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| Middle East |
| Israel pledges to evacuate âunauthorized settlement outpostsâ |
| 2002-06-26 |
| Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer has pledged to evacuate 20 unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank. "I have determined that that there are 20 outposts that in my order of priorities, are at the greatest urgency for removal," Ben-Eliezer told Israel Channel One Television late on Tuesday. "I will take down these outposts." Asked about the possibility that settlers would resist orders to evacuate the sites, the defense minister added that "There are always two possibilities - either they will leave voluntarily, as soon as they realize that the decision is a determined one, or the Israeli army will remove them." Whoa! That says the Israelis have rilly-truly accepted the fact that there's going to be a Paleostinian state, and they're getting their citizens out. It'll also take some of the wind out of the sails of the yammering chorus demanding the settlements be dismantled, since the Israelis can point and say, "We are. See?" |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |