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APN to Presidential Candidates: Oppose Settlement Expansion

The message was included in APN's sixth installment of "Responsibility over Rhetoric," an initiative aimed at the Obama and McCain campaigns
Go HERE for APN's "Responsibility over Rhetoric" initiative with all items related to the Presidential Campaign.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 17, 2008
CONTACT:  Ori Nir - (202) 728-1893

Washington, D.C - Americans for Peace Now today urged the presidential candidates to commit to working toward ending West Bank settlement expansion and removing illegal settlement "outposts" as a top priority in America's future relationship with Israel. 

The message was included in APN's sixth installment of "Responsibility over Rhetoric," an initiative aimed at the Obama and McCain campaigns, offering responsible and constructive ways for the presidential candidates to talk about issues relating to Israel and Middle East peace.

Following is the full text of APN's issue-brief on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, sent today to the campaigns:

The issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank will present a major challenge to the next president's Middle East peacemaking agenda, as it has for previous presidents.  Every U.S. Administration has opposed settlements, viewing them as a political and security liability for Israel and recognizing them as an impediment to any ongoing or future efforts to achieve a negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 
 
Unfortunately, successive U.S. presidents have failed to translate this longstanding official opposition to settlements - reiterated by every Administration since 1968 - into a coherent U.S. policy that has stopped settlement expansion.  Absent a serious U.S. approach on the issue, settlements and outposts have continued to grow, despite Israel's obligations under the Roadmap, despite Israel's repeated commitments to the U.S. and the international community, and - in some cases - despite Israeli law.
 
For the sake of the American goal of achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace, the next U.S. president must convince Israel's leaders that U.S. opposition to settlements can no longer be dismissed.  Continued settlement expansion undermines efforts to achieve peace, as does Israel's failure to rein in settler renegades who persist in establishing and expanding unauthorized settlement "outposts," and who are increasingly using violence and intimidation against not only Palestinians but also against the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli police.  Settlements and outposts also undermine moderate Palestinian leaders who support such an agreement, exacerbate tensions on the ground, and further complicate any future territorial settlement of the conflict. 
 
For the sake of Israel's own vital interests, the next U.S. president must convince Israel that expanding settlements and coddling settler extremists is a self-defeating and dangerous path that threatens Israel's security, economic prosperity, and viability as a Jewish, democratic state. 

  • Settlements strain Israel's security forces.  Israel's "separation barrier" - in theory a justifiable effort to protect Israel from Palestinian attacks by separating Israel from the Palestinians - has been distorted to accommodate settlements.  It has lengthened and contorted Israel's lines of defense, trapping large numbers of Palestinians inside it and leaving a large number of Israelis outside of it.  The need to defend this line and protect Israeli settlers beyond it has meant turning the IDF increasingly into a police force.  In the process, the IDF's ability to adequately organize and train for its primary mission - to fight wars - has been eroded, as clearly and painfully demonstrated during the 2006 Lebanon War.
  • Settlements drain Israel's already beleaguered budget, with continued government funding of settlement-related construction, as well as substantial indirect government funding that affords settlers a wide range of income, education, housing, tax, and transportation benefits. 
  • Settlements are an existential threat to Israel as a Jewish, democratic state.  If Israel does not end the settlement enterprise and achieve a peace agreement that enables it to get out of most of the West Bank, Jews will become a minority in the area under Israel's control.  Israel will be then forced to choose between being a Jewish or a democratic state.

Most Israeli politicians today, from across the political spectrum, acknowledge that some settlements must be removed as part of any final peace agreement.  Polls have shown wide support among Israelis for a settlement freeze, removal of outposts, and further settlement evacuations.  Past Israeli-Palestinian negotiations suggest that many, if not most, West Bank settlers may be able to remain where they are under a future peace agreement, as part of a land-swap deal.  However, such a solution is predicated on an end to settlement expansion.  Already today, settlements make such arrangements complicated; if settlements continue to expand and proliferate, they will further complicate negotiations and potentially destroy any chance for peace.
 
APN urges the presidential candidates to:

  • Make clear that, if elected president, they will make ending settlement expansion and removal of outposts top priorities in the U.S.-Israel relationship;
  • Articulate their categorical opposition to all settlement construction - consistent with longstanding U.S. policy - including in areas that many expect to remain under Israeli control when a peace agreement is reached. Such construction, before a peace accord have been achieved, undermines Palestinian moderates, feeds extremism, and diminishes the chances of achieving a negotiated agreement that could legitimize Israeli claims to those areas; and 
  • If elected, preserve the current policy of barring the use of any U.S. loan guarantees to fund construction over the Green Line and support Israeli efforts to develop strategies and incentives that encourage settlers to relocate to Israel voluntarily.

APN is a non-partisan American Jewish, Zionist organization dedicated to peace and security for Israel and to supporting the Israeli Peace Now movement. Go HERE for all related items at APN's "Responsibility over Rhetoric" initiative.