WEST BANK: ISRAEL TELLS SETTLERS TO LEAVE WEST BANK OUTPOSTS BY MIDNIGHT, SETTLERS REMAIN DEFIANT.

Record ID: 400045

  • Title: WEST BANK: ISRAEL TELLS SETTLERS TO LEAVE WEST BANK OUTPOSTS BY MIDNIGHT, SETTLERS REMAIN DEFIANT.
  • Date: 4th March 2004
  • Summary: (U3) GINOT ARYE OUTPOST, WEST BANK (MARCH 4, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/GV: GINOT ARYE OUTPOST NEAR OFRA SETTLEMENT; SIGN ON CARAVAN READING 'GINOT ARYE'; CARAVANS IN OUTPOST; OUTPOST'S PLAYGROUND NEAR OFRA SETTLEMENT (6 SHOTS) 0.48 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SETTLER RUCHIE AVITAL SAYING: "Well as far as we're concerned Ginot Arye is a neig
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAMALLAH, GINOT ARYE OUTPOST AND SETTLEMENT NEAR GINOT ARYE OUTPOST, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA7AHKQX7M8ZE3A085PXMNJ93R6
  • Story Text: Israel tells West Bank settlers to leave outposts by
    sundown; Settlers insistent they will stay.



    The Israeli government told settlers in six West
    Bank outposts to get out by sundown on Thursday (March 4)
    or face eviction, in what political sources called a
    gesture by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before his U.S.

    visit. Two U.S. envoys are due in Israel next week to discuss
    Sharon's plan to disengage from the Palestinians, initially
    by removing almost all the 21 Jewish settlements from the
    Gaza Strip, if the U.S.-backed "road map" to peace fails.

    Despite Israel's call for West Bank settlement
    evacuation, settlers in Ginot Arye outpost say they are not
    moving. "Well as far as we're concerned Ginot Arye is a
    neighbourhood of Ofra (settlement). It's part of our
    community and we hope to continue to build. As you can see
    it's very close to the construction site and the other
    neighbourhoods in our community and we are planning to stay
    here. There are families who live here who plan to make
    their future here. We'll do everything in our power,
    legally to prevent the evacuation of this area," said one
    settler, Ruchie Avital.

    Only a handful of outposts have been removed so far and
    authorised Jewish settlements built on West Bank land
    occupied in the 1967 Middle East war have grown steadily
    larger. Palestinians fear Israel may establish permanent
    control over large parts of the West Bank, a unilateral
    move that would deprive the Palestinians of land they want
    for their own state.

    When asked to comment on the settlement evacuation,
    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat laughed, saying the
    dismantling of the six West Bank settlement would affect
    little more than "17 caravans".

    "How many? Only 17 caravans? We are looking for the
    implementation of the road map," Arafat said on the
    sidelines of a meeting with visiting Dutch parliamentarians.

    The "road map", a series of reciprocal steps intended
    to lead to peace and a Palestinian state, requires Israel
    to freeze its building activity on occupied land and to
    dismantle more than 100 rogue outposts erected since March
    2000. In exchange, the Palestinian Authority is expected to
    rein in militants responsible for attacks on Israel.

    But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie says the
    peace process is being further jeopardised by Israel's
    "crimes" and "Israel's assassination policy", making it
    difficult to rein in militants.

    "The current situation and Israel's crimes and the
    return of the cycle of violence and Israel's assassination
    policy shows it is seeking the continuity of the explosive
    situation and lack of attempt to calm the situation or
    reach a cease-fire. This is of great concern and is
    creating worse conditions than in the past," Qurie said.

    Israeli police were on high alert on Thursday for
    possible suicide bombings after the Islamic Hamas group
    vowed revenge for a helicopter strike that killed three
    militants from Hamas near a settlement in the Gaza Strip on
    Wednesday (March 3).

    Another Palestinian militant was killed in a mysterious
    explosion in the Rafah refugee camp of southern Gaza on
    Thursday, just before Israeli tanks rumbled in on what the
    army called a limited mission to destroy tunnels for
    smuggling arms.

    The deadlock between Israelis and Palestinians has
    embarrassed the U.S. administration, which had hoped its
    "road map" would revive Middle East peace talks that
    stalled in 2000.

    But for the Palestinians, a crucial part of the success
    of the "road map" lies on the evacuation of settlements.

    Most countries regard all the settlements in the West
    Bank and Gaza as illegal, but Israel disputes this.

    The Jewish state is, however, wary of alienating the
    United States - its main ally and financial backer - which
    has voiced misgivings over the expansion of settlements and
    Israel's construction of a massive barrier in the West
    Bank. Whether the West Bank settlers will play along with
    Israel's request, remains to be seen.




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