SETTLEMENTS
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James Joyner | Monday, June 9, 2003 |
AP reports that Israel is taking a serious, if relatively painless, step in the peace process:
Israel’s military dismantled an uninhabited West Bank settlement outpost Monday, taking a first step toward meeting part of its obligations under a U.S.-backed peace plan.The troops tore down the small group of empty trailers of the Neve Erez South outpost, then removed a water tower that made up a nearby outpost called Armona, settlers said.
They were the first of dozens of outposts dotting isolated West Bank hills to be removed, as called for by the “road map” to Palestinian statehood by 2005. However, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, facing growing opposition from his constituents, has been evasive about whether he would remove all sites targeted in the plan.
The settlements have always been a major stumbling block to the process, although certainly not the biggest. The failure of the Palestinian leadership to put an end to the murder of Israeli civilians and the fact they won’t even publically acknowledge the right of Israeli to exist won’t be as easy to deal with as moving a couple of unoccupied trailers.
And, as an aside to the Axis of Weevil membership, who knew they had trailers way over yonder in Israel?
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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