Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed permits Thursday for 28 educational institutions and public buildings. The educational structures are intended for the school year which begins in September (2010/2011, or 5771 by the Hebrew calendar).
Barak said: “We are all obligated to carry out an open dialogue with the settler leaders, and to listen to them. This is a very serious and responsible group that exhibited a large degree of self-restraint in various tests in the past.”
Barak immediately added, however: "Besides our obligation to be open and to listen to the settler public we must not get confused: the state means what it says. Anyone who asks whether the people at the ministerial level intend to carry out their decision from yesterday [regarding a 10-month construction freeze in Judea and Samaria] I say: the answer is positive. This is a real test of Israel's democracy.”
Earlier in the day Barak instructed the IDF to publish the order to temporarily freeze construction starts in Judea and Samaria, in line with the government's decision from yesterday. The order will be signed by Central Command head Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrachi.
In a closed discussion at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Barak said of the cabinet decision to freeze construction: “This is a unilateral step initiated by the government of Israel in coordination and understanding with the United States, with the intention of advancing the diplomatic process with the Palestinians. The decision saddles the security establishment, the IDF, the police, the Shin Bet and the Civilian Administration with a very important mission of enforcement.”