Posted on 12/10/2003 12:52:08 PM PST by anotherview
Dec. 10, 2003
Army removes 3 unauthorized outposts
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Settlers voluntarily evacuated at least one unauthorized outpost Wednesday, dragging away a charred, burned out trailer on a hilltop near Na'aleh.
It was the fifth of six uninhabited outposts removed this week. The sixth is an empty trailer on a hilltop near Ramallah, sources in the Central Command said. Arrangements were being made with the settlers for them to remove them as well.
The army itself evacuated three unoccupied outposts in the West Bank on Wednesday, Channel One reported: a guard tower at Itzhar, a water tank at Maaleh Shlomo and a crane near Maalit.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz met earlier in the week with settler leaders to tell them which outposts IDF Central Command has been told must be uprooted. But settlers have vowed to found a new outpost for each one removed.
Mofaz included the outposts of Migron, Amona and Mitzpeh Yitzhar in his list of outposts marked for removal, Army Radio reported. Mofaz and the settlers agreed to meet again on the issue of obtaining agreement on the removal of settlements.
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) on Tuesday called Mofaz's call to dismantle 8 populated outposts "unacceptable." "Mofaz is perpetrating a transfer on Jews. He is planning on uprooting over 220 people from their land."
Binyamin Regional Council head Pinhas Wallerstein, who reportedly left the meeting with Mofaz in a rage, said that the removal of populated outposts without a Knesset vote would constitute a "complete breakdown of the democratic process in the country."
"In my eyes, a populated outpost has the same value as a settlement, and I totally reject any process of deciding on the future of any community in the land of Israel without a due democratic process," Wallerstein said.
Settlers have said they want the defense ministry to legalize outposts.
Defense sources said the purpose of the Monday night meeting was to open channels of communication and that no decisions were expected.
Meanwhile, residents of West Bank outposts met with lawyers to coordinate a legal battle to halt any attempts to remove them.
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