There has been much public debate of late over the issue of the international community’s focus on settlements as an obstacle to peace. My view is that it is not “anti-Israel” to criticise the settlements and to urge Israel to end all settlement construction, if one wants the two-state solution which we and many in Israel see as in Israel’s strategic interest, and to which the only real alternative is continuing conflict. Nor is it the case that demands are only being made of Israel: they are being made too of the Palestinian Authority, including that it make every effort to improve law and order under its Roadmap commitments.

The importance of the settlements issue was why, when the UK called Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 14 June speech at Bar Ilan University a step in the right direction, it stressed the need to see much more action on settlements. Indeed, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mr Netanyahu spoke after that speech, my Prime Minister stressed that a complete freeze in settlement construction, in line with Israel's Roadmap commitments, was essential to making further progress on the peace process.

The settlements issue featured heavily too at last week’s meetings of the Quartet and G8 Foreign Ministers in Italy, with the Quartet urging Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth; to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001; and to refrain from provocative action in east Jerusalem, including home demolitions and evictions.

Since my last posting here in the early1990s, the number of settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has doubled. This led to the perception on the Palestinian side that even while Israelis were talking peace, ongoing settlement construction signalled a real agenda of annexation, rather than a fair two-state solution. This week’s announcement that Israel will build dozens of new homes in the settlement of Adam (to absorb residents from the ‘illegal’ outpost of Migron) is very worrying - even more so as it is reportedly part of plans for the construction of over 1,400 housing units in this settlement. Coming just as Defence Minister Barak departed for the US for meetings with Special Envoy for the Middle East Senator Mitchell, it sends a very mixed message: Israel is finally set to take action against an outpost deemed illegal by its own courts, but by moving the residents to a settlement which is illegal under international law.

There are a number of reasons why the international community rejects the claim that natural growth in the settlements must be permitted. Figures released recently by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics cast doubt on the claims of housing shortages in the West Bank, and show that in 2006-07 the housing shortage in settlements stemmed largely from "migration" from Green Line Israel to the settlements, as well as the addition of new immigrants from abroad. According to a recent Peace Now report, “taking into account deaths and people migrating out of settlements, births inside the settlements account for approximately 60% of the annual population growth in settlements, while around 40% is immigration from inside Israel or abroad.” It is also clear that the devil is very much in the detail over many aspects of the "natural growth" argument, given for instance that terms such as "inside a settlement" and definitions of "settlement expansion" have proved to be worryingly flexible.

Many in the settler movement are of course ideologically opposed to a two-state solution, and are seeking to prevent the realisation of such a goal.  But they have yet to answer the question "what is the alternative if Israel is to remain a democratic state with a significant Jewish majority?". My country believes that Israel has a right to exist in this part of the world, and so our goal remains a two-state solution where a secure Israel with internationally-recognised borders can live in peace with its neighbours.

By freezing settlement activity, Israel has a golden opportunity to send the message that it is serious about its desire to negotiate with the Palestinians and to reach a deal which will bring peace and security and a sustainable end to this tragic, long-running conflict.

I'd like to hear what you think so please contact me at ambassador.telaviv@gmail.com.

Tom Phillips
30 June 2009