Military

DATE=3/13/2005

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL-OUTPOSTS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-323208

BYLINE=ROBERT BERGER

DATELINE= JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Israeli Report says Government Violated Settlement Laws

INTRO: The Israeli government has accepted a report on Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank that points to violations of an internationally-backed peace plan. As Robert Berger Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem Bureau, Israel is promising to make amends and dismantle about one-quarter of them.

TEXT: Israel's Cabinet adopted an official report which found widespread government complicity in the establishment of more than 100 illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank. The report said government aid to the outposts, included providing money, land, water, and electricity.

In effect, the report says successive governments broke the law to advance the cause of West Bank settlements. As a first step, the government decided to dismantle 24 outposts.

/// SHARON ACT IN HEBREW -- FADE UNDER /// 3

Mr. Sharon told the Cabinet that he is committed to dismantling the outposts in compliance with the internationally-backed Roadmap peace plan. But Israel has made that promise before, and nothing has been done.

Cabinet Minister Ephraim Sneh of the dovish Labor Party says the sooner the outposts are removed, the better.

/// SNEH ACT ///

"They are like cancer in the body of our land because they are [an] obstacle to peace; there will no peace as long as they exist."

/// END ACT ///

The settlers admit they had plenty of help from the government, including none other than Mr. Sharon. Settlement leader Shaul Goldstein spoke on Israel Television.

/// GOLDSTEIN ACT ///

"It is obvious the one who sent us is the Prime Minister, so he should look in the mirror."

/// END ACT ///

The report does not recommend legal action against Mr. Sharon or other officials, but it does demand drastic measures to stop government assistance to the outposts.

One of the most vocal critics of the outposts is U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who describes them as a flagrant violation of the roadmap. Mr. Annan will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem and the West Bank this week, to try to get the Roadmap back on track. (SIGNED)

NEB/RB/RAE