O.C. Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh signed the orders, forbidding the recipients from nearing the threatened neighborhoods. Activists who live in pre-1967 Israel are banned from entering Judea and Samaria (Yesha) altogether. The orders are valid for between three months and a year, and are designed to prevent active opposition to the plans to destroy the Jewish presence in parts of Yesha.
The Yesha Council - the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria - attacked the non-democratic nature of the government's move. Essentially stating that people should be arrested after they commit crimes, and not before, the Council said,
"Administrative measures of this nature are a tool that should be used with great caution and as a last resort in order to prevent violence. The regime must take care not to harm citizens' freedom of movement and their civil rights. We are liable to easily slide down a slippery slope using this tool, as we saw during the Disengagement."
On the government's chopping bloc at present are four outpost neighborhoods: Scali, next to Elon Moreh; Hilltop 725, just south of Yitzhar; Arusi, near Har Brachah - all in the Shomron - and the Maon Farm in the Southern Hevron Hills.
The Scali outpost, four kilometers east of central Elon Moreh, was started by Yitzchak Scali in 1999. He now lives there with his wife and three children. Another four families and several singles live there as well, most of them in wood houses, and they have a synagogue made of stone. Elon Moreh spokesman and veteran settlement leader Benny Katzover told Arutz-7, "Some of the wood houses were reinforced with stone as a result of two terror attacks on the outpost - one that happened two years ago, when our forces killed two terrorists, and another one four years ago." No Jews were seriously hurt in these attacks.
Katzover said that by intending to destroy Scali, the government is violating an agreement it made back when Ehud Barak was prime minister. That agreement involved the "authorization" of some outposts, in exchange for the removal of some others. "This neighborhood has passed many other legal battles as well," Katzover said, "and the location of each building was precisely determined in conjunction with the Civil Administration."
Hill 725, established several years ago, is an integral part of the Shomron community of Yitzhar, communally and municipally. This, despite the fact that its houses ar physically separated from its parent community by a kilometer. Five families currently live in the neighborhood, including one with ten children. Of the six buildings on Hill 725, two or three are permanent structures made of wood. A synagogue/study hall also stands on the site.
The Arusi outpost, with 15 families, is so named because it was founded seven years ago by Ronen Arusi, who has since married and lives there with his wife and children. It is an integral part of the community of Har Brachah, though it is separated from most of the town by three kilometers of hills and fields.
The Maon Farm, outside the community of Maon south of Hevron, is also populated by several families.
The names of those who received the orders have not been publicized. Residents of one of the outposts said in response, "The government is wasting its time. We plan to live in the outposts and build them up."
Aviad Visuly, head of the Land of Israel Task Force, suggests that those who received the restraining orders should turn to the courts for redress, and could even sue Gen. Naveh personally. "Administrative detention orders against someone might mean that he is planning to commit a crime," Visuly said, "but restraining orders of this type have no basis whatsoever."