The Israeli outposts are considered as one of the main obstacles to the peace process. Since the year 1996 the Israeli settlers supported by the Israeli government and the Israeli Army constructed 220 outposts throughout the Palestinian Territory, most of which (164 outposts) were established after 2001. Nowadays, The Israelis tried to classify the outposts between legal and other as illegal in a way to give many of them some sort of legitimacy.
Evacuating Shuvut Ami and Harchivi outposts
On January 16, 2007, the Israeli Army evacuated hundreds of Israeli settlers many of whom were teenagers from two illegal outposts, which were constructed by the Israeli right- wing activists in the West Bank. The two outposts, Shuvut Ami near Kedumim settlement in Qalqiliya Governorate and Harchivi near Elon Moreh in Nablus were part of the nine outposts (see map below) set up by the Israeli extremist right wing activists during the Sukkot holiday in December 2007. The fact of the matter is that the Israeli settlers decided to send a message to parties meeting in the Annapolis conference in December 27, 2007. More than that, the message was also intended to the upcoming visit of the US President to the region, which took place on January 9, 2008. The message was that this land is part of 'Ertz Yisrael' (the Land of Israel) and the Jews have the right to build anywhere they want.
The recently evacuated outposts' locations were actually dismantled several times before but the Israeli settlers kept going back to the same locations and set there under the protection of the Israeli Army until they are evacuated again. The settlers claim that they must strengthen their existing on the lands in order to oppose any plans to surrender any land to the Palestinians. For example Shuvut Ami was evacuate on six previous occasions and the settlers kept coming back again, all of which happened with the full knowledge of the Israeli government and under the protection of the Israeli Army. The bottom line is that the Israeli government is manipulating the world with the evacuation charades every now and then and misleads the international community of their effort to comply with the road map, which clearly calls upon Israel to dismantle all the 220 outposts existing illegally in the West Bank territory. The two Israeli outposts claimed evacuated are:
Shuvut Ami outpost
It is located near Kedummim settlement; east of Qalqiliya city on a hilltop few meters away from bypass road # 55, which connects the two Israeli settlements Kedummim and Karne Shmoron together. .
Harchivi outpost
Harchivi outpost is located near the settlement of Elon Moreh southeast of Nablus. This outpost is one of the 9 outposts which were recently constructed on the expanse of the Palestinian lands in the West Bank. The outpost has been evacuated several times but the Israeli settlers� reoccupied the location under the protection of the Israeli Army.
According to the database of the Applied Research Institute- Jerusalem (ARIJ), there are 102 outposts out of the 220 located within the settlements master plan area, and the Israeli settlers� and the government classify them as new neighborhoods. The remaining 118 outposts, exists on lands that is likely to transfer to Palestinian jurisdiction in the future but the Israeli government is playing them as bargaining chips to legalize the outposts existing within the settlements� master plans and the main settlements blocs� contained by the under construction Segregation Wall.
Furthermore, since the time when the 'Quartet of international entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations adopted what is known today as the 'road map' on June 2002, which called upon Israel to dismantle the settlements outposts established since March 2001, the Israeli government constructed 164 outposts in the West Bank.
Prepared by
The Applied Reserach Institute – Jerusalem
