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World Jewish News
Barak: We'll evacuate illegal outposts peacefully or with force
20.05.2009
srael will insist on the removal of illegal West Bank outposts even if physical force is required, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday during a meeting with settler leaders in Tel Aviv.
The meeting, officials said, was held per the settlers' request. During the meeting, the group - including Yesha Council chief Danny Dayan, Pinchas Wallerstein, Gershon Masika, Zviki Bar-Hai, Shaul Goldstein and Ze'eve Haver - requested that the Defense Ministry lift the ban on construction in settlements.
In addition, the settler leaders also raised their concerns with a recent IDF decision to cut funding for security measures in West Bank settlements.
Barak said he preferred to remove the outposts by way of dialogue with the settler leaders.
"If it won't be by dialogue though, we will act swiftly and aggressively to enforce the law," he said, however.
Defense officials would not say how long Barak planned to allocate for a dialogue with the settlers, at the end of which he would order the IDF and Israel Police to evacuate the outposts.
"We cannot compromise when it comes to enforcing the law," Barak said. "A sovereign country needs to uphold the law and impose the authority of the state on its citizens."
The illegal outposts, Barak added, caused Israel damage in the international arena and weakened the settlement movement in the West Bank.
After the one-hour meeting, Dayan said, "We were surprised to learn that the defense minister was being fed disinformation, given to him as fact by leftist groups."
The meeting yielded no results, apart from both parties agreeing to meet regularly on the matter.
Nonetheless, Dayan expressed hope that, having presented the council's point of view, "the real picture will be clearer and policy-change will begin."
"Policy should be set in Jerusalem, not Washington," he said, a reference to US President Barack Obama's insistence that all settlement construction must be halted.
The Yesha leaders noted that they had requested a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu upon his return from Washington.
Regarding settlement security, Barak ordered MOD Dir.-Gen. Pinchas Buhris to allocate the necessary budget.
Barak's office released a statement saying that the money would be transferred in the near future.
The money is used by settlements to maintain various security measures, including fences and radar warning systems against infiltrations, as well as rapid-response security teams.
Источник: JPost.com
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