JERUSALEM, March 8 -- The Israeli government is funding and building Jewish settlement outposts across the West Bank in violation of its own laws and international mandates, according to a government-sanctioned report scheduled to be released Wednesday.
Parts of the study, ordered six months ago by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and conducted by a former chief state prosecutor, Talia Sasson, were published Tuesday by Maariv, an Israeli newspaper.
In the report, Sasson concludes that "the violation of the law has become institutional and institutionalized" in some government agencies, according to the newspaper account. "There is blatant violation of the law by certain state authorities, public authorities, regional councils in [the West Bank] and the settlers."
Government agencies have long denied complicity in the construction of settlement outposts in the West Bank, usually blaming Jewish settler organizations that officials say are independent of the government. But Sasson's report describes direct involvement by the Israeli government -- including the ministries of Defense and of Construction and Housing -- in outpost construction that violates not only Israeli law but the "road map" peace plan backed by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
The government ministries cited in the report declined to comment Tuesday. Sharon will present the report to his cabinet on Sunday, according to a brief statement issued by his office Tuesday night.
The expansion of Jewish settlements is one of the most contentious issues between Israelis and Palestinians, who argue that continuing settlement growth in the West Bank will make it difficult to create a viable, independent state.
Outposts are small clusters of trailers or other buildings, usually built on hilltops, that give settlers and the Israeli soldiers who protect them a foothold for expanding existing settlements. Some grow within a few years into full-scale settlements with hundreds of residents.
Israeli law and international mandates prohibit expansion of established settlements outside their borders, but growth of settlements and outposts has been rapid during Sharon's tenure as prime minister. The advocacy group Peace Now said 51 of the 100 outposts in the West Bank have been created since Sharon took office in March 2001. The Israeli government says 28 outposts have been built in that period.
"The state of Israel finances at least part of the establishment of the unauthorized settlement outposts," the 500-page report says, adding that the Civil Administration, which oversees settlements in the West Bank, "turns a blind eye to outposts, some of which are on privately owned Palestinian property."
The Construction and Housing Ministry purchased house trailers in violation of government bid requirements, and a Defense Ministry official approved moving them to the West Bank to create and expand outposts, according to the newspaper account. "This allows for a settlement to be established overnight, by simply moving the trailers," the report says.
The message conveyed by the ministries' actions indicates that "no one seriously intends to enforce the law," the study says.
Attempts to revive relations between Israelis and Palestinians have proceeded fitfully since a summit between Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a month ago.
Sharon temporarily halted some negotiating sessions after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub on Feb. 25. On Tuesday, Abbas accused Israel of "unjustified reluctance" to keep its promises, including the handover of five West Bank towns to Palestinian security forces and the release of more Palestinian prisoners. He met with Israeli officials Tuesday night to discuss turning over West Bank towns to Palestinian control.
Researcher Samuel Sockol contributed to this report.
