------------------------
The Land-Grab Competition in Judea/Samaria
February 17, 2011
by Hillel Fendel, Israelnationalnews.com
(Israelnationalnews.com) IDF Central Command officers whose
jurisdiction includes Judea and Samaria say that in the coming
months, Arabs will step up their efforts to take over lands in the
region. Similarly, they predict, land disputes will occur more
frequently and all this, the Arabs hope, will help them grab more
land for the state they would like to unilaterally establish later
this year.
Correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that army officers describe the
situation as a “competition” between Jews and Arabs as to who can grab
more land. The PA is reportedly making efforts in many directions to
prepare for the establishment of a state including fighting
terrorism, building their infrastructures and institutions, and
cracking down on law and order.
Jews Fight Back, Despite Odds
The land-grab competition cards are stacked against the Jews, for
Arabs build wherever they want with barely any fear that their
construction will be considered illegal, and even less concern that it
will be razed. Despite this, Jews are fighting back where they can. In
the Shomron (Samaria) and Binyamin, efforts are being made to save
Jewish state-owned lands, though the organizers do not wish to discuss
them in detail. "Suffice it to say that we are saving thousands of
dunams throughout the Shomron," one source said, "firstly by
protecting against Arab infiltration, and secondly via Jewish
farming."
In Gush Etzion, Women in Green has succeeded on its own in redeeming
40 dunams (10 acres) of land in Netzer, between Alon Shvut and Elazar
and has plans to redeem another 70. “But the problem is, of course,
money,” says Nadia Matar, co-organizer of the efforts.
“In 2008,” she told Israel National News, “[PA chairman] Mahmoud Abbas
publicized his plan to take over all of Judea and Samaria by planting
a million saplings. A year and a half later, [PA prime minister Salam]
Fayyad said they would plant ten million. A few days ago, Aaron Lerner
of IMRA disseminated a speech by Fayyad in Tul Karem in which he said
straight out that the war at present is for Area C.” [Area C, as
defined by the Oslo Accords, is the area of Judea and Samaria that
remains under total Israeli control; Area A is under total PA control,
and Area B is controlled militarily by Israel and administratively by
the PA.]
Fayyad also called in his speech for increased Arab farming of these
areas, “as well as international help with the specific purpose of
creating a state of Palestine, Heaven forbid,” Matar said.
“We have been fighting this fight in Netzer for the past two years,”
she added, “and we call on everyone to save all State-lands in Area C
that have not yet been stolen by the Arabs. We have many people who
want to help, including from the Galilee, but this work needs to be
funded tractor work to clear the area, planting, connecting to
water, etc. Every dunam [quarter-acre] costs $3,000 a year for water,
upkeep, saplings, tractors, and the like... Most of the lands that are
still available that have not yet been stolen by the Arabs - are in
mountainous areas, and much tractor work is necessary to straighten
it.”
“This is work that the government should be doing saving State-owned
lands for the future of the Jewish People. But in the meanwhile, we
have to depend on good Jews to help fund us.”
"Every town and community should get a map of the State-owned lands in
their area," Matar says, "and should organize themselves, go out,
guard the area, plant it, and then work the land. Otherwise, Heaven
forbid, our Jewish areas will become isolated enclaves and we will be
choked in a sea of Arabs. We have to recognize our power to change
reality; we can do it!”
------------------------------
February 17, 2011
The Arabs of Judea and Samaria Are Intensifying Efforts to Take Control of Lands
by Hagai Huberman
[Posted in Hebrew on Arutz 7 and translated as a public service by
Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)]
As part of the Palestinian plan to take control of [Area] C, the Arabs
are intensifying their activity on the lands in additional areas,
toward the unilateral establishment of a state
The assessment in Central Command is that in the coming months the
land disputes in Judea and Samaria between the Arabs and the Jewish
settlements in Judea and Samaria will increase, as part of the
Palestinian plan. A senior officer in the Central Command says that
the Arabs are intensifying their activity on the lands in Area C to
take control of additional areas, toward the unilateral establishment
of a Palestinian state in the summer.
Senior IDF officers define what is happening in the realm of lands in
Judea and Samaria as "competition" between the settlers and the Arabs:
who will seize more territory. The Palestinian policy, [sources] in
the defense system say, is based today on 6 principles:
The first - violence is out of bounds, The Palestinian security
systems are effectively fighting terror elements in Judea and Samaria,
in cooperation with the IDF and the GSS. And there are successes.
The second - that ensues from the first - war with Hamas is in the
interest of the Palestinian Authority, in order to prevent it from
recycling its success in the [Gaza] Strip in Judea and Samaria as
well, and from taking control of the territory as it did in the Gaza
District.
The third - maintaining international relations on the highest level,
including a serious investment of time and money in this, in order to
bring about international support for the unilateral declaration of a
Palestinian state. An investment has to be made in this. No
international support comes by itself. Every visit has to be done
properly, so they'll see governance and state building.
The fourth - maintaining law and order. In this area the [Israeli]
security system identifies phenomena that did not exist in the past.
The Authority is intensifying the observance of traffic laws: the ban
on using a cellular phone while driving, the wearing of seat belts.
The security system is flooded with reports of the maintaining of law
and order, at times with excessive harshness. Anyone who honks in
Manara Square in Ramallah receives a fine of 200 shekels.
The fifth - building a state for ourselves. This is not only Fayyad's
economic plan. In the Authority they are building all the institutions
of the "state in the making" today: courts, unprecedented
infrastructure projects in the spheres of education, health, etc. The
sixth principle states that all five of the preceding principles are
detached from the negotiations track with Israel. If there will be
negotiations that lead to a state - fine and well, If there are no
negotiations - we will continue to act unilaterally.
In contrast, [sources] in the [Israeli] security system note that
recently they identify in the Palestinian public voices critical of
the economic program of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Recently, angry
voices were heard regarding the rise in the prices of vegetables. Even
the paucity of rain resulted in an economic problem: people simply
didn't buy winter clothing this year, and harmed the income of the
shopkeepers. In Ramallah the Palestinian Authority sought to help out
the inhabitants, and renovated a road. They apparently learned from
Israel, since at the beginning of the works a sign was erected at the
site that stated: "Here the road is being renovated with the financing
of the Palestinian Authority. The work will end on [the date]. Be
patient." But the workers didn't meet the original timetable, and the
public grumbled: Why were you late? This makes noise for us. We have
no patience.
The Authority, on its part, gives the public freedom, but enables it
to express its frustration only on topics that are within the
Palestinian consensus, such as the struggle in Bil'in against the
wall. This is in addition to further steps: one of the Palestinian
governors recently decided to have an open door to the public: whoever
has problems knocks on the door, goes in, and complains and requests.
This is a new procedure, that did not exist until now in the
Authority. The security system noted that the Palestinian Authority
frequently engages in regulation vis-a-vis the public. If you have a
problem of an illegal house, you call the Planning Department and
request the legalization of the house, so that it won't have any stain
of illegality. In northern Samaria they recently inaugurated the
connection of the village of Umm Reihan to the electric grid, with the
assistance of the Civil Administration. The main thing is that people
will be satisfied.
Arutz 7
==============================
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