http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/show_katava.asp?id=26582&mador=1&datee=8/20/98
Thursday, August 20, 1998
Golan settlements to add 5,000 units,
ministers rule
By Ziv Maor and David Makovsky, Ha'aretz
Correspondents and Agencies
A ministerial committee yesterday approved a
plan to expand four settlements in the
southern Golan Heights - the largest expansion
in the Golan since Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu took office - and establish five new
towns and a college in the Negev.
The committee on the development of the Negev
and the Galilee, headed by Minister of
National Infrastructure Ariel Sharon,
discussed the expansion of four settlements on
the western mountainside of the Golan Heights
- Ramot, Ma'aleh Gamla, Kanaf and Had-Nes. The
decision to expand was originally reached a
month ago, but Netanyahu urged Sharon to delay
it by a few weeks due to the visit of Syrian
President Hafez Assad in Paris.
About 2,300 housing units and 2,500 vacation
units will be built according to the plan.
Sharon said the plan would create 5,000 jobs
in the Golan Heights. However, dozens of
apartments in the Golan Heights remain empty.
The ministerial committee's decision came
several weeks after the national council for
building and construction decided to allow the
towns of the Golan Heights to expand by up to
400 housing units each. Currently, the average
size of the towns in the Golan Heights is 100
to 150 housing units.
Despite the decision of the national council,
Sharon's plan will clearly result in some
towns having much more than 400 housing units,
contradicting the guidelines of the national
council.
The ministerial panel's decision to expand
four Golan settlements yesterday marks the
largest expansion in the Golan since the
Netanyahu government came to power. Until now,
the Netanyahu government only expanded
settlements in the Golan a few units at a
time. The move is particularly significant
given the fact there are only about 15,000
people living in the entire Golan.
Asked last night if he thought the settlement
expansion would undermine the resumption of
peace talks with Syria, Sharon told Ha'aretz,
"why should it have any negative impact on
talks with Syria? We are talking about
expanding existing settlements. This is in
keeping with the policy of this government.
There is always building there."
Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, a Syria expert who
headed the peace talks with Damascus during
the previous government, said the move
yesterday would have severe consequences. In a
telephone interview from New York, Rabinovich
said, "in the recent period, Syria has been
weighing the positive and negative aspects of
renewing talks with Israel. This decision is
likely to tip the balance in favor of the most
skeptical view of the Netanyahu government's
real intentions about restarting peace talks."
Those in attendance at yesterday's ministerial
panel were its chairman, Sharon, Environment
and Agriculture Minister Rafael Eitan, and
Science Minister Silvan Shalom. The defense,
finance and interior ministries were
represented by lower-ranking officials. No
objections were raised.
The ministerial committee also approved the
construction of five new towns in the Negev:
one adjacent to Be'er Ora, in the Eilot Strip;
a community town near the youth village in
Nitzana; a community village called Be'er
Malka near Nitzana, a community village called
Kfar David in the area of Sdeh Boker; a
community village called Ovdat, west of Tel
Ovda; and a college for environmental studies.
In Syria, the Tishrin government newspaper
yesterday said peace talks with Israel would
never resume without an irrevocable Israeli
commitment to a full withdrawal from the Golan
Heights. The paper's comments came in response
to remarks made Tuesday by Defense Minister
Yitzhak Mordechai.
Mordechai called on Syria to resume peace
talks but denied he has softened his position
on an Israeli troop withdrawal from the Golan.
He told a news conference that the government
would not give up the entire Golan under any
circumstances. "I see the Golan as strategic
territory vital for the defense of northern
Israel."
The Al-Thawra daily called Israel's latest
statements "provocative," saying they had put
an end to the peace process.
"There is no credibility in the statements and
intentions of the Israeli leaders who prefer
tension, explosion, expansion and aggression
to peace and security," it said.
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