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Friday December 15, 2006

Peace Now director takes heat for settlement report

by dan pine
staff writer

In the wake of a report claiming 40 percent of Jewish West Bank settlements were built on privately held Palestinian land, Yariv Oppenheimer has a simple message: Don’t shoot the messenger.

Peace Now’s Tel Aviv-based general director is currently on a U.S. tour to publicize –– and defend –– his organization’s report, titled “Breaking the Law.”

The report made news around the world, drawing some praise but also condemnation, especially from rightward-leaning pro-Israel quarters. However, as Oppenheimer quickly points out, the Israeli government has not denied the report’s explosive claims.

“This is important,” Oppenheimer said on swing through the Bay Area. “People that argue [against] the report are not part of the legal administration in Israel. We know this is the real information, and that’s why [the government] didn’t deny it.”

Peace Now invoked Israel’s version of the Freedom of Information Act to request the data several months ago, but was denied. Ultimately, a government source leaked the information to the organization.

Some critics –– in particular the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) –– blasted Peace Now, saying it was too hasty in releasing the report. They challenged the accuracy of the data and raised questions about the true legal status of the land.

Oppenheimer fires back that all the data and terminology (e.g., “private Palestinian land”) comes from the Israeli government.

“This is not information we collected on the ground,” he said. “We did not go to the settlements. The info comes from the Civil Administration. The conclusion [should be] to demand the Civil Administration exposes the information.”

CAMERA’s rebuttal stressed the complexities in determining land ownership in the region. Various categories exist, blurring the lines between private, communal and state-owned land. Referring to some lands registered as private property before 1998, CAMERA’s statement asserted, “this is not private land –– it is state land to which private individuals have been granted the equivalent of a leasehold.”

To Oppenheimer, such arguments obfuscate the big picture. Peace Now opposes all settlements. That they may also have been built illegally only adds to his ire.

“We are not going to support settlements built on state land,” he said. “Eventually what we’re trying to do is point out another perspective: It’s not just soldiers guarding settlements, the illegal outposts. It’s also the fact that we’re not treating our laws properly.”

With the report’s release, Oppenheimer has been surprised by the Israeli reaction.

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad for us,” he said, “but the response of the Israeli public is, ‘what’s new? We know the settlers take Palestinian land.’ The impression of Israelis about the settlers is that they do whatever they want in the West Bank.”

At 30, Oppenheimer represents a new generation for Peace Now, which was started in the 1980s. The Ramat Gan native cut his teeth politically as a Labor Party youth movement leader, then joined Peace Now four years ago as a press spokesman.

“We are not producing cookies or ice cream,” he says of his organization. “We produce public opinion. It’s a great place to work, working not just for money but for values and ideas.”

Oppenheimer says that it pains him to release a report that makes his country look bad in the court of public opinion. But he believes it’s worth short-term disgrace to help Israel move towards permanent peace and a two-state solution.

“As an Israeli I felt very bad that these are the headlines Israel gets around the world,” he said. “But you cannot kill the messenger. You have to blame the people in present and former Israeli governments.”

The Peace Now report summary concludes with a condemnation of the “land grab,” and demands that the Israeli government “rectify the situation, which means returning the private land to its owners.”

But even Oppenheimer knows that is unlikely. Like others across the Israeli political spectrum, he recognizes that any two-state solution will include land swaps: some settlements for other Israeli lands.

As for the official response to the report, some expect the government to ultimately accept its findings, others to reject them. But Oppenheimer predicts a third way.

“I’ll bet on it,” he said. “They will ignore it. They will make it disappear.”

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