Some 2,500 new homes will be built in West Bank settlements, Israel announced today.
“I have agreed with the Defence Minister on 2,500 units in Judea and Samaria,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, using the Hebrew term for the West Bank. “We are building, and will continue to build.”
The decision will bring damning responses from much of the international community, fury from Palestinians, and sharp criticism from the Israeli left. So why is Mr Netanyahu making this move?
1. Because he can
Barack Obama had a personal distaste for Mr Netanyahu, and was strongly opposed to settlement construction. Suddenly, there is a US President who does not only like him, but who is sympathetic to settlement and has even donated to a settlement cause.
Five days before the Washington inauguration, as Israel was criticised for settlements at the Paris peace conference, Mr Netanyahu said in a transparent reference to Donald Trump: “Tomorrow's world will be different – and it is very near.” Mr Netanyahu wants to show that he can succeed in changing the rules of the game for Israel in this new world.
2. To please the Israeli right
The right-wing are Mr Netanyahu’s natural supporters, but he is losing them. His coalition frenemy Naftali Bennett is laying claim to his supporters -- enough supporters to give Mr Bennett’s Jewish Home party five more Knesset seats, according to recent polling.
These rightists see Mr Netanyahu as too timid and to restrained by what the world thinks when it comes to settlement. Mr Bennett is their bold alternative, throwing caution to the wind and saying that Israel should extend its sovereignty to the West Bank. The Prime Minister wants to restore his standing in the eyes of the right, by showing that while Mr Bennett can talk, he can build.
3. Because things are about to get really tough - Amona
Mr Netanyahu’s troubles keeping the settler right on his side are about to take on a whole new dimension as February 8 approaches. This is the date set for the evacuation of Amona, a West Bank outpost which Israeli courts say must be dismantled because it sits on privately-owned Palestinian land.
Mr Netanyahu made a deal with residents for them to move to a nearby plot, but the High Court has just frozen this deal, following claims that this plot is also privately-owned. Amona residents are seething -- and the Prime Minister desperately wants to be able to say that he lost the battle to save Amona’s 40 homes, but is delivering many more.
4. To slam the brakes on “sovereignty” attempts
The Jewish Home party is trying to push a bill that would start extending Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank by annexing the settlement of Maale Adumim. Taking such a move unilaterally would anger even the right-wing Trump administration, and Mr Netanyahu was keen to delay discussion of this bill. The security cabinet decided unanimously on Sunday not to talk about the bill until after Mr Netanyahu visits the White House next month -- and settlement-building promises are thought to have helped secure the agreement of rightist ministers.
