The administrative orders pave the way for the destruction of 15 permanent homes in the hilltop community of Givat Ronen, near the town of Har Bracha, in Samaria.
“We are outraged that even during wartime, the IDF is forgetting its true duties and continues to view the settlers as the nation's enemies,” Har Bracha's secretariat said.
Since the start of the war, the issue of the outposts has been mentioned repeatedly – as the homes or passion of three of the soldiers wounded and fallen in Bint Jbeil Lebanon last week.
Major Ro'i Klein, the Golani Brigade commander who saved the lives of his men by jumping on a live grenade in Bint Jbeil last week, lived in the hilltop community of Givat HaYovel, near Eli – in the Binyamin region. IDF officers, slated to destroy his home in the coming months, instead arrived in Givat HaYovel to inform his widow Sara and their two children, of his heroic actions and death on behalf of his country.
The list of communities slated for destruction by the government is based on an understanding reached with the U.S. Government whereby communities founded after the arbitrary date of Ariel Sharon's election as prime minister are considered “unauthorized outposts” rather than nascent towns.
Another Golani Brigade commander, Yisrael Friedler, was shot in the arm during the same battle at Bint Jbeil, while overseeing the rescue of his fellow soldiers under heavy Hizbullah fire. Friedler, who oversaw door-to-door operations in Gaza's Beit Hanoun just weeks earlier, lives in the Gush Etzion hilltop community of Sde Boaz - an ecological community of both religious and secular Jews.
A home built by Sde Boaz residents was destroyed by the IDF in January. Friedler's wife was pushed, his horse's stable demolished and his brother-in-law arrested during the clashes as security forces used tear gas and pepper spray against residents and local supporters who flocked to the site.
Another soldier who fell in Bint Jbeil, Golani platoon commander Lt. Amichai Merhavia, appears in pictures from October, 2002, being beaten unconscious by Yassam riot police attempting to destroy the privately-owned hilltop community of Havat Gilad (Gilad's Farm). The sequence of photos can viewed by clicking here (photos by Miriam Tzachi).
Prior to the Disengagement, Merhavia wrote a letter to the Chief of Staff, objecting to the manner in which the Gaza withdrawal was being orchestrated. Halutz sought to dismiss him from his position permanently as a result, but he eventually returned to his unit, where he was even promoted, just weeks prior to his final battle.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week told former residents of Gush Katif that he is determined to carry out his planned withdrawal from areas behind the Partition Wall in Judea and Samaria, regardless of the current war and the IDF's forced re-entry to Gaza.