Barak on Channel 2, December 3, 2008

Barak: "In the last two years not a single illegal outpost was established."
The truth: big deal, in fact since 2005 not a single outpost was established (since the Sasson report)
Actually: since Barak took office on June 18, 2008 the outposts have grown and expanded, as have the settlements. (See below)

Barak: "Many [outposts] have been dismantled, some of them were dismantled dozens of times."
[Either no new outposts were established nor were they dismantled; or new outposts were established and dismantled (dozens of times)].
The truth: the dozens of outposts that were dismantled were merely demonstrations by hilltop youth playing cat and mouse games with the Army.

Barak: "Four of the old illegal outposts were dismantled."
The government tried to sell that story to the Americans too, unsuccessfully. These are not real dismantlements but the following outposts:

Date	Dismantled outpost	Current status
March 2008	Ofra East -- a single broken caravan, waste. Was never counted by Peace Now as an outpost	Evacuated ahead of visit by Condoleezza Rice
April 14 2008	Mevo Horon North (Merom Ayalon) – six manned caravans	At least one structure remained and is connected to infrastructures and electricity; two caravans moved to a nearby location; apparently in return Barak gave permission for additional permanent construction in the settlements, which began directly following the evacuation.
May 4, 2008	Yatir South -- four manned caravans with two couples and two singles	Two caravans were destroyed and two caravans remained. The settlement leadership asked to evict the young people from the outpost for a long time because of an internal conflict. In exchange for the partial evacuation Barak gave permission for development on the settlement.
May 4, 2008	Hazon David -- a tent serving as a synagogue on Palestinian land in Hebron	Evacuated during the Rice visit and rebuilt the next day by the settlers. Standing intact dozens of meters from the disputed house.

Barak: "We reached an agreement about Migron that will not take years but about one year."
Since Barak took office he has asked the Court for five extensions in order to complete preparations to evacuate Migron. On September 10, 2007 he asked for two months; on November 1, 2007 he asked for two months; on January 23, 2008 he went even further and promised the Court the following: "The State would like to inform the Honorable Court that the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister have decided that the outpost of Migron, located on private land belonging to Palestinian residents, will be evacuated within six months, namely by the beginning of August 2008."

On August 6, 2008 he informed the Court an agreement had been reached with the Yesha Council on evacuation and asked for a deferral of another 45 days; the Court did not accept the request and scheduled a hearing for November 5, 2008, but two days before the hearing Barak asked for another deferral… on November 26, 2008 the High Court of Justice rejected Barak's promises and issued an order nisi requiring the Government to explain within 45 days why it would not evacuate Migron.

As for the agreements with the settlers, in Barak's previous term as Minister of Defense he reached an agreement with the settlers over the 42 outposts that existed at the time. Of all of the outposts that were supposed to be evacuated they are all intact and have grown considerably since then (except for one outpost that was seized by the Army). Below in the appendix is a chart with the details [as yet unpublished].

Barak: "And even in the last olive harvest […] 9 million trees, including ones adjacent to illegal outpost, were harvested."
Just the day before yesterday (December 1, 2008 at night) settlers from Talmon cut down 47 olive trees near the village of Ras Karkar.

Barak: "The High Court order will be executed;" "I am responsible for law enforcement in Judea and Samaria… and I will discharge that responsibility regardless of political considerations."
The problem is that the law is not being enforced in Judea and Samaria. Only what is brought to the HCJ by various organizations receives attention and sometimes even interest from the media and the public. But even then, like in the case of Migron, there is not enforcement but rather delay after delay. Peace Now has at least four pending cases about law enforcement in the various outposts, but in all of them there is no action but words.

Figures about construction in the settlements during Barak's time:
In the outposts:
• at least 31 new permanent houses were built [according to Peace New aerial photos]
• at least 100 new caravans were added [according to Peace New aerial photos]
In the settlements:
• at least 330 new caravans were added (almost all illegally). [according to Peace New aerial photos]
• construction of at least 2150 new housing units began [according to Central Bureau of Statistics figures].
• Tenders were issued for the construction of 539 housing units in settlements (Elkana, Ariel, Efrat, Beitar Illit and others).
In Hebron:
• July 2008 -- Barak approved construction of a new building next to Beit Romano in the middle of Hebron (dorms for students of the yeshiva)

Permits Barak gave for construction in settlements:
In March 2008 a list of permits Barak gave was published:

Settlement	Housing units	Status
Ovnat	Unknown	Permission to carry out Stage 2
Elkana	32	Permission to carry out Stage 2
Efrat		Permission to declare state land as “Horshot Efrat”
Ariel	48	Permission to put on the market (the Neuman neighborhood)
Beitar Illit	32	Permission to put on the market (32 lots)
Talmon	Unknown	Permission to carry out Stage 2
Ma'ale Adumim	52	Permission to carry out Stage 2
Negohot	Unknown	Permission to carry out Stage 2
Sha'arei Tikva	32	Permission to develop and market a new neighborhood

Since then Barak has issued many more permits to build and advance plans in settlements, including
Maskiyot -- in mid-July Barak approved construction of permanent houses for Gush Katif evacuees in Maskiyot in the Jordan Valley. Until that time Maskiyot was a Nachal outpost and Barak's decision to allow the construction drew strong international criticism, because it amounted to building a new settlement.
On November 16, 2008 a list of more than 50 building plans in settlements, approved by Barak since April of that year, was published.

***

Appendix
Barak's "outpost agreement" with the Yesha Council from October 1999:

Name of outpost	Status in 1999	Outpost agreement 1999	Status in November 2008
1. Ahuzat Shalhevet	Populated	Approved	Populated
2. Ibei Hanahal	Populated	Approved	Populated
3. Bat Ayin West	Populated	Approved	Populated + permanent houses
4. Givat Hadagan	Populated	Approved	Populated
5. Givat Hahish	Populated	Approved	Populated + permanent houses
6. Hahar	Populated	Approved	Populated
7. Skali's Farm	Populated	Approved	Populated
8. Nof Harim (Eli)	Populated	Approved	Populated + permanent houses
9. Ein Prat	Populated	Approved	Populated
10. Sde Bar	Populated	Approved	Populated + permanent houses
11.Tapuach West	Populated	Approved	Populated
12. Ma’on Farm	Populated	Relocation to new site	Relocated to nearby site and populated
13. Mitzpe Kramim	Populated	Relocation to new site	Relocated to nearby site, returned to original site and populated
14. Elisha Preparatory (Tzofit)	Populated	To be evacuated at and of school year at preparatory college	Populated
15. Mitzpe Yair (Magen David)	Populated	To be evacuated and land designated for grazing	Populated + permanent houses
16. Ahiya	Populated	Frozen	Populated
17. Alonei Shilo	Populated	Frozen	Populated
18. Bruchin	Populated	Frozen	Populated + permanent houses
19. Bracha A	Populated	Frozen	Populated
20. Hill 782	Populated	Frozen	Populated
21. Hill 851	Populated	Frozen	Populated
22. Gva'ot Olam	Populated	Frozen	Populated
23. Givat Harel	Populated	Frozen	Populated + permanent houses
24. Hayovel	Populated	Frozen	Populated + permanent houses
25. Har Hemed	Populated	Frozen	Populated
26. Mor Farm	Populated	Frozen	Populated
27. Horesh Yaron	Populated	Frozen	Populated
28. Haresha	Populated	Frozen	Populated + permanent houses
29. Lehavat Yitzhar	Populated	Frozen	Populated
30. Magen Dan	Populated	Frozen	Populated
31. Mitzpe Danny	Populated	Frozen	Populated
32. Sneh Ya'akov	Populated	Frozen	Populated
33. Adei Ad	Populated	Frozen	Populated
34. Amona	Populated	Frozen	Populated
35.(Location) 51/2 in Hebron	Not populated	Evacuation	Not populated, under army control
36. Esh Kodesh	Not populated	Evacuation	Populated
37. Hill 26	Not populated	Evacuation	Intermittently populated
38. Hill 777	Populated	Evacuation	Populated
39. Mitzpe Hagit	Populated	Evacuation	Populated + permanent houses
40. Neve Erez	Populated	Evacuation	Populated
41. Palgei Mayim	Not populated	Evacuation	Populated + permanent houses
42. Kida	Not populated	Evacuation	Populated