By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East Desk
JERUSALEM, Israel– The news agency Ha’aretz broke the news on July 21 that Israeli leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had created a plan to swiftly evacuate twenty-three illegal outposts on the west bank.
The term “outpost” was initially defined in a report by lawyer Talia Sasson as a piece of land “lying a significant distance from an existing settlement and established with disregard to the law.” The government commissioned her study in 2005, in which 105 communities were identified as outposts. An estimated 8,000 settlers live at the outposts set to be evacuated.
No official date for the evacuation has been released, although the leaked information says that the evacuations will be very quick. Although the source of the information is anonymous, the report comes from the same reporter to whom former prime minister Ariel Sharon released plans to withdraw troops and settlers from the Gaza strip in 2005. Netanyahu’s officials have declined to comment on the plans, but soldiers executed a military exercise in preparation for riots and protests that are expected to occur with the evacuation. Moreover, the security administration designed the plan with Netanyahu’s knowledge and approval. This plan would comply with an agreement that was made with President George W. Bush to remove the outposts built after March 2001.
The last such evacuation attempt happened in 2006 with an outpost known as Amona. However, ultranationalist protesters flooded Amona, and violent protests broke out. More than 300 were injured in the struggle and Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, cited excessive violence and police brutality in the action. Furthermore, when three illegal structures at outposts in the West Bank were evacuated on July 21, and settlers torched Palestinian olive groves, threw stones at Palestinian Cars, and blocked roads. The displaced settlers have threatened a larger “price tag” for further evacuations.
The proposed evacuations will happen very quickly and simultaneously to minimize the chance of failure. It is hoped that violence will be significantly decreased if there is no time for protesters to travel to the evacuation. Additionally, with all of the evacuations occurring simultaneously and at an unannounced time, there will be no time for planning, so it will be difficult for protesters to gather in significant numbers at all of the locations.
There has been increasing pressure from the international community for the peace process to restart in Israel. Earlier in 2009, US President Barack Obama told Israel that the settlement expansion needed to stop in order for peace to occur, and other leaders are now supporting this message. Most recently Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon have issued statements encouraging Israel to halt further settlement expansion.
For more information, please see:
Sydney Morning Herald – Plan to Evacuate Settler Outposts – 22 July 2009
Y-Net – UN Secretary General: Israel Must Halt Settlement Building – 22 July 2009
Christian Science Monitor – Is Israel Serious About Closing 23 Fringe Settlements? – 21 July 2009
Haaretz – Ex-envoy to US: Israel ‘totally committed’ to Razing Outposts – 21 July 2009
Jerusalem Post – Russia Calls on Israel to Halt Construction in East Jerusalem – 21 July 2009
The Washington Post – Israel to Evacuate all Outposts in a Day: Report – 21 July 2009
