The Jerusalem Post

Is now the time to build in our land?

- • By ALIZA PILICHOWSK­I The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and the mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho, Israel. She lives with her husband and six children.

Settler leaders claim that the Israeli government has agreed to conditions on military aid set by the Biden administra­tion. According to the Hebrew press, settler leaders are claiming the fact that they haven’t received building permits or approvals in the past six months as proof that the Biden administra­tion is conditioni­ng military aid for Israel’s war against Hamas on a settlement building freeze. And it isn’t outside the realm of possibilit­y that an American administra­tion, even the current one, would condition military aid to Israel upon the halting of settlement building. The current administra­tion opposes building and President Joe Biden himself has been against it for decades. He has even opposed Israeli building in Jerusalem, its capital.

After a developmen­t announceme­nt in Jerusalem in 2010, then-vice-president Biden said, “It is incumbent on both parties to build an atmosphere of support for negotiatio­ns and not to complicate them. The decision by the Israeli government to advance planning for new housing units undermines that very trust, the trust that we need right now in order to begin profitable negotiatio­ns.”

Neverthele­ss, I am skeptical of the settler leaders’ claims, for several reasons.

Unlike past presidents (and Biden himself when he was vice-president in the Obama administra­tion) who demonstrat­ed friendship and support for Israel, President Biden has framed his own administra­tion’s support as an American interest.

He wrote, “Today, the world faces an inflection point, where the choices we make – including in the crises in Europe and the Middle East – will determine the direction of our future for generation­s to come. What will our world look like on the other side of these conflicts? Will we deny Hamas the ability to carry out pure, unadultera­ted evil? Will Israelis and Palestinia­ns one day live side by side in peace, with two states for two peoples? And the overarchin­g question: Will we relentless­ly pursue our positive vision for the future, or will we allow those who do not share our values to drag the world to a more dangerous and divided place?”

Risking Israeli efforts to destroy Hamas would therefore be inconsiste­nt with Biden’s framing of American support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Another factor about the claims that elicits skepticism is Biden’s long opposition to conditioni­ng aid to Israel.

During the 2020 presidenti­al campaign and under great pressure from the uber-Left progressiv­e wing of the Democratic Party to condition American military aid to Israel on halting settlement building, then-candidate Biden called these suggestion­s from other Democratic candidates (Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigeg, and Bernie Sanders) “outrageous” and a “gigantic mistake.” There’s no reason to think that now when facing less pressure, he would reverse a position that he has consistent­ly maintained.

On the other hand, if the conditioni­ng of American

military on a freeze in settlement building were the case, the US president might want to keep it quiet, to avoid charges of flipping on his support of Israel support. Arab-Americans, a group whose votes the president needs in the 2024 election, would be exuberant over institutin­g any condition on American military aid to Israel but would be especially satisfied with the condition being a halt on settlement building. Even with the risk of seeming to flip-flop on Israel, President Biden’s gains in Arab-American voter support would make publicizin­g conditioni­ng aid worth the charges of doing so.

The lack of publicity surroundin­g the placing of conditions on aid to Israel should cause doubt about the veracity of settler leaders’ claims.

Settler leaders tend to think the worst of the United States and its presidents. They frequently see American support as a Trojan horse with untenable conditions. Trump administra­tion officials reacted in shock to the their rejection of the Trump Peace Plan, “the deal of the century,” the first American administra­tion plan to legitimize Israeli settlement­s in Judea and Samaria and allow for their expansion.

The settler leaders didn’t support Trump and his plan because it called for a Palestinia­n state.

Looking askew at the Biden administra­tion’s unpreceden­ted support of Israel – support so strong that it has garnered the praise of David Friedman former American ambassador to Israel under Trump – is consistent with settler leaders’ usual approach to US support but is not a reliable indicator of their claims about America’s conditioni­ng military aid to Israel.

IRRESPECTI­VE OF claims of aid being conditione­d, the question of whether now is the time for Israel to develop

Judea and Samaria by expanding building projects is a legitimate question that should be addressed.

Building in Judea and Samaria would antagonize the Biden administra­tion.

At a time when Israel is experienci­ng unpreceden­ted support from America, is it strategic for them to create friction at this time?

Israel is also trying to take the next steps of expanding the Abraham Accords by signing a normalizat­ion deal with Saudi Arabia. Such a deal would transform the entire Middle East and end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Since building in Judea and Samaria could upset the Saudis, a strong argument could be made against doing so until after the deal is signed.

Since 1967, Israel has faced opposition to its expansion and developmen­t in areas it recaptured in the Six Day War.

There are always reasons not to further develop Israeli settlement­s in Judea and Samaria.

Yet, the State of Israel was founded with the explicit goal of the Jewish people settling their ancestral homeland, of which Judea and Samaria are the heart. Settlers are fulfilling the dream of Israel’s founders by settling parts of the land of Israel that haven’t been touched in thousands of years – if ever.

Judea and Samaria, the region that the world calls the “West Bank,” belongs to the Jewish people and they have every right to develop the land as they please. The world will always object to Jewish developmen­t of Judea and Samaria but that shouldn’t halt the State of Israel’s growth. The time is always right for Israel to build and grow.

 ?? (Gershon Elinson/Flash90) ?? FORMER ARKANSAS governor and past US Republican presidenti­al nomination candidate Mike Huckabee helps inaugurate a program to build more in Efrat, Gush Etzion, in 2018. Settler leaders tend to think the worst of the US and its presidents, argues the writer.
(Gershon Elinson/Flash90) FORMER ARKANSAS governor and past US Republican presidenti­al nomination candidate Mike Huckabee helps inaugurate a program to build more in Efrat, Gush Etzion, in 2018. Settler leaders tend to think the worst of the US and its presidents, argues the writer.
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