Peace Now: Illegal West Bank building unpunished - Haaretz

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Thu., December 06, 2007 Kislev 26, 5768

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Peace Now: Illegal West Bank building unpunished

By Nadav Shragai

Only 3 percent of illegally constructed buildings in West Bank settlements and illegal outposts have been taken down by the authorities, according to a Peace Now report released yesterday.

Over the past 10 years, some 3,449 files have been opened concerning building violations in Jewish settlements in the territories, but only 107 of these buildings have been destroyed, the report claimed.

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"Violators include commercial companies, cellular companies, public officials and the Israel Defense Forces," it said. "The top [settlements] where illegal construction exist are Ofra and Beit El."

The report, based on figures obtained from the Civil Authority following a High Court decision to open them to the public as part of the Freedom of Information Act, was presented to reporters at a Jerusalem press conference.

According to Peace Now's findings, over half of the buildings that lacked proper permits were located inside recognized settlements and just under half were in illegal outposts. Peace Now said those numbers may not be accurate because of an IDF decision dating from 1998 that has effectively removed inspection from recognized settlements.

"[The IDF decision] means that the number of building violations in the settlements is much higher than the numbers given by the inspection units," Peace Now said. The settlement of Ofra has the highest number of reported building violations with over 196, followed by Beit El with 107, the report claims. Among illegal outposts, Bruchin has the highest number of violations with 75 cases; Shvut Rachel has 98 and Magron has 75.

Peace Now added that local authorities placed in charge of taking down buildings built without permits are in fact heavily involved in their construction. In one such instance, authorities opened a file against the illegal construction of a gas station near the settlement of Tapuach owned by the head of the Samaria regional council, Gershon Mesika.

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