Last update - 00:00 03/09/2007
Lieberman calls for a panel on Palestinian W. Bank construction
By Haaretz Service
Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to establish a committee to examine illegal Palestinian construction in the West Bank, following his participation Sunday in a Knesset meeting on the status of settlement outposts, Army Radio reported Monday.
"Palestinian construction is equivalent to unauthorized outposts," Lieberman, chairman of Yisrael Beitenu, wrote in a letter to Olmert.
He added: "This is an especially worrying phenomenon as the illegal Palestinian construction is along the bypass roads in Judea and Sameria, which endangers the lives of Jewish residents," Army Radio reported.
In an Israel Radio interview Monday morning, Lieberman denied that he had had argued with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at a ministerial committee meeting on Sunday over whether the outposts were in fact illegal at all, but said the two hold different views on the subject.
Lieberman said the only debate was over the manner outposts slated to be evacuated would be dealt with.
"There are those in the government who want to see aggressive evacuations of West Bank outposts, in the style of Amona, because of upcoming party primaries and [desire for] ratings," he told Israel Radio. Lieberman was referring to violent clashes between police and thousands of settlers and right-wing activists at the evacuation of the West Bank outpost of Amona in February 2006.
The minister stated he favored a deal being reached with the Yesha Council of Settlements on the issue.