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ISRAEL TO CUT OFF OUTPOSTS

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The Associated Press

Published: November 4, 2008

GIVAT ASSAF OUTPOST, West Bank - Israel announced that it will cut off funding for illegal settlement outposts and crack down on extremist squatters, but settler leaders vowed Monday to resist the order and accused the government of fanning hatred toward them.

The government decision Sunday to cut off funding was a new acknowledgment that Israel has been complicit in the development of dozens of unauthorized outposts throughout the West Bank, despite repeated pledges to the United States to dismantle them.

This ambivalence was on display Monday near the hilltop outpost of Migron north of Jerusalem. Israeli security forces tore down several shacks built months ago as an "outpost of an outpost."

But army guards continued to protect Migron, which is linked to the electricity grid, has a paved access road and is home to more than 40 families. Immediately after the security forces left, about two dozen teens began rebuilding the shacks.

Settlers have continued setting up outposts since the mid-1990s, after Israel said it would stop building new settlements and only expand existing ones.

The outposts usually start with a few mobile homes, a water tank and a generator. They are designed to expand control over land and ultimately prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Israel tries to differentiate between its roughly 120 settlements, some of which have grown into small cities, and the outposts. But there is broad international consensus that all construction on captured territory is illegal.

Now there is also concern that the extremists among the nearly 300,000 West Bank settlers are becoming increasingly violent.

Dror Etkes, who has been leading a legal battle against outposts on behalf of the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, said he does not believe the government will halt its tacit support for the outposts.

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