Israel Violates U.S. Peace Plan, Okays Outposts
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
JERUSALEM — Unauthorized settler outposts in the West Bank would get official government approval under a deal Israel’s defense minister is working out, settlers and government officials said yesterday, in apparent violation of an American-backed peace plan.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz is negotiating with settler leaders on a deal to take down some of the outposts, move others and give authorization to the rest, according to a spokeswoman for the settlers, Emily Amrussi.
The Defense Ministry confirmed that talks with settler leaders are taking place and would continue, saying Mr. Peretz initiated them to defuse tension and allow the evacuation of illegal outposts to proceed.
However, the ministry said in a statement that the talks were “not negotiations, but dialogue” and that no agreements had been reached. “We are not negotiating over the enforcement of the law,” the ministry said.
Settlers began building outposts in the early 1990s, when Israel declared an official settlement freeze as part of the Oslo peace talks. Today, there are more than 100 such outposts, which were built against the law though often with the tacit or active participation of government offices and with government funds. A deal that leaves significant numbers of outposts in place could constitute a violation of Israel’s commitments under the internationally backed “road map” plan.
Israel said it would evacuate all outposts built after 2001 as part of the plan, but so far has removed only a few, and most of those were rebuilt.
Last year, police clashed with hundreds of settlers at one outpost, Amona, when the government ordered the demolition of nine permanent houses built there.The buildings were bulldozed, but dozens of settlers and police were injured.
Major General Yair Naveh, who heads the Israeli army’s Central Command and is the officer in charge of the West Bank, supports the attempt to reach an agreement that would see some outposts legalized and others evacuated, army officers said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
A legislator from Prime Minister Olmert’s Kadima Party and a settler himself, Otniel Schneller, is involved in the negotiations, a Schneller aide, Shmulik Villian said.
