Ehud Barak
Photo: Dudi Vaknin
Barak: No outposts to be evacuated before end of 2007
High Court hears Peace Now petition demanding immediate evacuation of all illegal West Bank outposts. Defense Ministry asks for two-month extension on ruling, cites efforts to reach acceptable solution with settlers as reason
The High Court of Justice on Thursday heard a petition filed by Peace Now, demanding the immediate evacuation of illegal outposts in the West Bank.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak asked the High Court – through attorney Anar Helman of the State Prosecutor’s Office – for a two-month extension before any more illegal outposts in the West Bank are evacuated.
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Barak also informed the court that the Defense Ministry had issued new directives in the matters and that "based on those directives the ministry has began a series of meetings with the settlers' leaders, in an effort to reach a joint solution as to the outposts' status."
Negotiating a solution
Ynet has learned that the Defense Ministry and the heads of the settlers' communities have been negotiating the legalization of some of the outposts, but that the ministry has made it clear that most of them would have to be evacuated.The Defense Ministry told the court it is hoping to be able to establish a time frame for the evacuations, but should it fail to reach an agreement with the settlers, it would proceed with a unilateral evacuation.
In early September, the government announced it would decide which outposts would be evacuated and which declared legal by the end of 2007.
The Defense Ministry began negotiating a solution with the settlers' leader almost immediately, but then Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced the ministry would not allow any leeway as far as relocating illegal outposts to disputed locations, or the forming of new, potentially controversial ones.
In mid October, the Yesha Council announced it was ceasing its negotiations with the Defense Ministry, following Barak's decision to halt any building projects in West Bank settlements. The Council called on its members to "fight the evacuation with all their might."
Yariv Oppenheimer, head of Peace Now, asked the court to deny Barak's request, citing "the court should make the government uphold the law and order it to evacuate all illegal settlement immediately."
