Similar agreements have been reached in the past. The radical left-wing Peace Now organization, which is anxious to see an end to all Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, attacked Peretz. "It's like a meeting between the Chief of Police and the head of a gang of robbers," said Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer.
At issue are an unknown number of outlying neighborhoods of various sizes throughout Judea and Samaria. Some comprise only unpopulated structures, while others have 20 Jewish homes or more.
The Head of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) Bentzy Lieberman told Army Radio this morning that he is not thrilled that the meeting was publicized, "and it certainly did not come from us." He refused to say which outposts are being discussed, noting that names were not even mentioned in the meeting with Peretz.
"They tried to get down to details in the meeting," Lieberman said, "but Minister Peretz was told that before we sign another agreement, we want to make sure that previous understandings that we had with ex-Justice Minister Ramon are still extant..." These understandings are widely assumed to mean the legalization of some outposts in exchange for the removal of others.
In response to persistent questioning by the Army Radio interviewer, Lieberman admitted that those outposts that are found to be problematic from a legal standpoint - "a very small minority," he said - will have to be removed.
Asked how that would go over with the "younger Yesha residents," Lieberman said, "No one wants to see another Amona, and we will talk with leading rabbis who have strong influence within Yesha..." Amona is a neighborhood overlooking Ofrah in the Binyamin region where early this year hundreds of youths were injured by police violence during the destruction of nine buildings there. The police violence was documented in the following video clip.
It is not certain, however, that "no one" wants to see another Amona. For one thing, policemen were specifically ordered to "break heads," as people who were there that day later testified. In addition, it is precisely the looming threat of strong, uncompromising protest that "persuades" government officials to allow a small number of outposts to remain. "It is unfortunate," one veteran Yesha resident told Arutz-7, "that neighborhoods that have been approved by all the proper bodies are abandoned by the government, and then have to receive their final authorization in this manner. It is clear that if the government persists in ordering their destruction, people will be there to protest."
Lieberman, too, emphasized that the vast majority of the residential outposts have gone through nearly all the required legal proceedings.
Asked if he feels that an agreement will be reached, Lieberman said, "I feel that our understandings with Ramon were good; I hope the same is true with Peretz, who has a more personal/political interest in the matter." Peretz is said to be anxious to keep tensions high with the Yesha public, in order to keep right-wing Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party out of the government.
Kedumim Mayor Daniella Weiss strongly attacked the entire premise of a negotiated compromise on the outpost issue. "The Yesha council should have resigned a long time ago," Weiss told Yediot Acharonot. "This is a betrayal. After the disengagement the Yesha council members should have resigned as they collaborated with the government and police. This time we won't let that happen."
In another part of his interview, Lieberman related that he attended the wedding last night of Zambish's daughter Einav and Lieberman's own former driver. In attendance were leading IDF Generals Kempinsky and HaCohen, both of whom took active part in the Disengagement.