Ariel residents informed of West Bank construction freeze
Mayor of West Bank city tells municipal council that locals are prohibited from building even basic structures without Defense Ministry's authorization. 'If such a settlement freeze would have been imposed on the Arabs, an intifada of unimaginable proportions would have broken out,' he says
Ariel Mayor Ron Nahman convened an emergency meeting Monday night to notify the municipal council that all expansion and construction plans in the West Bank city were to be put on hold in accordance with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decree.
He said residents were prohibited from building even the most basic structures without authorization. "If a similar construction freeze were to have been imposed on Arabs inside the Green Line, an intifada of unimaginable proportions would have broken out," Nahman told Ynet after the meeting."We will make every effort to protect ourselves and our children in the face of the government's physical annihilation (of our community). This could lead to a catastrophe."
The mayor said that last Thursday he received a letter from Defense Minister Ehud Barak's bureau chief, Brig.-Gen. Michael Herzog, saying that all construction plans in the settlement must receive the ministry's authorization.
"These directives were handed down without any Knesset decision on a total settlement freeze," Nahman said. "How (can the government) violate individual rights in the State of Israel? This time we are going to fight."
On Sunday Defense Minister Barak slammed PM Olmert for his remarks on the failure to evacuate illegal outposts.
A Barak aide told Ynet that "the thought that outposts can be evacuated without attempting to solve the issues in all others ways is the same recklessness Olmert experienced during the Second Lebanon War and the Amona evacuation."
Olmert said "the fact that illegal posts are still standing, even though the two last governments decided to evacuate them is a disgrace."
Roni Sofer contributed to this report
