Israel
Fails to Dismantle Illegal Settler Outposts
On
November 1, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak asked the Israeli High Court of
Justice to grant the government a two-month extension to develop a plan to
remove illegal West Bank settler outposts.
Ministry officials submitted the request during a hearing by the Israeli
group Peace Now arguing for the removal of the illegal Migron outpost.
According
to reports from different human rights and peace groups, there are hundreds of
illegal settler outposts throughout the West Bank. These are small groupings, sometimes just a
few tents or trailers, set up close to Palestinian towns and villages. The settlers who live in these outposts are
armed and many also receive protection from Israeli soldiers. They have been involved in frequent, violent
attacks on Palestinian civilians and have also engaged in theft of water,
destruction of agricultural land and crops and other acts of terrorism. Many of the outposts are financed by extreme
right-wing Zionists based in the United States.
This
is not the first extension that has been requested and granted in the deadline
for removing the outposts. In December 2006, the state prosecutor asked for (and received) a
four to five month extension on the deadline to remove the Migron
outpost as well as planning for the removal of several others. At the end of this period, the prosecution
was to have provided the High Court with a progress report. Prosecutors testified that they had been
instructed by then defence minister Amir Peretz to “negotiate with settler
leaders, in order to reach an agreement to evacuate the outposts voluntarily at
a near date.” Without a voluntary
agreement, the Migron outpost was slated for evacuation within six months –
that is by June 2007. It still remains in place to this day.
Furthermore,
Israel has reneged on several international commitments it has made to remove
illegal outposts. Under an agreement
brokered by the United States in 1998, Israel promised to evacuate all outposts
by March 2001.