PEACE NOW,S PETITION AGAINST AMONA OUTPOST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 004471

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG IS SETTLEMENTS
SUBJECT: PEACE NOW,S PETITION AGAINST AMONA OUTPOST
CONSTRUCTION

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)

This message has been cleared by Consulate General Jerusalem


1. (C) Summary: On July 4, the NGO Peace Now filed the first
petition to Israel,s High Court of Justice against illegal
outpost construction. The petition argues that nine houses
at the Amona outpost*-as well as the outpost itself*-were
built without permits on Palestinian-owned land, making them
illegal under Israeli law. Peace Now requests the Court to
grant an interim injunction against the inhabitation of the
houses, enforcement of previously issued cease and desist
orders against ongoing construction, and an answer by the GOI
as to why demolition orders issued in October 2004 against
the houses were not enforced. Peace Now reported
accelerating stages of unauthorized construction to the
Israeli Police and the Civil Administration for seven months
before filing its claim and states the GOI remained complicit
to the construction despite acknowledging its illegality.
Dror Etkes, Peace Now,s Settlement Watch Coordinator told
Econoff that Peace Now is planning to file future petitions
against West Bank outposts where illegal construction for
permanent housing is ongoing. End summary.

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Birth of an Outpost
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2. (C) Members of Peace Now provided Embassy with details on
the July 4 petition filed against construction in the Amona
outpost. Amona, located approximately one kilometer east of
the Ofra settlement, is an illegally established outpost that
has existed for 10 years with little government intervention
against its growth, according to the Talia Sasson March 2005
outpost report--commissioned by Prime Minister Sharon's
office. Today there are approximately 53 buildings housing
25 families in Amona, according to Peace Now. (Note: The
settlement of Ofra is located northeast of Ramallah. End
note.)


3. (C) In its petition, Peace Now referenced the Sasson
report stating that Amona was established without government
authorization in 1995 on Palestinian owned land. According to
Sasson, the Ministry of Construction and Housing paid
2,150,000 NIS for the establishment of the outpost,s
infrastructure, despite Amona lacking authorization for its
establishment, allocation of land, or planning from the
Government or Defense Minister. (Background Note: The
Minister of Defense is cited as an authorizing entity because
he is responsible for the Civil Administration in the
Occupied Territories. The Defense Minister has the authority
to approve or halt any civilian construction projects planned
or under construction, as well as order or halt the
implementation of demolition injunctions legally issued
against unauthorized construction of buildings. End note.)


4. (C) According to Peace Now, illegal infrastructure work
has continued unabated in Amona: An asphalt road was
paved*without a permit*to join Amona to Ofra; Amona is
connected to the water system of Ofra; the electricity
company has connected the homes to the regional electrical
network; and a sewage pipe also connects Amona,s waste to
Ofra,s sewage stem. Peace Now claims this waste is dumped
into a neighboring Palestinian field.

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Government Complicity Spurns Petition
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5. (C) Peace Now has been monitoring construction of the
nine new houses in Amona since May 2004. Between November 7,
2004 and June 30, 2005, Peace Now wrote eight letters, sent
photographs of accelerating construction, and made repeated
calls to the Civil Administration and the SHAI Police
Department demanding law enforcement units halt construction
of the homes. Highlights of the correspondence between Peace
Now and the GOI follow:

- A spokeswoman for the Civil Administration wrote in a
January 2005 letter to Peace Now, &The construction in the
Amona outpost is unauthorized, and unauthorized
construction, files had been opened for all the buildings.8

- In April 2005, a Civil Administration's spokesman wrote to
Peace Now saying, &Supervision and enforcement activities
were also carried out regarding the unauthorized construction
carried out in the Amona outpost, which include serving cease
and desist injunctions for the work, confiscating equipment
and building materials, submitting a complaint against the
contractor and having him interrogated by the police, in
addition to, issuing demolition injunctions for unauthorized
buildings.8 In June 2005, however, Peace Now Settlement
Watch Coordinator Dror Etkes found a copy of the confiscation
orders while visiting the site. According to the orders,
materials confiscated consisted of: one plastic tub, four
spatulas, one hammer, one screwdriver, one level, one brush,
sandpaper, and one ladder.
- On June 30, 2005, Vlady Bordovski, an official from the
office of Judea and Samaria legal advisor, confirmed to Peace
Now that final demolition injunctions had been issued for the
homes on October 28, 2004. Bordovski stated, however, &At
this stage, it has been decided to postpone the
implementation of the injunctions because of the political
sensitivity of the pre-disengagement period in which we find
ourselves.8 He also explained that the Commander of the
Central Command had come to an agreement with the Mateh
Yehuda Regional Council that the homes would not be
inhabited.


6. (C) Upon learning that construction of the homes were
near completion and that Amana, the settlement movement of
Gush Emunim, had also begun to intensely market their sale,
Peace Now,s filed its petition to prevent the inhabitation
and demolition of the houses on July 4, 2005. In its
petition, Peace Now describes the GOI failure to prevent the
illegal construction as &deliberate and conscious
non-enforcement8 and did not foresee GOI enforcement
authorities maintaining the houses uninhabited. According to
Peace Now, inhabitation of the houses would serve to turn any
act of enforcement*-whether implementing demolition orders
or sealing up the buildings*-into a more complicated
situation since the law regarding illegal construction that
is not inhabited is not the same as the law regarding illegal
construction that is inhabited.


7. (C) According to Peace Now's attorney, Michael Sfard,
under Israeli law, the inhabitation status of an illegally
constructed home is crucial: First, inhabitation provides the
resident with a standing in the proceedings. Second, the
inhabitants may object to the demolition on grounds that they
do not have any other place to live. In this case, according
to Sfard, courts tend to postpone the demolition of the
structure until a suitable solution is found. And lastly,
the inhabitant's lack of awareness to the structure's legal
status may open the door to arguments on the fairness of the
demolition order and the need to approve the house
retroactively. Etkes recently told Econoff that he expects
the Court to make a decision on the status of the homes by
the end of the month.

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Possible Future Petitions Against Outposts
--------------


8. (C) Peace Now is planning to file future petitions
against West Bank outposts where illegal construction on
permanent housing is ongoing, according to Etkes. Peace Now
will seek to get these illegally built structures demolished
and claims that there are approximately 18 outposts where
this construction is continuing.

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Comment
--------------


9. (C) Since 1995, illegal construction and infrastructure
work has continued in Amona, making it a full-fledged
community with 25 families. The growth of Amona--an outpost
acknowledged by the GOI as established illegally--is in size
comparable to some small, legally established settlements.
GOI officials have written reports about illegal outpost
activity for the past two years--such as the State
Comptroller annual report in May 2004 and Talia Sasson's
report in March 2005--but little enforcement has yet to be
seen in curbing this type of settlement growth in the West
Bank.


10. (C) Israel defines an outpost as any new community in
the West Bank that was built without acquiring the four
mandatory approvals for a new settlement. For USG settlement
watchers, however, there is no formal distinction between an
outpost and a settlement because geographically, both are
categories of activity that constitute Israeli civilian
construction and creates a similar impact on the ground.
Historically, outposts have traditionally served as the
precursor of new settlements or expansions of existing
settlements.

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