Israeli outpost

The outpost Giv'at Asaf is located in the West Bank.

In Israeli law, an outpost (Hebrew: מאחז, Ma'ahaz lit. "a handhold") is an unauthorized or illegal Israeli settlement within the West Bank, constructed without the required authorization from the Israeli government in contravention of Israeli statutes regulating planning and construction. In Israeli law, outposts are distinguished from settlements authorized by the Israeli government. This distinction between illegal outposts and "legal" settlements is not endorsed by international law, which considers both a violation of the norms, governing belligerent occupations, applicable to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.[1]

Outposts appeared after the 1993 Oslo I Accord, when the Israeli government made commitments to freeze the building of new settlements.[2][3] Although outposts were not officially supported by the government, Israeli public authorities and other government bodies played a major role in establishing and developing them, according to the 2005 Sasson Report, commissioned by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.[3] Outposts differ from neighborhoods in that they are built at a substantial distance from authorized settlements, while neighborhoods are attached to an existing settlement.

In July 2002, the Israeli government acknowledged that 69 outposts had been established since 1996.[4] A number of them, most unpopulated, have been removed afterwards. Currently, some hundred outposts exist.[5][6] The majority of them, some 70 in 2002, belong to the Amana movement.[7]

In 2012, ten unauthorized outposts were retroactively legalised by the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, according to the Israeli NGO Peace Now, by redesignating them as a neighbourhood of nearby settlements.[8]

Outposts often are provided with security by the Israel Defense Forces.[9]

  1. ^ Asʻad Ġānim (2010). Palestinian Politics After Arafat: A Failed National Movement. Indiana University Press. p. 32. all forms of settlement in the occupied territories are considered prohibited under international law, Israel considers only settlement 'outposts' illegal.
  2. ^ Eyal Benvenisti (2012). The International Law of Occupation. Oxford University Press. p. 236. [illegal outposts] were settlements that sprouted without formal authorization by the military administration due to commitments given by the Israeli government during the Oslo process not to build new settlements.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference sassrep was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Geoffrey Aronson (September–October 2002). "New "Outposts" Lead Settlement Expansion. Settlement Report 12 No. 5". Foundation for Middle East Peace. Archived from the original on 2013-07-04. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  5. ^ Peace Now, Data-sheet Settlements and Outposts Numbers and Data Archived 2013-10-11 at the Wayback Machine, at Settlements and Outposts Archived 2013-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Settlement Outposts". Foundation for Middle East Peace. Archived from the original on 18 November 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  7. ^ Sara Leibovich-Dar (11 July 2002). "The Zambish factor". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference PNNofeiNehemia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Gili Cohen (3 April 2013). "IDF troops provide security for all West Bank outposts - regardless of legal status". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.