News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:
on Amona: a Crossing of a Red Line
This morning the Army Radio reported that the committee established by the government to find a
solution of the illegal outposts issue recently submitted a legal opinion to the Attorney General according to
which it is possible to use the absentees’ property in the case of the illegal outpost of Amona. The committee’s
idea is to take private Palestinian lands in the nearby plot to where Amona is today, whose owners do not live
in the West Bank, and lease them to the settlers of Amona through a lease that will be renewed every three
years. This way, the settlers of the illegal outpost, which must be evacuated by the end of December due to a
High Court ruling, will be able to live close by to where the outpost is located today. AG Avichai Mendelblit
will soon announce whether he intends to accept or reject the legal opinion.
Peace Now: "Accepting the legal opinion of the committee and thereby violating private
property rights in the Occupied Territories will constitute the crossing of a red line. The acceptance of the legal
opinion would have dire consequences on a future peace agreement as it could lead to the establishment of dozens of
new settlements and to the multiplying of the land taken up by settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli government
cannot justify the stealing of private lands of absentees only to please the demands of settlers who themselves
stole private lands against the law."