The expected attempts to evacuate and demolish the Givat Assaf neighborhood, as well as two others, have been postponed until next week - at the earliest. The army has apparently decided that the ongoing "Days of Penitence" anti-Kassam offensive in northern Gaza is occupying too many forces, and that the mission of destroying the outposts will have to wait.
Local residents in the Beit El-Ofrah area, who have been poised all week to arrive by the hundreds when word of an impending "pinui" (evacuation) is received, feel that the army may have another reason for the postponement: to rattle the citizens, keep them on edge, and wear them down.
Military correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that Border Guard units currently on duty along the Green Line will be used to evacuate the outposts, and army forces - apparently recruits who have just completed basic training - will replace the Border Guard forces along the Green Line. He said that though the army is trying to keep word of the impending actions from leaking out, it will have to redeploy the forces beforehand, and this is likely to be a giveaway of the plans. "The motivation of the army - I won't say in which levels - to carry out these demolitions is not very high," Huberman said. "They will carry out whatever orders they're given - but when they're very highly motivated to do so is very different than when they're not. For instance, if they see throngs of people at a given site, they are likely to make a 'strategic decision' to postpone the demolition for another date..."
The three outposts currently slated for destruction are the following: Givat HaRoeh, a neighborhood near Shilo, in south-central Shomron, which has attracted 17 families in less than two years of existence; Ramat Gilad, near Karnei Shomron, which was named in memory of terrorist victim and security coordinator Gilad Zar, whose parents live on another hilltop nearby, and Givat Assaf. This last is possibly the most strategic of the three outposts, situated on a key intersection on the Jerusalem-Shomron highway. Fourteen families currently live there, and they say they "intend to win" in the struggle for the Land of Israel.
Local residents in the Beit El-Ofrah area, who have been poised all week to arrive by the hundreds when word of an impending "pinui" (evacuation) is received, feel that the army may have another reason for the postponement: to rattle the citizens, keep them on edge, and wear them down.
Military correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that Border Guard units currently on duty along the Green Line will be used to evacuate the outposts, and army forces - apparently recruits who have just completed basic training - will replace the Border Guard forces along the Green Line. He said that though the army is trying to keep word of the impending actions from leaking out, it will have to redeploy the forces beforehand, and this is likely to be a giveaway of the plans. "The motivation of the army - I won't say in which levels - to carry out these demolitions is not very high," Huberman said. "They will carry out whatever orders they're given - but when they're very highly motivated to do so is very different than when they're not. For instance, if they see throngs of people at a given site, they are likely to make a 'strategic decision' to postpone the demolition for another date..."
The three outposts currently slated for destruction are the following: Givat HaRoeh, a neighborhood near Shilo, in south-central Shomron, which has attracted 17 families in less than two years of existence; Ramat Gilad, near Karnei Shomron, which was named in memory of terrorist victim and security coordinator Gilad Zar, whose parents live on another hilltop nearby, and Givat Assaf. This last is possibly the most strategic of the three outposts, situated on a key intersection on the Jerusalem-Shomron highway. Fourteen families currently live there, and they say they "intend to win" in the struggle for the Land of Israel.