In mid May of 2009, the Israeli high court of justice issued an order asking the government of Israel to take a firm stand and do its obligation set by the supreme court to evacuating six Israeli outposts built on occupied Palestinian lands in the West Bank within the next 90 days.

The court order came in conjunction with the Israeli Prime Minister's Binyamin Netanyahu visit to the USA to discuses the peace process in the Middle East with the newly elected US president, Barack Obama; meanwhile the expansion of Israeli settlements continues publicly in many areas of occupied West Bank.

Article XXXI of the 1995 Oslo agreement Israelis forbidden from building or planning to any project or settlements or any colonial expansion or any plan that lead to change the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The article provides “Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations”.

 

The evacuation plan set for the outposts was to take place in six different locations in the West Bank where right-wing settlers have occupied and yet continue to adopt the 'run and grab land' policy; thus undermining all hopes of achieving a just peace.

The six mentioned Israeli outposts are located in five Palestinian Governorates in the West Bank (see map 1). Those outposts had evacuation orders late in the year 2004, but the Israeli government went on delaying the implementation process, which in turn extended the settlers stay for another 5 years. See Table 1

Table 1: List of Israeli outposts concluded in the evacuation court order 2004 and expected to be evacuated by late July – August 2009
Outpost Name		Governorate	Population
1	Eli South/Apiryon Hill/Haro'e	Ramallah	80
2	Ma'ale Rehavam	Bethlehem	12
3	Mitzpe Lachish	Hebron	50
4	Ramot Gilad	Qalqiliya	8
5	Yishar South	Nablus	0
6	Asaf Hill/ T Junction	Ramallah	56
Total			206

Source: ARIJ GIS Data Base – 2009

 

Sometime after May 20, 2009, the Israeli minister of defense Ehud Barak also ordered the border police to demolish an outpost called Mo'az Ester located on the outskirts of Ramallah. The outpost had only three mobile caravans; this is the second time that this outpost faces evacuation, which clearly shows how the state of Israel is not serious about the evacuation or the laws and court orders issued regarding the outposts.. On the other hand, The Israeli Civil Administration, The ministry of Housing, and construction, the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem continue to issue building tenders to expand settlements and to facilitate establishment of outposts at many locations in the West Bank.

Table 2: Israeli Housing Units as provided by PEACENOW Movement.
Settlement	Detailed Plans		Master Plans	Built Units
	Approved	In Preparation	In Preparation
Oranit		400
Alfei Menashe		1058	1000	100
Elkana		380
Efrat	1301		2500	78
Ariel	797	3200	8000	486
Betar Illit	4723	452		2742
Geva' Benyamin (Adam)	388	1500	1380	388
Giv'at Ze'ev	265	654	4000	0
Gush Etzion – New		3500	13500
East Jerusalem	3922	1800		3166
Magen Dan		146
Mattityahu		1200		80
Ma'aale Adumim	1708	5700	4000	1564
Immanuel	1459			100
Kiryat Arba'	156	500	2000	0
Karnei Shomron	341	1276		150
Sha'are Tekva		nn
Revava – New	96			96
Total	15156	21766	35380	8950

Source: PEACENOW (March 1, 2009)
(http://www.govmap.gov.il/)

 

In addition, the Israeli government Website (http://www.govmap.gov.il/) provided information about building plans for about 15000 housing units to be added to Israeli settlements in the West Bank that have been approved by the state and additional plans for the construction of 58,000 housing units that are awaiting the state's approval. See Table 2

The aforementioned information confirm that the Israeli High Court order to evacuate outposts is merely to entertain the political environment as to tickle the US new administration steadfast on the Israeli colonization issue and how the Palestinians' dilemma would be highlighting it's political out-approach agenda.

The Israeli Prime Minister Visit to the US

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated after his arrival to Israel following his trip to the US, that he would tackle the issue of Israeli outposts in the West Bank by 'not authorizing any new construction but he also stated that it would be unfair to ignore the natural growth of settlers population which in turn leads to more  building in Israeli settlements; thus slamming all efforts made regionally and internationally to stop the growth of the settlements.

'We do not intend to build any new settlements, but it wouldn't be fair to ban construction to meet the needs of natural growth or for there to be an outright construction ban,'Netanyahu told his cabinet, according to officials Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press. (24 may 2009)

 

To conclude:-

The fact is that Israel is carrying out with the charade of outposts’ evacuation as it has been doing for several years now. The Israeli claims to evacuation attempt started more than six years ago but every time the evacuation is either delayed until forgotten or upon agreement with the settlers, the Israeli Army would evacuate the settlers in the mourning only to allow them to return back to the same location at night; or just go and establish another location at a nearby area. At the end of the day this has been news propaganda for Israel to mislead and confuse the international community making it believe that Israel is actually conforming with efforts resurrect the peace process while facts on the ground says otherwise; outposts are not evacuated but in fact increasing. 

Ever since the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, the consecutive Israeli governments have encouraged the land grab policy, and went on with settlement building and construction of outposts on Palestinian lands. To this date, there are 232 Israeli outposts constructed in the West Bank and 199 Israeli settlements that already occupy 188 Km² of Palestinian lands (3.3% of the total West Bank area); in addition to 800 km that were confiscated from Palestinians and were designated for the construction of Israeli bypass roads for the service of Israeli settlements and settlers. (Source: ARIJ Data Base 2009).

The existence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and their expansions are Illegal and goes in contradiction with the international law, United Nations Security Council Resolutions: 237 (1967), 271 (1969), 446 (1979), 452 (1979), and 465 (1980, among others.

In May 2001, the head of the International Red Cross delegation to Israel and the Occupied Territories said that settlements are 'equal in principle to war crimes' (Note: 'The transfer, the installation of population of the occupying power into the occupied territories is considered as an illegal move and qualified as a 'grave breach.' It's a grave breach, formally speaking, but grave breaches are equal in principle to war crimes' Rene Kosirnik, head of the ICRC delegation to Israel and the OPT, press conference 17 May 2001.) 

 

Prepared by:
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem