Outpost in Elon Moreh
Outpost in Elon MorehIsrael news photo: Flash 90

All outposts built on privately-owned land in Judea and Samaria will be torn down by the end of 2011, Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser and Assistant Defense Minister Eitan Broshi said in an court affidavit filed Monday.

The State also admitted that in the course of the past two years [a period corresponding to the time that the Netanyahu government is in office - ed.], more demolition orders in Judea and Samaria were carried out against Jews than against Arabs. This, despite the fact that illegal construction exists in significantly higher rates in the Arab sector.
 
This amounts to an admission that Jews are discriminated against and that the law is not applied equally to Jews and Arabs in Judea and Samaria.
 
Rami Ziv, Head of the Supervision Unit in the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, co-signed the affidavit as part of the State's response to a motion filed by the radical leftist "Peace Now" group. The veteran anti-nationalist group demanded that the government demolish what it termed illegally-built structures in a long list of outposts including Maaleh Rechav'am, Givat Assaf and Givat HaRo'eh. 
 
The State said that some of these outposts are located on state-owned or Jewish-owned land, while others are located on Arab-owned land. It contended that the razing of outposts that are not located on Arab-owned land is not a high priority, and that it therefore does not feel obligated to give a deadline for their demolition.
 
The grassroots Residents' Councils of Binyamin and Samaria reacted by saying that "The meaning of Netanyahu's statement to the High Court - that by year's end, six communities in which hundreds of Jews live will be razed - is a fist to the face of the nationalist public."
 
"While his one hand dries up the Jewish communities, the other hand raises an axe over the existing homes," the Councils added. "It is sad to see the Likud's heads standing helpless in the face of Netanyahu's unfaithful behavior."