Once again, the government is taking on what it terms “illegal outposts,” new communities established outside existing towns in Judea and Samaria. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced this week that he would remove some of the communities by the end of the year. Others, he promised, would be legalized – but only after the “illegal” ones were demolished.
The government did not have an opportunity to vote on Netanyahu's announcement – because if it had, chances are that a good number of ministers would have opposed the plan. Among those who would likely have said nay is Science and Technology Minister Dr. Daniel Hershkowitz, who, in an interview with Arutz Sheva, said that “I don't know of any illegal settlements – only of places whose legal documentation was not completed properly.”
Hershkowitz, who is chairman of the Jewish Home party, considers all communities in Judea and Samaria as legal – with the burden of proof for considering them otherwise on the shoulders of those who would challenge them. However, he does say that if individual homes are built on property belonging to Arabs, meaning that they have deeds and proof of ownership to back their claims, they should be removed. “In principle we are a state of law, and we must enforce that law. You cannot build on someone else's land.”
Nevertheless, the phenomenon is not as common as the leftist media makes it out to be, he says, and has to be proven. “Many of these cases where they claim that the house is built on Palestinian land turn out to be false cases,” he says. “Arabs in the area are encouraged by outside parties to file petitions with the courts against the settlements,” and basically to harass the Jewish residents of the town.
But the overwhelming majority of homes in the outposts must be authorized, Hershkowitz says. “The Defense Minister is in charge of this, and he is authorized to sign anything” regarding making Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria legal – or otherwise". Hershkowitz adds, referring to Ehud Barak, “We all know his politics are not consistent with the government's views on these matters.”