On May 19th, 2008, Ynetnews, the Israeli online news website, reported that a new outpost had recently started development on a hill near the settlement of Neguhot in South Mount Hebron. With two of the three hills already occupied by settlers, the permanent structure that marked the beginning of a new outpost is set on the third and final hill in the Neguhot area.
The Israeli settlement of Neguhot, located to the southwest of Hebron city, was establishment in the year 1982. It covers an area of 247 dunums and had a population of 150 Jewish settlers in the year 2006. During the years 2002 & 2003, two outposts by the name of Mitzpe Lachish Mirshalem were built on two hills northwest of Neguhot settlement to house a population of around 70 Jewish settlers. Those two particular outposts were stolen from the Palestinian town of Dura north of Neguhot settlement. See Map 1
The new outposts, is the third to be located in the vicinity of Neguhot settlement. The new outpost, yet to be named, is currently being illegally built on the third hill in the Neguhot area.
The area of the three hills is located in a section of the West Bank that is classified as 'Area C' which falls under the full Israeli Control. This Israelis have used such classification to manipulate the international law and thus justify the building of settlements and outposts; it specifically calls that the occupation shall not transfer any of its population to the area it occupies. First, according to The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (also called Oslo II) in 1995, redeployments from Area C and transfer of internal security responsibility to the Palestinian Police in Areas B and C will be carried out in three phases, each to take place after an interval of six months, to be completed 18 months after the inauguration of the Palestinian Council in 1996, except for the issues of permanent status negotiations and of Israel's overall responsibility for Israelis and borders.
Second, The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip also stated that no changes can be made to the land of the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. Building settlements is a clear violation of that because it takes land and makes brand new town in that area.
There have been many outcries by many different people and organizations about the development of settlements and outposts currently being built in the West Bank. However, the settlers' establishment of illegal outposts is being encouraged by the Israeli government and the Israeli Army. In fact, the Israeli government and its army provide the settlers with the means, the tools, and the protection needed to keep building these settlements and outposts.
Of course, this is not the first time the Israeli settlers have constructed new Israeli outposts. According to the analyses conducted at the Applied Research Institute- Jerusalem (ARIJ), the number of the Israeli outposts in the occupied West Bank territory currently stands at 220. With new outposts always in process, that number will surely go up soon. This building of settlements and outposts is a distancing of hope for a homeland for Palestinians and a distancing of hope from peace. The following is a statement by the Peace Now movement which explains how the actions the settlers are taking is detrimental to the peace process: “The settlers aren’t wasting any time and continue to change reality. Every day which goes by distances Israel and the Palestinians from the possibility of implementing the two-state vision and makes reality impossible.”
For peace to be reached, both sides, the Palestinians and the Israelis need to be willing to compromise. However, with Israeli’s repetition and willingness of breaking international laws, it does not seem to be willing to do such a thing.
In fact, a few days after construction began on the new outpost near Neguhot, expansion on the illegal settlement near Bil'in began. Even though the villagers of Bil'in won an Israeli high court of Justice decision to forbid the settlers from expanding the settlement of Mitetyaho Mizrah in 2007, the settlers, under the protection of the Israeli Army, are refusing to comply. The villagers of Bil'in have been conducting weekly nonviolent protests against the construction of the Israeli Segregation Wall and settlements for more than three years. The villagers of Bil’in state that they plan to continue their resistance of the Wall and expansion of the settlements.
Prepared by
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
