Israel Says Settlement Population Has Doubled Since '93; 16% increase in last three years
Israel Says Settlement Population Has Doubled Since '93: "By CRAIG S. SMITH | Published: December 31, 2003

GUSH KATIF, Gaza Strip, Dec. 30 — The Israeli Interior Ministry released figures on Tuesday showing that the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had increased by 16 percent in the last three years, to 236,381 — about double the number that existed when Israel signed the Oslo Accords in 1993.
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Critics charge that the moves are cosmetic and that Mr. Sharon, a longtime advocate of the settlements, is not serious about stopping the spread of Jewish settlements.

Members of the opposition Labor Party in Parliament have submitted a no-confidence motion against Mr. Sharon's government, complaining that his administration has encouraged the growth of the settlements by giving settlers tax breaks and other preferential financial treatment.

Leaders of the roughly 3.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip say the presence of the settlers is an obstacle to their goal of creating a contiguous state. ...
- posted by Editor @ 11:58 AM

Israel Orders Prompt Evacuation of 4 Tiny West Bank Outposts [... More likely a Sharon diversion after settlers increased 16% in last 3 years]
Israel Orders Prompt Evacuation of 4 Tiny West Bank Outposts: "By CRAIG S. SMITH | Published: December 30, 2003

AT AYIN MAARAV, West Bank, Dec. 29 — The Israeli government on Sunday ordered the evacuation of four unauthorized Israeli outposts in the West Bank, circumventing for the first time lengthy legal procedures that in the past have complicated government efforts to reverse the incremental spread of Jewish settlements.

But judging from the size of one of the outposts, on a hilltop near here, the move is mostly symbolic: the West Bat Ayin Maarav outpost consists of two steel shipping containers that local residents say have sat empty for years. ...
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Previously the government issued evacuation or demolition orders to settlers who maintained unauthorized outposts, but appeals and court-ordered injunctions often tied those orders up indefinitely.

Since agreeing to the peace plan in June, Mr. Sharon has dismantled more than 20 outposts, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement organization that monitors developments in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. But almost all of those outposts were uninhabited, and only a few were of significant size. Peace Now says there are still at more than 50 inhabited outposts scheduled for immediate removal under the peace plan. The government says there are 40. ...
- posted by Editor @ 7:34 AM

Sharon ... ordered the removal of four of the dozens of outposts required under "road map": [but are they inhabited?]
Excite News: "Israeli Soldiers Kill Three Palestinians | Dec 28, 10:47 PM (ET) | By GAVIN RABINOWITZ

JERUSALEM (AP) - ... and Israeli leaders signed orders to evacuate four settlement outposts in the West Bank, Israeli media reported.

Channel Two TV and Israel TV said Sharon and his defense minister ordered the removal of four of the dozens of outposts that the "road map" peace plan requires Israel to dismantle. All four are in the West Bank and are inhabited, the reports said, adding that settlers would be given 10 days to appeal.
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Israel Radio reported that only one of the four outposts, Ginnot Arieh, is populated. Ten families live there.

The four are scattered around the West Bank and include one that had been removed before, but settlers rebuilt it. The largest of the outposts, Migron, with 43 families near the West Bank city of Ramallah, is not on the list, Israel Radio said. ...

- posted by Editor @ 7:18 AM