It appears Labour will join the Likud-led government, says Khaled Amayreh in occupied East Jerusalem As Israeli politicians continue to haggle over the formation of the next government, sources in Tel Aviv this week unveiled a plan by the outgoing government of Ehud Olmert to build tens of thousands of settler units in the West Bank. If implemented, the plan would irreversibly kill any realistic hope for a viable Palestinian state in the Palestinian territories seized by Israel in 1967. According to a detailed report released by the Peace Now Movement, which monitors Jewish settlement expansion, the Israeli government is planning to build as many as 72,000 settler units in the West Bank. The organisation said the plan would mean an increase by 100 per cent of the Jewish settler population, now estimated at more than half a million. According to the report, approval has already been granted for the building of 15,000 settler units, with plans for building an additional 58 units being worked out by various governmental agencies. Peace Now said it was highly likely that the next Israeli government, expected to be dominated by right-wing extremists, will expedite settlement building at a rapid pace, which would mean the utter destruction of whatever chances there still are for peace with the Palestinians. The new revelation coincides with the arrival in Palestine-Israel of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who reportedly will reassert the Obama administration's commitment to the two-state solution. The unmitigated expansion of Jewish colonies in the West Bank, especially in occupied East Jerusalem, is widely believed to constitute the main obstacle to peace efforts in the region. Numerous observers are already arguing that, given the demographic realities, chances for the success of the two-state solution are fast vanishing and that Israel would have to choose between either a full- fledged apartheid regime or a single unitary state from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean, with the ever-looming prospect of Jews becoming a minority in such a state. Many Israeli extremists, whose numbers are increasing, are already speaking of a third option -- transfer, which is a euphemism for ethnic cleansing cum genocide. Yaacov Katz, a leader of the quasi Judeo-Nazi party, the National Union, has warmly welcomed the reported plan to double the Jewish settler population in the West Bank. "We will make every effort to realise these plans. I expect, with God's help, that this will all happen in the next few years." The party is making the expansion of Jewish colonies in the occupied territories a primary condition for striking a coalition deal with Likud leader and prime minister-designate Benyamin . The clearly Islamophobic party mostly adopts the ideas of Rabbi Meir Kahana who called for the violent expulsion of non-Jews from Israel proper and the occupied territories as well as the imposition of Talmudic laws throughout the country. Clinton is expected to raise the expansion of Jewish colonies with . However, , a notoriously dishonest politician who believes that good PR can work miracles, is likely to argue that there are no immediate plans to build news settlements and that "we are only talking about natural growth." However, it remains unclear if Clinton will be swayed by 's diversionary tactics. Palestinians as well as the Arab world as a whole believe that the American stance on the settlements will be the ultimate litmus test for the Obama administration's commitment to the two-state solution. This brazen disregard for the international community, including the US, Israel's guardian-ally, coincides with a new wave of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. According to Israeli sources, the Israeli Interior Ministry, in cooperation with the Jewish municipal authorities are finalising plans to destroy as many as 100 Arab homes at the Silwan neighbourhood, apparently in order to create "facilities" including a park for Jewish settlers implanted in the heart of the occupied Arab city. The sources revealed that the implementation of the wholesale demolitions was only awaiting "an opportune timing". On 2 March, Israeli bulldozers, escorted by heavily armed soldiers, destroyed two Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. Israeli officials cited "licence issues" as the reason for the demolitions. However, Palestinians complain about Israel's extreme parsimony in granting non-Jews building licences. Meanwhile, , who was tasked with forming the next Israeli government, continued to woo Labour Party leader Ehud Barak to join a coalition under his leadership. Barak is also trying to forge a broad-based coalition after Kadima leader Tzipi Livni reasserted her decision to remain in the opposition "because I don't want to betray my voters". Barak, who had vowed to stay in the opposition in order to rehabilitate his party, which won only 13 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, has apparently changed his mind and is giving strong signals of his desire to join the next Israeli government. However, Barak is facing stiff opposition within his party to joining a Likud-led government, with Amir Peretz, the former defence minister, arguing that if Barak insisted on becoming the next defense minister, he should leave the party. One Labour leader, Shelly Yachimovich, was quoted as telling Barak that "between political death in a right-wing government and a tough life in the opposition, we should go for the hard life." Nonetheless, it seems increasingly certain that Barak is determined to be part of the next Israeli government, come what may. One Israeli newspaper quoted Barak as telling his colleagues that "we have to go in. Be on my side, I don't care if I don't have a majority in the faction, I can pass it in the central committee." On Sunday, 1 March, Barak and met for two hours, discussing a possible coalition partnership. The two will meet again on 4 March in what both sides described as a "decisive meeting". It is nearly certain that even with the inclusion of Barak into the next Israeli government, would still have no guarantee of a stable and durable government, let alone one that would seriously work for peace with the Palestinians.
