MOD CONFIRMS BARAK APPROVED NEW MASKIYYOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001599

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR
GOLDBERGER/SHAMPAINE/ROSENSTOCK/PECCIA; NSC FOR
ABRAMS/SINGH/PASCUAL; JCS FOR GENERAL FRASER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL IS KPAL KWBG
SUBJECT: MOD CONFIRMS BARAK APPROVED NEW MASKIYYOT
CONSTRUCTION

REF: A. TEL AVIV 00063 (2007)

B. JERUSALEM 01235

Classified By: Charges d'affaires Luis G. Moreno for reasons 1.4 (b),(
d)


1. (C) On July 24, Oded Herman, Senior Advisor to Ministry
of Defense (MOD) Pol-Mil Director Amos Gilad, confirmed to
econoff press reports indicating that Defense Minister Barak
approved the construction of 20 new homes in the Maskiyyot
settlement, located in the Jordan Valley. In response to
econoff's comments that Barak's approval to build in
Maskiyyot contradict former Defense Minister's Peretz's
January 2007 decision to halt this same construction (REF A),
Herman replied that "Peretz is no longer the Defense
Minister."


2. (C) Press reports say that these new housing units will
be built for families that Israel evacuated from the Gush
Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip in 2005. Currently,
Maskiyyot hosts a pre-army academy, but includes civilian
structures such as livestock buildings. A recent visit by
Consulate Jerusalem poloff (REF B),indicates that eleven
families from Gush Katif currently live at Maskiyyot.


2. (SBU) Maskiyyot was established in the 1980s as a NAHAL
(mixed military/civilian) settlement. NAHAL (Hebrew acronym
for Fighting Pioneer Youth) settlements are communities that
combine military service with settling the land. Israel
established a number of NAHAL sites in the West Bank after it
made its "no new settlements" pledge in 1992. The military
has abandoned many of these NAHAL settlements and settlers
now occupy many of these sites. In the 1070s and 1980s, a
number of NAHAL settlements were turned into official
civilian settlements once the population of the community
grew large enough to maintain itself without military
subsidies.


3. (C) COMMENT: GOI officials, including Prime Minister
Olmert, continue to tell the USG, Israeli press, and other
international interlocutors that Israel's Roadmap commitments
to stop settlement construction do not apply to neighborhoods
within Jerusalem, as defined by Israel, or the "settlement
blocs" as defined by Israel. However, they had emphasized
that there would not be any new settlements. Barak's
approval to build new housing units in a remote NAHAL located
in the Jordan Valley is a clear indicator that Israel will
not necessarily follow their own definition of a settlement
freeze. End comment.

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