Channels

Evacuation of Maoz Ester
Photo: Reuters
Dayan. Gov't will be responsible
Photo: Ofer Amram
Weiss. Netanyahu lost control
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin

Settler leaders vow to renew West Bank construction

Rightists infuriated by recent outpost evacuations, say: Bibi has turned out to be a hypocrite. He received the Right's votes, but is implementing the Left's policy

Settler leaders vowed Sunday to continue building new outposts in response to Defense Minister Ehud Barak's intention to go on with the evacuation of illegal outposts, either through dialogue or by force.

 

The tiny Maoz Ester outpost was evacuated on Thursday, only to be rebuilt several hours later.

 

"If the government continues to take aggressive, one-sided steps, it will also be responsible for the dire consequences," head of the Yesha Council, Danny Dayan said.

 

Dayan said that one of the Netanyahu government's main election promises was to renew Jewish construction in the West Bank, and that in the past the Likud itself supported the settlements.

 

Another prominent settler leader, Daniel Weiss, added: "We are very disappointed. We hope that Likud MKs and ministers will remind (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu that a right-wing government has been elected and that its ideology should advocate a Greater Israel.

 

Weiss also said that the "recklessness" of the evacuation last week showed that Netanyahu was losing control of the situation. She vowed that the settlers will continue building new communities, "hopefully also in the direction of Gaza." and that the number of settlers will double within several years.

 

'Bibi will pay for repeating mistakes'

Women in Green Chairwoman Nadia Matar also criticized the defense minister, saying that "the only outpost that must be uprooted is the illegal and undemocratic outpost of Ehud Barak, inside a government elected to be right-wing rather than extreme leftist.

 

"The people threw to the opposition those who called for subservience and surrendering to the Arab enemy, and elected this government to safeguard the Land of Israel. If Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu) fails to understand this and will repeat the mistakes he did during his previous tenure as prime minister – by advancing the desires of the delusional Left instead of those of the people – he will once again lose the government.

 

"Anyone who injures or harms the Land of Israel does not remain in power, and the proof is what happened in the past 15 years," she warned.

 

National Jewish Front activist Itamar Ben Gvir joined the criticism against Netanyahu and Barak, saying that "Bibi has turned out to be a hypocrite. He received the Right's votes, but is implementing the Left's policy. We will launch a policy against Netanyahu under the banner, 'Bibi, you have no mandate to uproot Jews from their home.'"

 

Orit Struck, chairwoman of the Yesha Human Rights Organization, sent a letter to government ministers, saying that if in fact the reason for evacuating outposts was enforcing the law and was not motivated by political considerations, the enforcement policy must be equal towards Jews and Arabs.

 

According to Struck, most outposts are not illegal but rather unauthorized, and the illegality of most of them stems from the lack of official government authorizations, mainly due to American pressure or the policy of a left-wing government.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.24.09, 13:53
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment