OUTPOSTS CONTINUE TO GROW AMIDST SETTLER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 002400

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE. NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2017
TAGS: KWBG PBTS PREL PHUM IS
SUBJECT: OUTPOSTS CONTINUE TO GROW AMIDST SETTLER
APPREHENSION ABOUT THE FUTURE

REF: JERUSALEM 02390

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: On November 16, Congen Poloff and Peace Now
Settlements Watch Director Hagit Ofran visited 13 West Bank
outposts believed to be on the GoI's list of 26 outposts for
possible removal. Each of the outposts has five to sixty
caravans (mobile homes) on hilltops in the vicinity of
existing settlements that provide them electricity, water,
and security. PolOff saw on-going construction at many
outposts. PolOff also visited 10 additional outposts
identified by Peace Now, but not believed to be under GOI
consideration for removal. Settlers seemed anxious, perhaps
about on-going discussions about outpost removal, and at
Havat Gilad, settler youth expressed concern that the ConGen
vehicle contained GOI representatives. According to Peace
Now, removal of outposts will likely mean moving residents
from privately-owned Palestinian land to state land. END
SUMMARY.

"No new outposts"
--------------


2. (C) During a seven hour, 400 km road tour with Peace
Now's Settlement Watch Director Hagit Ofran on 16 November,
ConGen PolOff visited or viewed 13 of the 26 outposts that
are believed to have been identified for possible removal:
Mitzpe Yitzhar, Yitzhar South, Havat Gilad, Haroe, Nofei
Nehemia, Kida, Migron, Givat Assaf, Neve Daniel North, Bat
Ayin West, Gal (reftel),Avigail, and Susiya Northwest.
(Note: According to the press, PM Olmert announced November
19 his intention to remove the illegal outposts after
Annapolis. According to contacts, 26 outposts are believed to
be on the GOI "list," but there is no confirmed, public list.
End Note.) According to Ofran, all of the 26 outposts were
built on privately-owned Palestinian land after former PM
Sharon pledged "no new outposts" in March 2001.


3. (C) PolOff observed that each of the outposts has five to
sixty caravans (mobile homes) and receives electricity,
water, and security from a nearby "mother" settlement. PolOff
observed that in several instances, the settlers built their
own access roads connecting them to main West Bank roads. At
Nofei Nehemia, PolOff traveled a well paved road to several
dozen caravans being used as dormitories and a sports complex
for students from the college at the nearby Ariel settlement.
PolOff observed that settlers are expanding the outposts by
bringing in additional mobile homes, which settlers said they
bring in piece by piece to avoid the requirement for permits.
PolOff saw a flat bed eighteen wheeler transporting nine
iron foundation frames for caravans into the established
settlement of Shilo, whose "zoned land" includes Kida
outpost, and at Kida, PolOff observed twenty caravans and a
settler building a new caravan.


4. (C) PolOff observed that settlers at the outposts are
anxious, perhaps in anticipation of a GOI decision on the
outposts' removal. At Havat Gilad, an outpost on the GoI's
list near Nablus, settler youths reacted with concern to the
Congen vehicle, indicating to PolOff that they thought it
might contain GoI officials or "Arabs." When PolOff
explained his presence, the settler youth returned to their
construction of a farm house structure.


5. (C) According to Peace Now, the number of outposts
erected since March 2001 is close to fifty, and the GOI list
does not capture them all. PolOff visited or viewed ten of
the additional 24 that, according to Peace Now, are not being
considered by the GOI for possible removal. PolOff observed
that several of these outposts are now empty and those that
are inhabited consist of settler squatters in
Palestinian-owned homes or a settler water tank, ritual bath,
or tent.

Migron Outpost
--------------


6. (C) PolOff visited Migron, along Route 60 east of
Ramallah, which is home to some 60 caravans on
privately-owned Palestinian land and the subject of a Peace
Now petition in the High Court of Justice. (Note: According
to Peace Now, for Palestinians with West Bank land titles,
the cost of registering their land with Israeli Civil
Administration is 90 percent of the land's total value, so
few Palestinians can afford to register their land.
Unregistered land is subject to seizure by the state. End
Note).


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7. (C) According to Peace Now, GOI plans for the removal of
outposts means moving them from privately-owned lands to
state lands in order to "legalize" them. Below Migron, above
the Delek gas station on Route 60, PolOff observed surveyors
taking measurements on cleared land, and across Route 60, in
the "Binyamin Industrial Zone", construction has advanced on
a large structure that settlers claim is a garage for a tire
company. Peace Now believes and settlers have hinted to
PolOff that this area, which is state land and well east of
the separation barrier, will be a "legal" site for the
relocation of Migron caravans.

WALLES