- The Palestinian leadership dismissed as a publicity stunt
on Monday the order for the removal of four unauthorized West Bank outposts
issued by the head of the Israel Defense Force's Central Command, Major
General Moshe Kaplinski.
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- On Sunday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister
Shaul Mofaz both signed the order, paving the way for the four settlements
to be removed.
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- Those wishing to challenge the orders now have three
days to petition the Civil Administration's planning department. Thereafter,
they have three days to petition the High Court against the decision.
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- The Palestinian Authority on Monday criticized Israel's
decision to remove the four illegal settlement outposts, saying the move
was a publicity stunt that falls below the requirements of a U.S.-backed
peace "road map."
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- "I think the world is sick and tired of these public
relations stunts - Israelis moving a caravan here and a caravan there,"
Palestinian Negotiating Minister Saeb Erekat told reporters in the West
Bank city of Ramallah.
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- PA Chairman Yasser Arafat appealed to Israel's security
concerns in denouncing the settlement expansion.
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- "I ask the Israeli side to stop...this settlement
assault that will not provide security for the Israelis, because the road
to security is through the recognition of our rights," he said in
remarks broadcast on Palestinian television and radio.
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- A number of legal experts told Haaretz on Monday that
Kaplinksi's "order is general and does not at all specify the names
of outposts slated for evacuation." According to the legal experts,
Kaplinksi is permitted in the future to issue demolition orders for specific
settlement outposts.
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- Eitam: NRP will support removal of outposts Housing and
Construction Minister Effi Eitam said Monday that his National Religious
Party would support a move by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to fast track
the removal of four unauthorized outposts, if no way could be found to
authorize them.
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- Speaking on Army Radio, Eitam said that the NRP "is
part of the government, part of the rule of law in the State of Israel.
If, in the end, after every avenue has been pursued, these outposts cannot
be authorized, then we will not be able to support anything that is not
legal."
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- Oren Brund, the secretary of Ginot Aryeh, the largest
of the four outposts, said the families at the hilltop outpost near the
West Bank settlement of Ofra would appeal to the High Court. If the court
decides to back the evacuation, he said settlers would oppose it.
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- "The Yesha [Settlers'] Council will bring thousands
of people here and we will not move," Brund told Israel Radio. "There
will be a clash ... there will not be a violent confrontation."
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- The four outposts slated for evacuation are: Ginot Aryeh,
near Ofra, Hazon David, near Kiryat Arba, Bat Ayin Maarav and Havat Shaked,
near Yitzhar. Only one of the outposts - Ginot Aryeh - is inhabited, with
about 10 families living there as well as a few single people. The outpost,
however, is just 50 meters from an area with building permission and a
deal to move the outpost may be worked out with the settlers.
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- The other outposts are currently empty, but settlers
may try to inhabit these outposts now to disrupt their dismantlement.
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- Two key government ministers, meanwhile, backed the decision
to remove the outposts.
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- "I think the system is dragging its feet on removing
illegal outposts. The State of Israel must remove all the illegal outposts,
without any excuse," said Meir Sheetrit, a minister without portfolio
attached to the Finance Ministy.
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- Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, leader of Shinui, a key
coalition partner, said the unauthorised outposts were "ruining our
relations with the Americans, with Europe" and must be taken down.
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- Over the weekend, Sharon approved a proposal by Mofaz
to transfer the issue of evacuating illegal outposts to the "political
track" instead of the complicated procedure of issuing demolition
orders under planning and construction laws.
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- This political track was approved under a previous government,
which granted the prime minister and the defense minister the authority
to earmark a site for evacuation. Mofaz and Sharon's decision is also in
accordance with the recommendations of the IDF's legal advisor for the
West Bank, Colonel Shlomo Politis, to simplify the evacuation procedure
and prevent the settlers from stretching the procedure out. The settlers
have up until now been able to appeal to various planning and construction
institutes as well as the courts. The political track will only allow a
formal hearing for those opposed to the evacuation as well as a petition
to the High Court of Justice.
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- Under the new procedure, the settlers will be able to
appeal to the Civil Administration's planning council within three days
of Kaplinski signing the demolition order. They will also be allowed to
petition the High Court up to three days after. If the High Court does
not delay its discussion on the petition, the evacuation procedure can
begin within 10 days, defense establishment sources believe.
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- The Central Command has yet to begin its operational
preparations for the evacuation, as Mofaz and Sharon's order was only received
on Sunday. The preparations are expected to take at least a few days. The
evacuation of a manned outpost will take a force of hundreds, if not thousands,
of soldiers and police officers.
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- The evacuation of the outpost of Migron will probably
go through the old, lengthier procedure. Though the Defense Ministry claims
that this is because of the ambiguity over the legal status of the ground,
officers who have followed the establishment of this outpost claim that
this is merely an excuse. They say that Migron is "exceedingly illegal"
and the decision not to evacuate it at this time is because it has become
a symbol for the settlers and thousands are planning to barricade themselves
in the outpost and fight the evacuation.
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- The Yesha Council of settlements rabbis council on Sunday
called on the people to form a living wall and resist the evacuation.
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- A resident of Ginot Aryeh, Pinchas Yamin, said he would
never abandon the stony hills that he made his home.
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- "God says 'live here' - and that's it," said
Yamin, 27, a religious Jew and disc jockey at a settler radio station.
"I won't leave alive. If a soldier wants, he can take me, but not
alive. This is my home."
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- Ginot Aryeh settlers said it doesn't matter if the outpost
is deemed "unauthorized" by the courts. For them, only God's
law rules this holy land and will ensure they stay.
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- "The whole world must understand that this is our
land, the Jewish people's," said Yamin, who slid his M-16 assault
rifle under the table and out of view when he invited journalists inside
for coffee.
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- "We live here and we die here and that's that."
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