barfly
02-04-03, 09:45
JERUSALEM (AP) _ Six Israeli soldiers are spending their
reserve duty guarding a lone settler living illegally in a
trailer on a West Bank hill, costing the country an
estimated US$43,000 a month, an Israeli legislator said
Tuesday.
Ran Cohen from the dovish Meretz party raised the issue
with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday, at a meeting of
parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee. Sharon
said he would look into the case, according to Cohen.
Dozens of tiny outposts have been set up by settlers in
recent years on West Bank hilltops to prevent the handover
of land in a peace deal with the Palestinians. In most
cases, just a few settlers live in the outposts, which are
guarded by troops.
The outpost cited by Cohen is near the Palestinian town of
Jenin.
Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, a spokesman for Jewish settlers,
insisted that at least five settlers live there. «Next
week there will be more settlers than soldiers,» he said.
«Now that it has been on the news, we'll make sure more
settlers go there.»
Israel has come under increasing international pressure to
remove the outposts, as a first step toward a settlement
freeze. Sharon told the parliamentary committee Monday that
the outposts would eventually be dismantled, but did not
say when.
Successive Israeli governments have moved more than
200,000 settlers into 150 settlements in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip since capturing the lands _ claimed by the
Palestinians for a state _ in the 1967 Mideast war.
The United States holds that the settlements are an
obstacle to peace, and has urged Israel repeatedly to
freeze construction, so far to no avail.
Cohen said the Israeli government looks the other way when
settlers establish outposts. Money is being wasted on
guarding them, at a time when the government is trying to
cut billions of dollars from the state budget as part of an
austerity plan aimed at combating one of the worst
recessions in the country's history, he said.
«We are not talking about the army securing residents. We
are talking about a lone settler who is acting
insubordinately and he is causing six reserve soldiers to
endanger their lives,» he added.
Israeli media reported Monday that the six reserve
soldiers offered to pool their money and pay for the
settler's stay in a hotel in Israel so they wouldn't have
to guard him anymore. The settler declined, the reports
said.
Ik vind dit dus echt te gek voor woorden! Het is een regelrechte provocatie naar de Palestijnen en dan daarna janken als die kolonist voor z'n kop wordt geschoten!
Sowieso is het me een raadsel dat de Israelische regering zich voor het karretje laat spannen in plaats van een oplossing te zoeken!
Ik heb steeds minder begrip voor de Israeli's.
reserve duty guarding a lone settler living illegally in a
trailer on a West Bank hill, costing the country an
estimated US$43,000 a month, an Israeli legislator said
Tuesday.
Ran Cohen from the dovish Meretz party raised the issue
with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday, at a meeting of
parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee. Sharon
said he would look into the case, according to Cohen.
Dozens of tiny outposts have been set up by settlers in
recent years on West Bank hilltops to prevent the handover
of land in a peace deal with the Palestinians. In most
cases, just a few settlers live in the outposts, which are
guarded by troops.
The outpost cited by Cohen is near the Palestinian town of
Jenin.
Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, a spokesman for Jewish settlers,
insisted that at least five settlers live there. «Next
week there will be more settlers than soldiers,» he said.
«Now that it has been on the news, we'll make sure more
settlers go there.»
Israel has come under increasing international pressure to
remove the outposts, as a first step toward a settlement
freeze. Sharon told the parliamentary committee Monday that
the outposts would eventually be dismantled, but did not
say when.
Successive Israeli governments have moved more than
200,000 settlers into 150 settlements in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip since capturing the lands _ claimed by the
Palestinians for a state _ in the 1967 Mideast war.
The United States holds that the settlements are an
obstacle to peace, and has urged Israel repeatedly to
freeze construction, so far to no avail.
Cohen said the Israeli government looks the other way when
settlers establish outposts. Money is being wasted on
guarding them, at a time when the government is trying to
cut billions of dollars from the state budget as part of an
austerity plan aimed at combating one of the worst
recessions in the country's history, he said.
«We are not talking about the army securing residents. We
are talking about a lone settler who is acting
insubordinately and he is causing six reserve soldiers to
endanger their lives,» he added.
Israeli media reported Monday that the six reserve
soldiers offered to pool their money and pay for the
settler's stay in a hotel in Israel so they wouldn't have
to guard him anymore. The settler declined, the reports
said.
Ik vind dit dus echt te gek voor woorden! Het is een regelrechte provocatie naar de Palestijnen en dan daarna janken als die kolonist voor z'n kop wordt geschoten!
Sowieso is het me een raadsel dat de Israelische regering zich voor het karretje laat spannen in plaats van een oplossing te zoeken!
Ik heb steeds minder begrip voor de Israeli's.