What the Israeli government finally admitted regarding the number of outposts erected by the Israeli settlers spread throughout the occupied Palestinian territories is not really 'breaking news'. In-fact they are just beginning to speak the truth about the outpost and its finance; probably because they are not able to hide the truth anymore since many organizations, ARIJ is one of which, are publishing reports about their existence and development, or because they want to divert any talks regarding evacuation of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank that stands next in line after the Gaza withdrawal.
An in-depth report prepared by an Israeli government attorney Talia Sasson upon the request of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon acknowledge more than 125 illegal outposts erected in the occupied Palestinian territories by the Israeli settlers and with the indirect support of many of the government ministries who disregarded the Israeli judicial counselors to stop all indirect financial support to these outposts. The head of the settlements council rebuffed these allegations about the outposts saying that every single outpost established was so with the knowledge and in many cases with the assistance of the Israeli 'civil' administration and the Israeli Army central command.
The Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ) has been providing reports about the outposts, their locations, expansions and the rapid increase in their numbers since 1999. A recent study carried out in December 2004 by the GIS (Geographical Information System) unit at the ARIJ and published on the institute's website (in addition to two local newspapers: Al-Quds and Al-Ayam) showed that there are 175 Israeli outposts, according to satellite images, spread all over the West Bank. The anticipated governmental report about the illegal Israeli outposts in the occupied Palestinian territories is a start; even though it does not report the exact number of these outposts, See Map 1.
Map 1 : Location of Outposts in the West Bank
The implanted outposts throughout the occupied Palestinian territories had unofficial concessions and support of the consecutive Israeli governments between the years 1996 and 2004, particularly when Ariel Sharon came to power in 2001 and the outpost syndrome got out of control. Naturally that did not come as a surprise since the call of the Israeli Minister of agriculture in 1998 (Ariel Sharon) for the Israeli settlers to take over the hilltops in the West Bank before ''Losing them to Palestinians in negotiations'' caused to dramatically escalate in the number of outpost in the occupied territories. The following table shows the number of Israeli outposts erected during the periods 1996-2001, 2001-2003 & 2003-2004 consecutively, See Photo 1 & photo 2.
|
Year Interval |
# of Outposts |
|
1996-2001 |
41 |
|
2001-2003 |
60 |
|
2003-2004 |
74 |
|
Total |
175 |
|
Source: ARIJ-GIS Database-December 2004 |
|
The Israeli government claim to have a classification for the settlers' outposts where one third of them are classified as 'illegal' and the second third with 'uncertain status' while the remaining one-third is governmentally propped. If that is the case, then the Israeli report of the illegal outpost was not far off reality as the Israeli government evidently legalized 50 of the 175 illegal Israeli outposts located within the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to the international law, there is no such thing as legal or illegal outposts since it is not up to the Israeli government to identify its status or that of its population in the occupied territories.
The ultimate fact of the Israeli outposts that they represent an explicit violation of the law regardless of the Israeli classification of them; both illegal and legal outpost are unconstitutional by any calculation and must be treated as same and eventually removed.
Prepared by:
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
