AMANA SETTLER MOVEMENT REPORTEDLY BUILDING 100

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001682

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC WASHINGTON DC, NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR
WILLIAMS/SHAMPAINE/ROSENSTOCK/MAHER; NSC FOR
ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG IS
SUBJECT: AMANA SETTLER MOVEMENT REPORTEDLY BUILDING 100
UNITS, APPROVED FOR 170


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)


1. (C) Lt. Col. (ret.) Oded Herman, advisor to MOD Pol-Mil
Director Amos Gilad, confirmed to econoff on June 7 that the
Amana settlement organization will likely build 100 new
housing units in the West Bank, as reported recently in
Israeli and Palestinian press. He said that Amana had
obtained all necessary approvals to build 300 housing units
in the Kefar Adumim settlement in 1992, of which 130 units
have already been built. Herman added that these 100 new
housing units reported on by the press will likely come out
of the 170 remaining approved units, leaving 70 for further
construction.


2. (C) On June 6, Army radio station reported that Amana is
constructing about 100 units in the West Bank, most of which
have already been sold. According to the report, these units
had already been approved by the government years before, but
the decision had never been implemented. In addition to
being condemned by known left-wing Israeli figures such as
Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin and Peace Now Secretary-General
Yariv Oppenheimer, the Jerusalem Post also carried outraged
comments by an unnamed senior Israeli diplomat serving
abroad. According to this diplomat, Israel diplomats are
"sent abroad, quite simply, to lie." He continued by saying,
"We meet foreign ministers around the world, tell them that
building in settlements has stopped, and it seems we are just
lying to them."


3. (C) The Amana organization defines itself as the
"settlement movement of Gush Emunim, with the primary goal of
developing communities in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights,
the Galilee and the Negev." Amana, through its associate
company, Binyanei Bar Amana, has completed over 50 building
projects and has built more than 2000 housing units,
according to its website. In March, the organization hosted
housing fairs in New York and New Jersey to convince American
Jews to buy homes in West Bank settlements -- thus
underwriting settlement expansion by either buying or
financing settlement housing. This campaign, marketed as a
way to "leave your thumbprint on the destiny of Israel,"
would allow Israeli settlers to rent homes purchased by
Americans. Press reports say that plans are underway for
similar events in Miami and Chicago.

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CRETZ