Avigdor Lieberman: Moratorium Intended to Allow Kosher Construction When Freeze Expires

Israel's firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today that the objective of the partial moratorium on West Bank settlement construction is to allow Israel to build openly and without restriction in ten months, when the moratorium expires.

Lieberman spoke to a crowd of (mostly) settlers in Ariel.

The Israeli news sites earlier today mistranslated Lieberman. I transcribed the relevant quotes from an Israel Radio recording. Here is my translation, with some contextual comments.

Lieberman said that he voted in favor of the "freeze" at the Cabinet, even though he lives in a settlement that is on the eastern side of the separation barrier. "I definitely think that the issue of the (settlement) freeze was a necessary move," he said. Why? Because for over a year and a half, preceding the moratorium, there have been restrictions on settlement construction anyway, he explained. After the freeze, Israel will not see itself committed to any restrictions on settlement construction, Lieberman implied.

Lieberman used a Hebrew soccer expression to create a pun of sorts. "Like in soccer, sometimes they say 'going down in order to go up.'" In soccer, "going down" means retreating to defense (it can also be understood as "going down" in the number of housing starts in settlements) and "going up" denotes going on the offensive (and can be understood as steping up the number of homes built in settlements). "Going down in order to go up" is therefore equivalent to the tactic known in American football as "shotgun formation" (so I am told: what do I know about football?), in which the quarterback tactically chooses to move back, in the direction of his own goal, to gain time or a better field of vision, as he launches an offensive move. We are moving backward only in order to better charge forward later, is what Lieberman is trying to say.

Here is the full quote: "Like in soccer, sometimes they say 'going down in order to go up.' This move, as well, is the only move that enables us, in a calculated and transparent way, to shift to a situation in which we can build. That is why I think that it is clear to all today, unequivocally: ten months and one day, and we go back to building and we do it without concealing and without whitewashing."

So, there you have it: the rationale of the "freeze" is that once it's over, Israel can - and will - build with gusto, unapologetically, unhindered by the U.S. or anyone else. It's a ploy, a tactic, a "shotgun formation" on the way to the touchdown.

Will Washington demand that Netanyahu say it ain't so?