In light of Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer's plans to uproot 26 outposts in Judea and Samaria - four have already been dismantled since Tuesday - the Yesha Council held an emergency meeting last night, which was continued this morning in two locations: The Gilad Farm outpost near Kedumim, and the Assaf Junction outpost between Beit El and Ofrah. Both sites are slated for dismantling, possibly in the coming hours, by order of Minister Ben-Eliezer. These two are of particular concern to Yesha leaders, both because people live there (as opposed to most of the other threatened outposts) and because of their critical locations.
Settlement leaders, political foes, and many in the media noted that Ben-Eliezer's motives in wanting to remove the "illegal" outposts might be less related to legal considerations than to his own shaky political standing within his Labor Party.
MK Uri Ariel - who, as former Mayor of Beit El, was instrumental in establishing Assaf - was there this morning. He told Arutz-7, "We are still hopeful that there might not be any evacuation. We have sent messages to the government asking that populated outposts not be uprooted. We hope that it will be discussed in the Cabinet - and this will be a test for the ministers, particularly those of the nationalist camp..."
Yesha Council Chairman Bentzy Lieberman spent the morning at the Gilad Farm. All Yesha Council leaders expressed the hope that there would not be physical or even verbal confrontation between Jews and Jews during attempts to uproot the locations. "The residents must not fight with the soldiers, nor yell insults at them," MK Ariel said. "There should be only 'passive resistance,' where the residents sit on the floor and refuse to leave, and are dragged out instead." Several Yesha locations - Pisgat Yaakov in Beit El, for instance - were the site of such struggles in the past, and are now burgeoning Jewish communities.
Beit El resident Asher Greenwald explained the importance of the Assaf outpost:
"There have been 4-5 attacks in the area, and it is therefore critical from an immediate security standpoint... It gives us control of a critical junction on the road to Beit El; if, for instance, there are disturbances in northern Ramallah, motorists on their way to Beit El have a safe place to wait... The army, too, uses it as an important station; at night, there is much activity there, as the jeeps use it as a jumping-off point... It is an important link in the Jewish map of the area, facilitating travel for students and bus passengers... And, to top it off, it is the site of ancient Beit El..." He expressed some optimism that the scheduled date of expulsion for the six families from their homes would be put off until next week.
Oren Zar, younger brother of terrorist victim Gilad Zar - the security officer who was gunned down by Palestinian terrorists near Kedumim in May 2001 - told Arutz-7 about the two outposts named for his brother:
"The first was at the Jit Junction, where Gilad was killed. It was populated only on Shabbatot [weekends], mainly by youth from Kedumim. It was dismantled two nights ago. The other one is Chavat Gilad - the Gilad Farm - on a nearby hilltop on land purchased by my father. One of my brothers and his wife have lived there for a year, together with some other youths. Guard duty was carried out at their own expense most of the time, although recently soldiers sometimes helped out... We will of course resist any dismantling of this point, but it must be made clear to Fuad [Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer], that if he wants to make political headway, it simply cannot be at the expense of the Land of Israel. It has been shown that whoever tried to tear up parts of Eretz Yisrael ended up in the trashcan of history. We are determined in the most resolute manner that he can imagine, and it will remain ours."
Settlement leaders, political foes, and many in the media noted that Ben-Eliezer's motives in wanting to remove the "illegal" outposts might be less related to legal considerations than to his own shaky political standing within his Labor Party.
MK Uri Ariel - who, as former Mayor of Beit El, was instrumental in establishing Assaf - was there this morning. He told Arutz-7, "We are still hopeful that there might not be any evacuation. We have sent messages to the government asking that populated outposts not be uprooted. We hope that it will be discussed in the Cabinet - and this will be a test for the ministers, particularly those of the nationalist camp..."
Yesha Council Chairman Bentzy Lieberman spent the morning at the Gilad Farm. All Yesha Council leaders expressed the hope that there would not be physical or even verbal confrontation between Jews and Jews during attempts to uproot the locations. "The residents must not fight with the soldiers, nor yell insults at them," MK Ariel said. "There should be only 'passive resistance,' where the residents sit on the floor and refuse to leave, and are dragged out instead." Several Yesha locations - Pisgat Yaakov in Beit El, for instance - were the site of such struggles in the past, and are now burgeoning Jewish communities.
Beit El resident Asher Greenwald explained the importance of the Assaf outpost:
"There have been 4-5 attacks in the area, and it is therefore critical from an immediate security standpoint... It gives us control of a critical junction on the road to Beit El; if, for instance, there are disturbances in northern Ramallah, motorists on their way to Beit El have a safe place to wait... The army, too, uses it as an important station; at night, there is much activity there, as the jeeps use it as a jumping-off point... It is an important link in the Jewish map of the area, facilitating travel for students and bus passengers... And, to top it off, it is the site of ancient Beit El..." He expressed some optimism that the scheduled date of expulsion for the six families from their homes would be put off until next week.
Oren Zar, younger brother of terrorist victim Gilad Zar - the security officer who was gunned down by Palestinian terrorists near Kedumim in May 2001 - told Arutz-7 about the two outposts named for his brother:
"The first was at the Jit Junction, where Gilad was killed. It was populated only on Shabbatot [weekends], mainly by youth from Kedumim. It was dismantled two nights ago. The other one is Chavat Gilad - the Gilad Farm - on a nearby hilltop on land purchased by my father. One of my brothers and his wife have lived there for a year, together with some other youths. Guard duty was carried out at their own expense most of the time, although recently soldiers sometimes helped out... We will of course resist any dismantling of this point, but it must be made clear to Fuad [Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer], that if he wants to make political headway, it simply cannot be at the expense of the Land of Israel. It has been shown that whoever tried to tear up parts of Eretz Yisrael ended up in the trashcan of history. We are determined in the most resolute manner that he can imagine, and it will remain ours."