US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV1404

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001404 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KWBG, IS, SETTLEMENTS, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS, GOI INTERNAL 
SUBJECT: MOSSI RAZ ON THE UNOFFICIAL APPROVAL PROCESS FOR 
SETTLEMENTS AND OUTPOSTS 
 
REF: TEL AVIV 00707 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
Consulate General Jerusalem cleared this cable. 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  Mossi Raz, a former Meretz MK, provided a 
brief history of the growth of settlements, and outlined the 
hidden support that the Israeli government has given to 
settlers over the past 13 years.  Settlers focused on 
expanding existing settlements between 1992 and 1996 because 
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered new construction to 
stop, he said.  After 1996, however, they began new 
construction when the GOI turned a blind eye to settler 
activities, and in some cases, elements of the GOI actively 
supported the settlements enterprise.  According to Raz, 
Ariel Sharon provided funds and materials to the settlers 
when he was Minister of Construction and Housing in 1998, as 
did government bureaucrats affiliated with the settlements 
movement in the Civil Administration and Ministries of 
Defense, Tourism, Infrastructure, and Transportation.  Raz 
and Dror Etkes of Peace Now claimed that the GOI currently 
continues to provide hidden support to the settlers, and they 
explained that it is difficult to trace the flow of funds 
because auditors are themselves settlers and little 
motivation to stop the misappropriation of government funds. 
Post will report septel on PM Advisor Talia Sasson's upcoming 
report, which is expected to support Raz's points.  End 
summary. 
 
------------------------------- 
A Brief History of the Illegal 
Settlements/Outposts Enterprise 
------------------------------- 
 
2.  (C) Mossi Raz, former Meretz MK until March 2003 and 
current Deputy Executive Director of the Institute for 
Advanced Studies, explained to economic officers that prior 
to 1992, settlers did not have any bureaucratic hurdles to 
overcome when building new settlements in the West Bank and 
Gaza Strip.  In 1992, however, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin 
ordered construction of new settlements to stop and, 
according to Raz, the settlers were "in a state of shock." 
They focused instead on populating and expanding existing 
settlements, and lowering vacancy rates in the settlements 
became the settlement leaderships' primary objective.  Raz 
reported that even in 1995, however, the vacancy rate in the 
West Bank was still a relatively high 12.5 percent. 
 
3.  (C) According to Raz, when Binyamin Netanyahu was elected 
Prime Minister in 1996, he publicly rescinded the 
government's commitment not to construct new settlements, but 
in practice the Cabinet did not approve new construction. 
The settlers decided, however, that they "didn't need 
approval, they just needed no reaction from the government," 
and continued to expand existing settlements while also 
erecting new settlements/outposts without authorization.  Raz 
said that the lack of a government response to the settlers' 
activities led to continued building, and that many of the 
settlements/outposts constructed at that time, such as Itamar 
(Hanekuda outposts) and Ofrah (Amonah outpost), now have 
permanent homes. 
 
------------------------ 
The GOI Provides Support 
------------------------ 
 
4.  (C) Raz continued that government ministers, at the time, 
often did not bother with or consider the legal status of 
outposts.  He said many of the outposts/settlements were on 
state land and within the municipal borders of mother 
settlements so no one questioned their presence.  According 
to Raz, often the settlers would claim that the new 
settlement/outpost was in fact only a new neighborhood -- 
even if geographically distant -- and the government would 
issue retroactive approvals to support the addition of the 
new site.  However, ministers who supported the establishment 
and development of these illegal sites did more than just 
look the other way and actively provided funding and 
materials.  Raz claimed that current Prime Minister Ariel 
Sharon championed this activity while he was the Minister of 
Construction and Housing (MOCH) in 1998, and that the 
Religious Affairs Ministry also supported the settlements 
enterprise. 
 
5.  (C) Raz explained that when he was in the Knesset Finance 
Committee he saw a list of mikvaot, or religious baths, that 
settlers were requesting from the Religious Affairs Ministry. 
 The Minister of Religious Affairs subsequently justified the 
request saying, "People live there, people need a mikvah." 
This formulation that people were established on the ground 
and needed services later became true for ministries who went 
on to supply other forms of infrastructure such as water, 
electricity, and roads, as reported in ref A.  According to 
Raz, the Civil Administration -- responsible for all civilian 
activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- was mostly 
comprised of settlers themselves, so they helped by building 
roads while the Defense Ministry authorized soldiers to 
defend the neighborhoods and ignore demolition orders.  Raz 
said that he appealed to the High Court for these actions to 
stop but he was ignored because Prime Minister Ehud Barak 
accepted them. 
 
6.  (C) Dror Etkes, Settlement Watch Coordinator for Peace 
Now, explained that these activities continue today.  He said 
that the local and regional settlement councils may buy an 
old trailer for NIS3,000-4,000, place the trailer in an 
unauthorized location, and then complain to the Civil 
Administration that the trailer is "unsafe."  The government 
will then authorize the replacement of the trailer with a 
more secure one, and then will eventually lay cement 
foundations for permanent homes.  The settlers will move the 
"unsafe" trailer to a new location and the process starts 
over again.  In another example of hidden government support, 
Etkes explained that the MOCH may overbudget the amount of 
time it takes to work on a legal project by a few days and 
spend the extra days working at an illegal outpost. 
 
7.  (C) Raz also reported that settlers can currently build 
illegally in the West Bank because their compatriots often 
hold key government positions in charge of stopping that 
activity.  Raz said that their supporters provide material 
and financial support to illegal construction, and he claimed 
that the Civil Administration, the Higher Planning Committee, 
the Defense Ministry, and persons in the Ministries of 
Construction and Housing, Infrastructure, Tourism, 
Transportation, etc., all have settler activists in key 
positions that allow the government to assist the illegal 
sites.  Raz reported that settler bureaucrats are telling 
their field operatives, "you create the facts on the ground 
and we'll find a way to help." 
 
--------------- 
Who's Watching? 
--------------- 
 
8.  (C) In response to econoff's question, Raz said that 
there were and continue to be auditors from the Ministry of 
Interior in place to track the disbursement of funds from 
ministries to regional councils.  He explained, however, that 
the auditors are not supplied with sufficient data to see 
what the councils actually spend the funds on, nor are the 
reports ever published.  Furthermore, the auditors often look 
to see if the funds were used as they were intended -- for a 
road, trailer, or mikvah -- but not to ensure that the money 
only went to projects in authorized areas.  Therefore, Raz 
said that the local and regional councils are able to use 
funds given to them by government ministries to support 
unauthorized building projects.  In addition, Raz noted that 
the regional councils have their own auditors but most are 
settlers themselves so presumably they will not blow the 
whistle on any illegal spending that may be taking place. 
Raz also said that many of the government auditors and 
bureaucrats are themselves settlers and have little 
motivation to crack down on misappropriation of government 
funds.  Etkes confirmed that regional councils do not report 
if the money goes to an outpost or is spent within an 
authorized settlement. 
 
------------------------------ 
GOI Needs to Change Priorities 
to Stop Settlement Activity 
------------------------------ 
 
9.  (C) Raz speculated that the GOI will continue to allow 
the illegal establishment and construction of outposts unless 
it changes its building priorities away from the West Bank. 
Raz said the GOI has not yet accepted the proposition that it 
has to evacuate the remaining outposts, and will probably 
attempt to retroactively approve those sites.  As a next 
step, Raz suggested that the GOI cancel the meetings of the 
Higher Planning Committee to send a message that construction 
in the West Bank is over.  Raz also reported that the GOI 
continues to spend three times the amount of money on 
settlers as it does on Israelis living within the Green Line, 
and said that the government wastes a lot of money in the 
settlements that could be used elsewhere. 
 
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