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And it’s not me who is saying so, but Israelis themselves:

Peace Now report: Outposts are in the news again because the settlers, taking advantage of Israelis’ (and the media’s) focus on the war with Hezbollah, used the summer of 2006 to expand outposts. Peace Now carefully documented this expansion and recently released the data to the public, re-igniting the debate in Israel over outposts in general, and over the Olmert Government’s policy regarding outposts in particular.

Between April and August 2006, no new outposts were established and one small, uninhabited outpost (Yitav East) was removed. During this same period, construction was observed in 31 outposts, ranging from the addition of mobile homes and expansion of infrastructure, to construction of permanent structures. The largest amount of this construction took place in the central and northern West Bank (areas under the control of the Binyamin Regional Council and the Samaria Regional Council, respectively). For the full Peace Now report click here.

[...] In addition, as noted in Settlements in Focus earlier this year the Government of Israel indicated it would evacuate 24 outposts, including outposts that are home to the most serious settler “troublemakers.” Since then, none of these outposts have been evacuated and some of them are on the list of those in which there has been recent expansion. At the same time, in April 2006 Peace Now petitioned the High Court of Justice over six outposts. That petition was rejected based on the argument that the Government was already planning to deal with the outposts. At the time, however, the Court stated, “…of course, in light of developments that occur or do not occur, a new petition can be filed according to the circumstances.” Given that during the intervening period the Government has failed to take any action against these outposts, Peace Now is considering petitioning the High Court of Justice again in the near future.

Finally, Peace Now has recently launched a challenge against the illegal outpost of Migron. The challenge is based on the fact that this outpost is built entirely on land that is privately-owned by Palestinians. In an unprecedented challenge to the settlers, a group of the legal landowners have organized and are working with Israeli lawyer Michael Sfard to demand that their rights be respected (Peace Now is a party to the petition). On September 26, 2006, Sfard sent a letter to Minister of Defense Amir Peretz and Central Command Head Major General Yair Naveh petitioning, on behalf of these landowners (one of whom is also an American citizen) and Peace Now for the immediate evacuation of the illegal outpost and the return of the land to its legal owners. The letter indicated that if the State did not respond positively within two weeks legal action to compel the State to act would be considered.

For Construction in Outposts - click here

For Construction in the Settlements - click here

For the report in Ynetnews
for the report in Haaretz

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