OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 28 October 2003 — Israel was accused yesterday of breaching the terms of the Middle East “road map” for peace after granting “permanent settlement” status to at least five illegal outposts in the West Bank.
A senior adviser to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the decision would allow the settlements to obtain grants for education and infrastructure projects such as lighting as well as being eligible for protection by security forces.
“We need to give the minimum services to these people who are on the ground, especially for security and education,” Ron Sheshner, senior advisor to Mofaz on settlements, told public radio. The radio said that several of the outposts set to be accorded “legal” status had earlier been dismantled by the army.
In addition, the radio reported that Parliament’s finance commission would unlock some $29 million worth of funds to build apartments in West Bank settlements. Under the terms of the internationally drafted “road map”, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government is obliged to freeze settlement activity in general and dismantle around 60 outposts in the West Bank which have been set up since he came to power in March 2001.
Since the “road map” was officially launched in June, the number of settlement outposts has remained largely unchanged. Around a dozen were dismantled by the army in a blaze of publicity but new ones have been since been set up by radical settler groups. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei accused Israel of “violating all the laws and international norms” by declaring that the outposts were legal.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the latest move illustrated that Sharon’s government was determined to kill off the “road map”. “Israel is continuing to bury the ‘roadmap’,” Erekat told AFP.
He called on the sponsors of the peace plan — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — to pressure Israel to reverse its decision, which he described as part of a wider aim “to destroy the peace process and the Palestinian Authority and prolong the occupation”.
Dror Etkes, of the Israeli leftist group Peace Now’s Settlement Watch program, said that the move was a “blatant” breach of the terms of the “road map”.
“According to the ‘road map’ they are expected to dismantle these outposts. Instead what we are seeing is that they are being integrated,” he told AFP.
Peace Now said the plans proved Sharon had lied when he promised Washington earlier this year that Israel would remove dozens of small, isolated outposts under the peace plan. “Sharon promised to take down the outposts and has lied to the Israeli public and to the Palestinian partners,” said Yariv Oppenheimer, Peace Now director, of the plans to give outposts additional services. “The facts speak for themselves.”
The international community considers the nearly 150 settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as illegal under international law. Israel disputes this and accuses Palestinians of failing to meet their obligation under the “road map” to rein in militants.
The Defense Ministry denied what the daily Yediot Ahronot said amounted to a granting of more permanent status to eight outposts receiving the new services. “If the government decides that these people shouldn’t be there, we will dismantle the outposts, but as long as they haven’t decided ... and there are people there, I must give them security,” ministry settlement adviser Ron Shechner said.
Oppenheimer said the measures would further entrench outposts that Israel had pledged to dismantle.
