Israeli military sources reported on Wednesday that Israel Defense
Minister, Amir Peretz, does not intend to evacuate illegal settlement
outposts, in the occupied West Bank, in the near future, but intends to
demolish only 86 structures, half of them belong to Palestinians and
built on Palestinian property.
The sources added that there are no serious discussions regarding an imminent evacuation of the illegal settlement outposts.
The sources said that Peretz does not intend to demolish 47 structures illegal built by settlers on Palestinian lands, and 29 built by Palestinians on their own property.
The Palestinians do not need to obtain construction licences from Israel since they obtain their licences from Palestinian municipalities and village councils.
Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that the demolition plan includes leveling twenty structures in Al Tawani area in Hebron, a small number of constructions in Yitzhar settlement near Nablus, in addition to constructions in Psagot, Efrat and Kiryat Arba'.
The office of Peretz denied the report and claimed that the plan includes the evacuation of all illegal outposts and not just individual structures.
A source at Peretz' office said that Peretz will instruct the army to implement the plan “once a time frame is decided”.
Also, Haaretz added that the Israeli Ministry of Defense and settler leaders have been working on a proposal plan for voluntary evacuation of certain outposts and in return, the government would authorize certain outposts.
The Defense Ministry and the Yesha Council of Settlement have yet to decide which outposts would receive legal status.
A period set by Peretz for the settlers to voluntarily evacuate the illegal outposts will end next Monday, but senior Israel sources predict that Peretz will not order any evacuate before arriving to an agreement with the Yesha council.
One of the outposts is Givat Ze'ev, 3.5 kilometers away from Bet El, near Ramallah in the northern part of the West Bank. The Israeli Defense Ministry plans to evacuate the outpost but does not intend to return the land to the Palestinians, but instead, the outpost will be transformed into a military base.
This outpost was included in the Sasson report on illegal settlement outposts in 2001, the report included Givat Ze'ev, among dozens of outposts, as an outpost constructed on private owned Palestinian property.
