Barak Gives Settlers More Time to Evacuate
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has extended the deadline for Jewish settlers to evacuate illegal outposts in the West Bank, his spokesman said Saturday.
“They have undertaken to move out voluntarily by midweek, so they’ll be given till midweek,” Gadi Baltiansky said.
Last week, Barak said the outposts must be removed by this weekend. Baltiansky would not say whether midweek meant precisely Wednesday.
After Israel and the Palestinians signed an interim land-for-security agreement in October 1998, settlers moved trailers and water towers onto 42 hilltops around the West Bank, saying they intended to scuttle plans to turn the territory over to Palestinian control.
Barak’s government studied the sites and determined that 15 had no form of legal permission and should be removed.
In a compromise reached last month with the settler council, Barak cut the number of outposts to be removed to 12, on condition that the settlers evacuate on their own. Settlers have evacuated some sites already.
Palestinians charge that all 42 points are illegal and must be dismantled. They say all 144 Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza are illegitimate attempts to take over Palestinian land.
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