VZCZCXRO4184
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #1246 1601206
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091206Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2126
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001246 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC FOR PREM KUMAR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KWBG IS
SUBJECT: GOI INTERIOR MINISTER WANTS SETTLEMENT EXPANSION 
 
¶1. (SBU) In a June 8 radio interview, Interior Minister and 
Shas Party head Eli Yishai publicly committed to using his 
Ministry's funds to promote expansion of Israeli settlements 
in the West Bank. Prompted by reports that no settlement 
construction tenders have been issued since PM Netanyahu took 
office, Yishai expressed concern that settlements were 
"drying out." He committed to direct money from the MOI 
budget to give settlers "a normal life" and to assuage fears 
that existing homes might be destroyed.  Yishai proposed to 
expand settlement boundaries by updating the Blue Line, which 
delimits a given settlement's municipal area of control and 
said he would propose legislative amendments that would fully 
restore national development priority subsidies to all 
settlements. 
 
¶2. (U) Public reports confirm Embassy's assessment that no 
new tenders have been issued in the past several months. 
However, those same reports suggest that rapid expansion of 
settlement construction under the Olmert government may have 
led to a temporary glut on the market in some settlements. A 
June 9 article in Yediot newspaper lists the following 
ongoing construction by settlement: 
 
--Ariel/Barkan: 27 new factories; 200 houses in Ariel and 50 
in Barkan 
--Elkana: 52 houses 
--Halamish: 24 houses, though a Peace Now legal action has 
halted construction for the moment 
--Modi'in Illit: 617 houses 
--Beitar Illit: 327 houses 
--Sansana: 68 houses 
--Shilo: 40 houses planned, though the Civil Administration 
froze action on the tender in mid-May 
--Ofra: 10 houses 
--Givat Ze'ev: 750 houses expected to be completed by August 
--Ma'ale Adumim: 900 houses, most of which have been 
completed in the past two months 
 
The report also mentions infrastructure work and advanced 
planning under existing tenders in a number of other 
settlements.  It does not cover construction that has not 
been approved by the Civil Administration. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Comment: Yishai's ability to move beyond rhetoric is 
limited.  MOD's Civil Administration has sole authority over 
West Bank settlement boundaries (though MOI does cover 
construction in East Jerusalem). The MOI also does not 
control any funds that can be spent outside Jerusalem or 
Green Line Israel. Nonetheless, Yishai has lost no time in 
trying to position himself as the leader of the rejectionist 
bloc within Netanyahu's coalition government, opposing not 
only GOI commitments to honor the Roadmap settlements freeze, 
but also rejecting any reopening of final status talks with 
the Palestinians.  This position puts him at odds with the 
Shas movement's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who has 
long supported trading land for long-term security. 
 
 
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Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv 
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CUNNINGHAM