US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV4471

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 004471 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KWBG, IS, SETTLEMENTS 
SUBJECT: PEACE NOW,S PETITION AGAINST AMONA OUTPOST 
CONSTRUCTION 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d) 
 
This message has been cleared by Consulate General Jerusalem 
 
1.  (C) Summary: On July 4, the NGO Peace Now filed the first 
petition to Israel,s High Court of Justice against illegal 
outpost construction.  The petition argues that nine houses 
at the Amona outpost*-as well as the outpost itself*-were 
built without permits on Palestinian-owned land, making them 
illegal under Israeli law.  Peace Now requests the Court to 
grant an interim injunction against the inhabitation of the 
houses, enforcement of previously issued cease and desist 
orders against ongoing construction, and an answer by the GOI 
as to why demolition orders issued in October 2004 against 
the houses were not enforced.  Peace Now reported 
accelerating stages of unauthorized construction to the 
Israeli Police and the Civil Administration for seven months 
before filing its claim and states the GOI remained complicit 
to the construction despite acknowledging its illegality. 
Dror Etkes, Peace Now,s Settlement Watch Coordinator told 
Econoff that Peace Now is planning to file future petitions 
against West Bank outposts where illegal construction for 
permanent housing is ongoing.  End summary. 
 
------------------- 
Birth of an Outpost 
------------------- 
 
2.  (C) Members of Peace Now provided Embassy with details on 
the July 4 petition filed against construction in the Amona 
outpost.  Amona, located approximately one kilometer east of 
the Ofra settlement, is an illegally established outpost that 
has existed for 10 years with little government intervention 
against its growth, according to the Talia Sasson March 2005 
outpost report--commissioned by Prime Minister Sharon's 
office.  Today there are approximately 53 buildings housing 
25 families in Amona, according to Peace Now. (Note:  The 
settlement of Ofra is located northeast of Ramallah.  End 
note.) 
 
3.  (C) In its petition, Peace Now referenced the Sasson 
report stating that Amona was established without government 
authorization in 1995 on Palestinian owned land. According to 
Sasson, the Ministry of Construction and Housing paid 
2,150,000 NIS for the establishment of the outpost,s 
infrastructure, despite Amona lacking authorization for its 
establishment, allocation of land, or planning from the 
Government or Defense Minister. (Background Note: The 
Minister of Defense is cited as an authorizing entity because 
he is responsible for the Civil Administration in the 
Occupied Territories.  The Defense Minister has the authority 
to approve or halt any civilian construction projects planned 
or under construction, as well as order or halt the 
implementation of demolition injunctions legally issued 
against unauthorized construction of buildings. End note.) 
 
4.  (C) According to Peace Now, illegal infrastructure work 
has continued unabated in Amona: An asphalt road was 
paved*without a permit*to join Amona to Ofra; Amona is 
connected to the water system of Ofra; the electricity 
company has connected the homes to the regional electrical 
network; and a sewage pipe also connects Amona,s waste to 
Ofra,s sewage stem.  Peace Now claims this waste is dumped 
into a neighboring Palestinian field. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Government Complicity Spurns Petition 
------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (C) Peace Now has been monitoring construction of the 
nine new houses in Amona since May 2004.  Between November 7, 
2004 and June 30, 2005, Peace Now wrote eight letters, sent 
photographs of accelerating construction, and made repeated 
calls to the Civil Administration and the SHAI Police 
Department demanding law enforcement units halt construction 
of the homes.  Highlights of the correspondence between Peace 
Now and the GOI follow: 
 
- A spokeswoman for the Civil Administration wrote in a 
January 2005 letter to Peace Now, &The construction in the 
Amona outpost is unauthorized, and  unauthorized 
construction, files had been opened for all the buildings.8 
 
- In April 2005, a Civil Administration's spokesman wrote to 
Peace Now saying, &Supervision and enforcement activities 
were also carried out regarding the unauthorized construction 
carried out in the Amona outpost, which include serving cease 
and desist injunctions for the work, confiscating equipment 
and building materials, submitting a complaint against the 
contractor and having him interrogated by the police, in 
addition to, issuing demolition injunctions for unauthorized 
buildings.8  In June 2005, however, Peace Now Settlement 
Watch Coordinator Dror Etkes found a copy of the confiscation 
orders while visiting the site.  According to the orders, 
materials confiscated consisted of: one plastic tub, four 
spatulas, one hammer, one screwdriver, one level, one brush, 
sandpaper, and one ladder. 
- On June 30, 2005, Vlady Bordovski, an official from the 
office of Judea and Samaria legal advisor, confirmed to Peace 
Now that final demolition injunctions had been issued for the 
homes on October 28, 2004.  Bordovski stated, however, &At 
this stage, it has been decided to postpone the 
implementation of the injunctions because of the political 
sensitivity of the pre-disengagement period in which we find 
ourselves.8 He also explained that the Commander of the 
Central Command had come to an agreement with the Mateh 
Yehuda Regional Council that the homes would not be 
inhabited. 
 
6.  (C) Upon learning that construction of the homes were 
near completion and that Amana, the settlement movement of 
Gush Emunim, had also begun to intensely market their sale, 
Peace Now,s filed its petition to prevent the inhabitation 
and demolition of the houses on July 4, 2005.  In its 
petition, Peace Now describes the GOI failure to prevent the 
illegal construction as &deliberate and conscious 
non-enforcement8 and did not foresee GOI enforcement 
authorities maintaining the houses uninhabited.  According to 
Peace Now, inhabitation of the houses would serve to turn any 
act of enforcement*-whether implementing demolition orders 
or sealing up the buildings*-into a more complicated 
situation since the law regarding illegal construction that 
is not inhabited is not the same as the law regarding illegal 
construction that is inhabited. 
 
7.  (C) According to Peace Now's attorney, Michael Sfard, 
under Israeli law, the inhabitation status of an illegally 
constructed home is crucial: First, inhabitation provides the 
resident with a standing in the proceedings.  Second, the 
inhabitants may object to the demolition on grounds that they 
do not have any other place to live.  In this case, according 
to Sfard, courts tend to postpone the demolition of the 
structure until a suitable solution is found.  And lastly, 
the inhabitant's lack of awareness to the structure's legal 
status may open the door to arguments on the fairness of the 
demolition order and the need to approve the house 
retroactively. Etkes recently told Econoff that he expects 
the Court to make a decision on the status of the homes by 
the end of the month. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Possible Future Petitions Against Outposts 
------------------------------------------ 
 
8.  (C) Peace Now is planning to file future petitions 
against West Bank outposts where illegal construction on 
permanent housing is ongoing, according to Etkes.  Peace Now 
will seek to get these illegally built structures demolished 
and claims that there are approximately 18 outposts where 
this construction is continuing. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
9.  (C) Since 1995, illegal construction and infrastructure 
work has continued in Amona, making it a full-fledged 
community with 25 families. The growth of Amona--an outpost 
acknowledged by the GOI as established illegally--is in size 
comparable to some small, legally established settlements. 
GOI officials have written reports about illegal outpost 
activity for the past two years--such as the State 
Comptroller annual report in May 2004 and Talia Sasson's 
report in March 2005--but little enforcement has yet to be 
seen in curbing this type of settlement growth in the West 
Bank. 
 
10.  (C) Israel defines an outpost as any new community in 
the West Bank that was built without acquiring the four 
mandatory approvals for a new settlement.  For USG settlement 
watchers, however, there is no formal distinction between an 
outpost and a settlement because geographically, both are 
categories of activity that constitute Israeli civilian 
construction and creates a similar impact on the ground. 
Historically, outposts have traditionally served as the 
precursor of new settlements or expansions of existing 
settlements. 
 
********************************************* ******************** 
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv 
 
You can also access this site through the State Department's 
Classified SIPRNET website. 
********************************************* ******************** 
CRETZ