PEDUEL: "ISRAEL'S FRONT PORCH"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 002447

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE. NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/12/2017
TAGS: KWBG PBTS PREL PHUM IS
SUBJECT: PEDUEL: "ISRAEL'S FRONT PORCH"

Classified By: Acting Principal Officer Thomas M. Duffy, per reasons 1.
4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Peduel spokesman Yehoshua Ben David told
PolOff during a November 23 visit to Peduel that the
settlement is continuing to expand and settlers are concerned
about Annapolis-related political developments. He noted an
increase in security incidents along the road to the
settlement prior to Annapolis. Settlers at Peduel told
PolOff that they believe they are the front line of Israel's
security and Zionism, but if conditions are right, they would
relocate to inside the green line. END SUMMARY.

"Israel's Front Porch"
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2. (C) POLOFF visited Peduel settlement November 23 with
its spokesman Yehoshua Ben David. Peduel is a settlement of
1200 near Salfit with a clear view of the Mediterranean Sea,
Tel Aviv, and Ben Gurion Airport. Showing POLOFF around the
settlement, Ben David recalled frequent visits by former PM
Sharon to Peduel, who called it "Israel's front porch."
Peduel settlers told POLOFF that giving up this strategic
location would seriously threaten Israel's security. Peduel
is inside the planned route of the separation barrier as it
extends eastward around Ariel settlement, but Peduel settlers
told POLOFF that they take nothing for granted about a
permanent status agreement. One settler noted that some in
Peduel buy furniture that can be carried away rather and do
not plant gardens outside their homes, because they do not
know the settlement's future. However, Ben David said he
believes if Peduel settlers are given equivalent alternative
housing in the context of a permanent status agreement, "most
of us would move" and for a lasting peace, he would be "the
first to leave."

Concerns about Annapolis
--------------


3. (C) Ben David said the Annapolis meeting has been
foremost in the minds of Peduel settlers. He said the
settlers are concerned that Annapolis-related political
developments will spark violence. He said for the first time
in five years, in the past week, neighboring Palestinians
have thrown rocks at settlers on the road to Peduel and the
IDF found and diffused two IED's. He reminisced about the
"old days" when Peduel co-existed peacefully with the
neighboring Palestinian village of Kfar ad-Dik and criticized
the radicalization of Palestinians in the 1990s.

Zionists, Not Zealots
--------------


4. (C) Peduel settlers told POLOFF that "sixty percent of
all settlers are not religious" and expressed resentment over
the image of "zealots on a hilltop wearing kippahs and
waiving the Torah." They said that they came to Peduel
because of the "sense of community" and proximity to Tel
Aviv, not economics or ideology. Ben David said that he and
his family immigrated from New York, found Peduel through a
GOI absorption center, lived for seven years in a thirty six
square meter caravan and then moved into their current three
bedroom house. Settlers told POLOFF that Peduel is
continuation of the Zionist mission and that "we think back
several generations about what our grandfathers saw in
Raanana (in central Israel),and today we think several
generations ahead".


5. (C) Ben David expressed concern about the radicalization
of settler youth over the last twenty years, but said it
pales in comparison to Palestinian radicalism. He said he
supports "hilltop youth" establishing new outposts as a
freedom of expression, but not as a practical or tactical
means of expanding West Bank Jewish presence.

No vacancy
--------------


6. (C) Asked about a "settlement freeze," Ben David said a
Peduel resident works for the Israel Lands Administration
(ILA) and "knew the bureaucracy well enough" to ensure that
Peduel was zoned with enough land to expand "legally."
PolOff saw ongoing construction at Peduel of an entire new
subdivision and two individual family homes. Ben David said
the GOI is not issuing permits to bring in caravans, but one
Peduel resident recently brought a frame, walls, and windows
to construct a caravan. He said that despite this
construction, the settlement has "absolutely no vacancy" and
is seeking ways to house newlyweds who grew up in the
settlement.

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