An ardent settlement champion, Benjamin Netanyahu could not bear to witness the spectacle of settlement homes being demolished on his watch. So the Israeli prime minister had to come up with a unique plan. Israel has announced it will construct 851 housing units in the West Bank - 551 housing units in the West Bank and 300 new apartments, all in existing settlements. The move came after a court ruling that five buildings containing 30 apartments must be destroyed in the settlement of Ulpana because they are built on private Palestinian land. In order to blunt settler anger, Netanyahu came up with a novel solution: Instead of demolishing the buildings, he plans on removing them from their foundations and transferring them to another settlement, Beit El. In the end, although 30 apartments will be emptied, 851 will be built in their place. Beit El will be expanded. The 30 families will stay in Beit El and they will be joined by 300 new families. And the Palestinian dream of statehood will be that much more diminished. Netanyahu found himself having to carry out a Supreme Court ruling ordering the 30 apartments in Ulpana destroyed by July 1. Knowing it would not stand up to the court's scrutiny, he pressured coalition lawmakers to vote down a proposal by hardline legislators to legalize outposts built on privately held Palestinian land. The Beit El announcement, the first new construction to be approved by the government in half a year, is largely symbolic. The construction could be years away since a lengthy planning process is required before any building can begin. But with 500,000 Israelis now living on occupied land, the Palestinians' goal of gaining independence is growing ever more distant. The dismembering and plundering of Palestinian land is continuing unabated, with more settlements and more and wider connecting roads and byroads being built in ever shrinking areas. The Palestinians are being segregated into non-contiguous enclaves, surrounded by Israeli-controlled borders, with settlements and settlement roads violating the territories' integrity. The expansion and increase in the number of settlements is stymieing, delaying and canceling Palestinian sovereignty at Israel's will. The US State Department and the Palestinians have condemned the Beit El plan but the denunciations, as in the past, will not be heeded. Peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down three years ago, mainly because of settlements, and there is no hint of a breakthrough. The international community views settlements on occupied territory as a violation of international law. In Israeli eyes, settlements are what will eventually make the Palestinian territories so small that there will be nothing but scraps of land left to build a state on. The new Beit El units are meant to help young Israelis build in the West Bank. Thus a new generation of Israelis is taking up shop on land which is not theirs, while Palestinians, young and old, are closing up shop on land which was theirs. The Palestinians are no longer fighting to regain more occupied territory, but are trying desperately to avoid losing the territory over which they still have some semblance of control. __
