Israel Matzav

IDF plans to expel all Jews from 'illegal outposts' in one day

Haaretz is reporting that the IDF is planning to expel all the Jewish residents of 23 'illegal outposts' in one day in a 'gesture' to the 'Palestinians' and the Obama administration.

The IDF is now conducting operations to forcibly evacuate 23 illegal outposts in one day. The plan was formulated by the security establishment, with the knowledge of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In talks with the United States, Israel had said it would clear out 23 outposts built after March 2001 that it had told the George W. Bush administration it would evacuate five years ago.

So far as is known, a timetable has not been set for the evacuations.

...

The first joint exercise to prepare for the large-scale evacuation was carried out last week. It involved the Border Police, the police and the IDF.

The drill, led by the Border Police, was held at a military base more than a week ago, with police and IDF participation. Senior officers, including the IDF's West Bank commander Noam Tichon, watched the drill.

The forces practiced handling mass riots and evacuating settlers entrenched in an outpost.

Police sources told Haaretz, "The difference between this drill and former ones is the extent of the forces that took part and the participation of the IDF and police along with Border Police."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has promised to clear out these 23 outposts, but said it was a matter of law enforcement and was not addressed in talks with the Americans over freezing settlement construction.

In practice, though, the political leaders know that evacuating the outposts meets U.S. demands, and that it will ultimately be part of a final deal. Associates of Barak say they sense the parties are close to an understanding, and that the first step will be evacuating the outposts. However, these statements were made before the crisis erupted over construction in East Jerusalem.

The IDF will try to keep its evacuation preparations, particularly dates, as foggy as possible. IDF leaders realize many soldiers identify with the settlers, and could potentially leak the plans to evacuation opponents. Therefore, as few people as possible will be let in on the plans.

While the IDF and the police managed to surprise settlers in December when they evacuated a house in Hebron, it will be more difficult this time around, because many more sites are slated for evacuation, and a large number of forces will have to be involved.

I have several observations on this story, and that's why I have cut and pasted so much of it into this post.

First, the fact that they are going to try to hit all the outposts at once is not surprising. That's how they expelled the Jews from Gaza four years ago. If they tried to hit one at a time, you'd just have hundreds of people moving from place to place trying to stop them. On the other hand, this will be a massive operation requiring thousands of troops and the odds of no one in the 'outposts' getting word in advance is somewhere between slim and none. Look for this to happen on the Sabbath (when most of the revenants won't answer their telephones) and for the IDF to take a lot of flack afterward for forcing religious boys into a non-life-threatening operation in violation of the Sabbath. Look for the IDF to be used as backup to free up police and border police units.

Second, the fact that the border police are once again leading the operation is not a good sign. The border police have a much higher percentage of 'minorities' (Druze and Bedouin) than other 'security forces.' It was the border police who were largely behind the pogrom at Amona in 2006.

Third, if anyone thinks that expelling all the Jews from 23 'outposts' is going to satisfy the 'Palestinians' or the Obumbler, they're fooling themselves. The real question is why the government is going through with this. Yes, I know, the Sharon government committed us to it five years ago, but precisely what is to be gained by doing this now? Why do it if the other parties will just pockets the concession and Israel will get nothing out of it?

Fourth, what makes the government think the 'outposts' won't be rebuilt once their residents are expelled? Are they going to post IDF troops around the clock at 23 locations throughout Judea and Samaria? If so, then the outposts will continue to exist, but as IDF encampments. In some cases, the government may be able to cut a deal like that without the inevitable violence.

Finally, some of my old-time readers may recognize the picture at the top of this post as a friend of my son's who was beaten up by police at Amona three years ago (the first time I posted the picture, I did not know he was my son's friend - my son saw it and told me). I've been looking for an opportunity to wish YT Mazal Tov - he was married a few weeks ago. My son participated in the wedding. Here's hoping you and your new wife build a bayit ne'eman b'Yisrael (a faithful house in Israel) and that the marriage is a binyan adei ad (a building that lasts forever).

UPDATE 11:06 PM

Here's another reason this is not likely to be a sudden flash: Israel's legal system will get to have its say on it.

Lawyer Talia Sasson, who wrote the governmental report on unauthorized outposts under the Olmert administration, said Tuesday that reports that the IDF is preparing to destroy 23 outposts in one night are not true. She said that any process to remove outposts would be preceded by a long legal process.

Sasson said the report was a tactic of Defense Minister Ehud Barak to appease left-wing voters. She said any evacuations would be preceded by hearings in both the Civil Administration and most probably also in the Supreme Court.

I love this country. Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:39 PM