FAST-TRACK OUTPOST REMOVAL LESS THAN ADVERTISED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001391 SIPDIS NEA FOR BURNS/SATTERFIELD E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2014 TAGS: PBTS KPAL KWBG IS SETTLEMENTS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS SUBJECT: FAST-TRACK OUTPOST REMOVAL LESS THAN ADVERTISED REF: A. TEL AVIV 0028 ¶B. TEL AVIV 0317 ¶C. TEL AVIV 1019 ¶D. 03 TEL AVIV 3253 ¶E. 03 TEL AVIV 5697 ¶F. 03 TEL AVIV 7358 Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurzter for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) . ¶1. (C) Summary and comment: The long-promised GOI removal of outposts established after March 2001 suffered another setback on March 4 when the Israeli High Court of Justice postponed the evacuation of six illegal outposts in the West Bank for an additional ten days. The court will hear the settler's appeal arguing that the verdict gave the IDF too much judicial authority. Anticipating this result, the IDF's Advocate General's Office had told econoff on March 3 that the settlers would appeal the High Court's decision the following day and the IDF did not expect to be able to move on the outposts anytime soon. The new political/security grounds were intended to cut down the legal process to about two weeks, but even this new process has now extended into its third month. The practical effect of all of these legal processes is that no outposts have been removed since December. Meanwhile, they are growing in size, with the assistance and funding of the GOI (reftel A). End summary and comment. -------------- Background -------------- ¶2. (C) Prime Minister Sharon decided in December 2003 to abandon the practice of challenging the establishment of illegal outposts on the grounds that they were established outside of the proper zoning and building laws. The legal wrangling over building and zoning permits was having the effect of dragging out the process to a point that rendered the GOI's efforts to remove outposts ineffective. Accordingly, in December, the PM and the Minister of Defense ordered the removal of several outposts based on security and political reasons. At various times, we have been assured that the streamlined procedure would take no more than 10-20 days, including all court appeals. -------------- Outpost Removal Suffers Another Setback -------------- ¶3. (C) The High Court of Justice ruled on March 4, that the IDF has the specific authority to remove the Hazon David outpost near the settlement of Kiryat Arba and the Tal Binyamin outpost near the settlement of Ofra. The ruling also would have provided the legal basis for acting against at least four other outposts that were ordered evacuated in December 2003. (Note: The other four outposts are: Havat Maon near the settlement of Maon; Bet Iyen West in Gush Etzion; Ginot Aryeh near the settlement of Ofra; and Havat Shaked near Yizhar. End note.) Immediately following the High Court's ruling, however, the settlers filed an appeal claiming that the ruling would give the government, in general and the IDF specifically, sweeping judicial authority that could have ramifications beyond outpost removal, to include the evacuation of settlements. The High Court agreed to consider the appeal and Supreme Court Justice Mishael Chesin ordered the IDF to delay removal of these outposts for ten days. ¶4. (C) The Head of the IDF's Advocate General's Corp Infrastructure Section, Osnat Davidson, had told Embassy econoff on March 3, that her office was expecting both a favorable opinion for the government on the next day and an appeal filing by the outpost petitioners. Davidson said she was not optimistic about the possibility of the IDF resuming outpost removals in the near future. Davidson agreed with econoff's comment that the PM's "fast-track" approach appeared to face as many legal hurdles as the old building code approach (reftel F). Davidson agreed, saying that the settlers could "drag this process out indefinitely." Davidson insisted, on the other hand, that court precedents set now could make future IDF action less litigious. For example, Davidson said, the court rejected the settlers' claim that their illegal construction activities are being focused on in a discriminatory fashion. This will hopefully, she said, not be an issue in future removals. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** KURTZER