JERUSALEM, 14 March 2005 — The Israeli government decided yesterday to dismantle 24 settlement outposts that have sprung up in the West Bank since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came to power in March 2001, public radio said. The move — a key requirement of the moribund Middle East road map peace plan — will see just under a quarter of the 105 West Bank outposts detailed in a recent government report uprooted.
Washington and the Palestinian Authority have repeatedly called on Israel to dismantle all West Bank outposts, although Palestinian ministers yesterday reserved judgment, adopting a “wait and see” attitude. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Housing Minister Yitzhak Herzog and Education Minister Limor Livnat all confirmed that 24 West Bank settlements would be axed in keeping with the decision, the radio said.
Under the internationally drafted Middle East road map peace plan, the government is obliged to dismantle all unauthorized outposts that have been erected in the West Bank since Sharon took office in March 2001.
In a bid to limit criticism, the Israeli Cabinet also ordered Justice Minister Tzippi Livni to head a ministerial review set to examine the future of the 81 additional wildcat outposts mentioned in the highly damaging report.
“The evacuation of unauthorized settlement outposts is part of Israel’s obligations according to the roadmap as it was approved by the government,” Sharon said in comments broadcast by army radio. The report concluded last week that government ministries had either turned a blind eye to or handed out millions of dollars to help finance and build scores of settlements on the occupied West Bank.
But Palestinian ministers reserved judgment over the promised end to the outposts, coming with Israel on track to evacuate all 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip later this year. “We have had a lot of Israeli statements intended for international consumption but there has always been a gap between the statements and reality. We want to wait and see,” Planning Minister Ghassan Khatib told AFP. “We have heard a lot of talk about demolishing settlements... We’ve only seen an enlargement of settlements,” he added.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Qidwa told AFP he was unwilling to comment until he had seen an official statement on the planned dismantlement. Last week’s report, drawn up by former Justice Ministry official Talia Sasson, found that parts of 54 wildcat settlements built on state land had strayed onto Palestinian private property. Of the 105 outposts, she said 22 had been established since Sharon, once hailed as a champion of the settlers, came to power.
But adding to the swirl of controversy over the planned Gaza pullout, the Israeli Cabinet was hardly united over the details of any further evacuations. Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said wildcat settlements should not be torn down in the West Bank until after Israel evacuated Gaza, an operation expected to be completed by August. “We must concentrate on this withdrawal and not on opening a new front,” he told public radio.
Communications Minister Dalia Itzhik, of the left-wing Labour Party, earlier castigated her government for not taking stronger action. “Setting up a committee looks strongly like putting it on the back burner, a new example of Israeli bluff,” she said. “These settlements are illegal. They must be torn down, not to please the Americans but for us out of respect for the rule of law.”
The international community regards all settlements in the occupied territories as illegal, regardless of whether they received Israeli government authorization.
