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| By Ynetnews January 25, 2007 |
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Talks about West Bank outpost between Jewish settler representatives and the Defense Ministry were cancelled Thursday due to a media leak.
The decision to cancel the meeting caused fury amongst the Yesha Council representatives, who had hoped to reach an agreement with the Ministry as to which West Bank outposts would be evacuated voluntarily in exchange for the ministry's approval for other outposts.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz has emphasized the importance of involving Yesha Council representatives in decisions regarding West Bank outposts, but stressed that this matter must be discussed without media involvement.
The moment information on the meeting was leaked to the press, the Defense Ministry decided it should be cancelled.
A letter protesting what it termed the ministry's disregard for settlements was sent to Peretz by Yesha Council Chairman Benzi Lieberman just before the meeting was supposed to take place.
"The relationship between your Defense Ministry and the Yesha settlements, whose whole fabric of life depends and feeds on your ministry, has reached an all-time low...Even under left-wing governments who did not see eye-to-eye with us on the purpose of the settlements, there was never such disregard for basic needs," said the letter.
Lieberman also expressed his wish to discuss other central issues with Peretz before the meeting, including Peretz's recent decision to freeze construction plans in the Maskiot settlement where 30 housing units for Gush Katif evacuees were supposed to be built.
"These are people who were expelled from their homes by the Israeli government, and that same government must be committed to ending their distress immediately, since they have nowhere to rebuild their homes," he said.
According to the Yesha chairman, the issuing of building permits has also been almost completely put on hold, even in already existing settlements, and the need for increased security measures ignored.
Reprinted with permission from Ynet. |
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