They've taken the desert and made it bloom...
thats "Illegal..."
Posted on 03/09/2005 5:48:01 AM PST by Rogers324
Israeli state bodies have been secretly diverting millions of dollars to build illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an official report has revealed.
Former state prosecutor Talia Sasson has recommended criminal investigations against those alleged to be involved.
Israel is meant to remove unauthorised outposts on Palestinian land under the US-backed roadmap peace plan.
Anti-settlement groups say more than 100 such outposts have sprung up, outside existing settlements.
The report details how officials in the Ministries of Defence and Housing and the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organisation spent millions of dollars from state budgets to support the illegal outposts.
Ms Sasson called it a "blatant violation of the law" and said "drastic steps" were needed to remedy the situation.
It describes secret co-operation between various ministries and official institutions to consolidate wildcat outposts, which settlers began setting up more than a decade ago.
It was an initiative backed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, then Foreign Minister, who urged settlers to seize hilltops in order to break up the contiguity of Palestinian areas and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The report includes the following findings:
* The housing ministry supplied 400 mobile homes for outposts on private Palestinian land. * The defence ministry approved the positioning of trailers to begin new outposts. * The education ministry paid for nurseries and their teachers. * The energy ministry connected outposts to the electricity grid. * Roads to outposts were paid for with taxpayers money.
A statement from Sharon's office - which commissioned the report - said the matter would be discussed in the cabinet on Sunday.
About 400,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and Gaza - alongside among than 4 million Palestinians. About 8,000 settlers and the soldiers that protect them are due to be withdrawn from Gaza in July this year.
Under international law, all settlement building in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem is considered illegal, though Israel disputes this.
They've taken the desert and made it bloom...
thats "Illegal..."
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