Major General Moshe Kaplinski, Commander of the IDF's Central
Region, signed an order for the removal of four unauthorized
West Bank outposts. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense
Minister Shaul Mofaz had signed an order a day earlier to
evacuate them. The order, which carries the full authority of
the government, circumvents the tedious appeals process by
which residents of outposts have largely avoided the
relocation or evacuation of inhabited illegal outposts.
The outposts slated for evacuation were listed as Ganot Aryeh
near Ofra, Magen David near Sussiya, West Bat Ayin, and Havat
Shaked near Yitzhar.
Some hailed the move as potentially historic, but both the
Yesha Council of Settlements and the Left wing Peace Now
organization dismissed the decision as just another of the
government's "ploys," to appease American President George W.
Bush.
Both Mor Yosef and Peace Now's Settlements Watch Director
said that the outpost called Magen David does not even exist.
Of the four, only Ganot Arieh is populated. The other two are
simply bald hilltops crowned with a pair of shipping
containers. One of them, Havat Shaked, said Etkes, was
officially evacuated last week.
During the Herzliya Conference 10 days ago, Sharon stated
that the "illegal outposts will be removed, period."
The new initiative approved by the government effectively
gives the army the cabinet's full backing for evacuating
illegal outposts. It shifts the evacuation orders from
procedures pertaining to planning and building to the
"political track."
The "political track" was approved in a decision made by a
previous government, which authorized the prime minister and
defense minister to declare that a site be evacuated. It has
also received the approval of Attorney General Elyakim
Rubinstein and Minister of Justice Yosef Lapid.
The political track only allows a formal hearing for those
opposed to the evacuation as well as a petition to the High
Court of Justice. An outpost that has received an evacuation
order will have 10 days to clear out or appeal to the High
Court. The process could extend beyond the 10 days, but not
much longer, according to the Defense Ministry.
Under the other process a demolition order was filed for each
illegal building, which was often extended into lengthy court
battles over each disputed shack. "They could move the
shipping container one meter south and the whole legal
process would have to begin anew," said a source, who added
that the defense establishment prefers the backing of the
government for outpost removal.
The source added that the evacuation of the first four
outposts could be a testing balloon for the evacuation of
other "clearly illegal," settlements.
Settlers said that the decision to follow the political track
proves that the legality of the outposts is not a legal
matter but a political one.
NRP leader and Housing and Construction Minister Effi Eitam
that the NRP would support the removal of the four
unauthorized outposts if no way is found to authorize them.
Eitam said, "If, in the end, after every avenue has been
pursued, these outposts cannot be authorized, then we will
not be able to support anything that is not legal."
Sharon made it clear in his Herzliya conference speech that
illegal settlements would be removed in the near future. "One
way or another," he said, "we will not remain in all those
places where we are now." He stressed, however, that he was
not prepared to commit to which settlements would be
removed.
National Union MK Aryeh Eldad said his faction would leave
the coalition if the government decides to dismantle the
Migron outpost, another one that had been rumored to be
slated for dismantling. The evacuation of a manned outpost
will take a force of hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers
and police officers.
