Outposts and Settlements Are Not the Same

"Israel Acts to Cut to Cut Off Funds to Illegal Settlements"
A9, Monday 11/3/08
By Isabel Kershner

The article highlights the current problematic situation in which the State of Israel indirectly funds illegal outposts, which can be described as small West Bank settlements constructed principally by radicalized Jewish settlers. The construction of these outposts was supposed to heave ceased after March 21, 2001 under the provisions of the Quartet’s “Road Map for Peace."

Apparently, the money arrives to the outposts through settler regional councils in the West Bank. Halting indirect public financing of outposts is a positive initiative, but the Olmert government does not appear to have a clear idea of how to do it. As Mr. Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council, points out “the only government investment in the outposts today [is] indirect, in the form of the regional council funds, which go to services like garbage collection and school buses.” Cutting off the funding, then, will not necessarily halt the construction of outposts.

In addition, the article is confusing for two reasons:

1. Outposts are by definition unauthorized, or illegal. In other words, there is no such thing as a legal outpost. Outposts were first developed under the Netanyahu administration during the late nineties. They had no government approval, were not legal, and “were created by diversion of government funds intended for other purposes. In time, these outposts would become legalized or would be retroactively attached to an existing settlement.”

2. This also means that they are always indirectly – never directly – financed.

One positive note, reported by Kershner, is that “Mr. Olmert said the overwhelming majority of Jewish settlers were law-abiding citizens.” Indeed, any statement that challenges wholesale demonization of Jewish residents of Judea & Samaria, or settlers, is to be hailed.

The main problem in this article, however, is the conflation of outposts with settlements. First of all, the title blatantly misleads in this respect. Secondly, midway through the piece, Kershner raises the issue of settlements, which is related to but not the same as that of outposts. This is a divergence, but she continues, stating that many countries in the world and the United States hold differing positions with respect to settlements. She then does not examine the basis of the difference between the two.