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Without the help of a microscope, it seems, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the settlement policy of Ehud Barak and that of his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, who headed a pro-settler government.
According to figures released by the settlement watch group of the left-wing Peace Now movement, 1.2 billion shekels (about $300 million) have been slated for the settlers in the 2001 budget, through ministries including Housing, Transportation, and Trade and Industry. That compares with 1.5 billion shekels (about $350 million) in the 1999 budget prepared by the Netanyahu government.
According to more Peace Now data, there have been 16,900 housing starts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the last seven years, since the start of the Oslo accords. Of those, 2,830 or 16.7 percent have been under Barak. (In the seven years since Oslo was signed, the settler population has almost doubled; much of that growth has been in areas near the pre-1967 Green Line border.)
Galia Golan, a Peace Now leader, believes that the rapid settlement growth, and the failure of the Barak government to check it, is one of the major reasons for the present Palestinian uprising in the territories. Palestinians see nothing but expansion of settlements, she says. So they don’t believe we are willing to get out of the territories.
Uri Ariel, mayor of Beit El, confirms that Barak has not fundamentally altered the settlement policy of his predecessor.
The Prime Minister’s Office responded that the Peace Now report was based on estimates, not facts, but did not provide a detailed response to the figures.
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