| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Israel grants legal status to three West Bank outposts | |
| 2012-04-25 | |
JERUSALEM: Israel said on Tuesday it had granted legal status to three settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, a move that could shore up the governing coalition but which drew sharp Palestinian condemnation.
The three outposts -- Bruchin, Sansana and Rechelim -- were built on land Israel declared "state-owned" in the West Bank, an area it captured in the 1967 war and which Palestinians want as part of a future state. "The panel decided to formalize the status of the three communities ... which were established in the 1990s following the decisions of past governments," said a statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Israel distinguishes between settlements it has approved and the outposts which were never granted official authorization. Some 350 settlers live in Bruchin and 240 in Rechelim, both in the northern part of the West Bank, while Sansana, with a population of 240, lies further to the south. None has been granted final Israeli legal status as formal communities and Netanyahu, though politically strong, has faced questions from within his own Likud party and other right-wing coalition partners about his commitment to settlers. Israeli officials blamed unspecified technical issues for delaying the status change. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |