http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=51157&mador=3
Ha'aretz, July 12, 1999
Get Rid of the Outposts
Ha'aretz Editorial
After their meeting yesterday at the Erez
junction, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat
described Israeli settlements in the territories
as one of the most difficult problems facing both
sides as they approach final status negotiations.
Barak and Arafat made a special effort to undo the
suspicion and antagonism that characterized the
relationship between the Netanyahu government and
the Palestinian leadership, in order to give a new
chance to substantive negotiations. Barak has now
the opportunity to help create a new atmosphere of
trust if he turns to dealing urgently with one of
the land mines left behind by the Netanyahu
administration.
About a year ago, as the summit with the
Palestinians at Wye River Plantation approached,
the settlers and their supporters in the previous
government foresaw the agreement crystallizing in
the U.S. and began a campaign to grab land in the
West Bank. Palestinian protests, warnings from the
U.S. government and the international community,
and complaints by many Israelis, did nothing to
halt the phenomenon, which only continued to grow.
A year ago, there were six of these outposts. This
week reports said there were already 42, with
hundreds of mobile homes posted on them.
Everywhere, the method used was the same: The
settlers identified a hilltop some distance from
an existing settlement, mostly in areas called
state lands, and sometimes inside the zoned area
of the settlement (which in many cases is an
enormous area). They brought mobile homes to the
hilltop, and to avoid claims of creating a new
settlement, they said they were only expanding
existing settlements. Sometimes the IDF knew in
advance of the settlers' intentions, and sometimes
it didn't. In any case, when the IDF demanded the
settlers leave the hilltops, they refused.
The second stage was paving a road to the new
outpost and filling the mobile homes with a few
families. At that stage, the government and the
army surrendered to the settlers' demands. The IDF
provided protection, and the settlers found ways
to raise money from the public coffers to pay for
their presence there.
In the previous government, National Religious
Party ministers and other factors put pressure on
the government to make sure the outposts were not
dismantled. Usually, there was no need for any
pressure, especially during the election campaign
when former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
wanted settler support. Minister Ariel Sharon
supported the settlers, indeed encouraged them,
and when Moshe Arens was named defense minister
the settlers won added budgets.
What began as an illegal improvisation quickly
turned into a method, supported by the previous
government, to nurture a wild, catch-as-catch-can
land grab. On occasion, the race was accompanied
by outbreaks of violence with Palestinians -
especially when the land grabs took place on
privately owned Arab lands.
Now, with a new government, it is time to end this
state of affairs. During the previous government,
the settlers enjoyed a special status. Getting rid
of the outposts that were born in sin will make it
clear to the settlers and the Palestinians that
the Barak government does not intend to follow in
the Netanyahu government's footsteps.
(c) copyright 1999 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved
