By Alexander Cornwell
TEL AVIV, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the dismantling of unauthorized settler outposts in the West Bank, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday, amid U.S. pressure for steps against attacks by settlers on Palestinians.
The order applies to outposts established by settlers without official government authorization from Israel, the sources said. These outposts typically consist of prefabricated trailers and house a small number of settlers. The state has, from time to time, demolished such structures and has also formally recognized others, allowing them access to government funding.
It was not immediately clear when the operation would begin.
UN bodies and the majority of governments consider all Israeli settlements illegal under international law. They also consider the West Bank to be occupied territory under military control. Israel argues that the territory is disputed, not occupied.
U.S. DEFEND ACTION AGAINST SETTLER VIOLENCE
Netanyahu had ordered the evacuation of the unauthorized outposts in response to pressure from the United States, the closest ally of the country, according to the sources.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, on Saturday condemned the violent settlers as terrorists and urged that they face severe consequences, after a meeting with several Palestinian-Americans in a Palestinian town in the West Bank.
The Israeli website Ynet previously reported that the orders targeted around 100 outposts across the occupied territory.
The office of the Israeli prime minister and the armed forces, which would normally participate in the removal of any outposts in the West Bank, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, questioned at a conference in Jerusalem about Ynet’s report, said that Netanyahu had “given an instruction to evacuate sites built in Areas A and B,” referring to the parts of the West Bank where the majority of Palestinians live.
According to the Oslo Accords — interim peace agreements reached in the 1990s between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) — the West Bank was divided into three zones: A, B and C.
Smotrich, himself a settler who supervised housing projects in the settlements and formally recognized houses built illegally, said that although he disagreed with Netanyahu’s decision, the government had made significant progress in promoting settlements in Area C.
OUTPOSTS ACROSS THE WEST BANK
There are 340 outposts in the West Bank, in addition to 146 settlements formally recognized by the Israeli government, according to Peace Now, an Israeli organization that criticizes settlement expansion and advocates a two-state solution.
Last month, Israeli settlers surrounded the homes of Palestinians in a nearby village, including one owned by a Palestinian-American, before the military forced them from the area. The village’s Palestinian residents said they continue to face harassment and intimidation from Israeli settlers.
The Israeli government condemned the settlers’ violence, though the perpetrators are rarely arrested and even less often brought to trial.
On Saturday, the American ambassador stated that it was in Israel’s own interest to take measures against settlers whom he described as engaging in “criminal behavior and terrorism.”
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell)
