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Vice Premier Haim Ramon. (Motti Kimche)
Last update - 11:44 08/04/2008
Vice PM: Ofra settlement homes built on private Palestinian land
By Akiva Eldar
Tags: settlement, Palestinians 

All 450 homes in Ofra, the "mother of settlements" in Samaria, were built on privately owned Palestinian land, Vice Premier Haim Ramon said during a session at the Knesset State Control Committee two months ago.

This is the first time such a senior government source has admitted in an official forum that the first settlement in Samaria was built on private Palestinian land.

In response to an inquiry by Haaretz, Ramon's office said the vice premier's statements were made based on information from the defense establishment.
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Present at the committee session were some of the West Bank local council heads, including the director of the Yesha Council of settlements, Pinhas Wallerstein, one of the first people to move to Ofra. None of the guests challenged Ramon's statements regarding the property ownership.

Sources involved in settlement affairs said Monday that even though Peace Now has argued that Ofra is built mostly on private land, Ramon's official statement has both political and legal implications. This may include compensation demands by the Palestinian property owners.

Wallerstein responded Monday that to the best of his knowledge, the facts are not in line with Ramon's statements. He recalled that Ofra began as a work camp in 1975, established with the authorization of Shimon Peres, then defense minister in the first Yitzhak Rabin government, on the grounds of a former Jordanian military camp.

Peres even participated in planting a tree in the new settlement.

According to the transcript of the February 25 meeting, which addressed the outposts and the implementation of the Sasson Report, committee chairman MK Zevulun Orlev asked Ramon: "To add 20 more homes in Ofra has political implications? I want to understand the point." Ramon responded: "From many standpoints Ofra is not a good example for you, because all of it is build on private Arab land, private Palestinian property."

Ramon said the pressure to enlarge Ofra and other settlements does not stem from a housing shortage, but rather is an attempt to undermine any chance of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians.

"Construction in Judea and Samaria, especially the illegal outposts, stems from a wish to establish political facts that will make it difficult for the Israeli governments to adopt a policy different from that of the persons building the illegal outposts. They declare this, and therefore this construction has an open political and ideological nature. People say, we will build without permission so that if the majority in Israel wants to return part of this territory [to the Palestinians], it will be impossible or it will be much more difficult," Ramon said.

Ramon, who chairs the ministerial committee on implementing the outpost report, added, "If it were up to me, everything would be allowed within the settlement blocks and nothing would be permitted beyond those [areas], and anything inside the fence would be approved and everything outside the fence not only would not be authorized, but I would be content if it were evacuated."

Eitan Broshi, an aide to the defense minister on settlement matters, said there are about 100 illegal outposts where 7,000 people live.

He told the State Control Committee that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had sent former Defense Minister Amir Peretz a letter listing which outposts should be evacuated first. Broshi said on February 25 that "in the coming weeks," there would be agreement with the Yesha leadership on the fate of 26 illegal outposts.

Related articles:
  • If the land isn't private?
  • Papers detail settlers' West Bank land grab
  • Report: Settlers use just 9% of state-allocated West Bank land
  • Peace Now: Most outposts partly built on private Palestinian land
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      1.   Stolen Land 04:36  |  Samir 08/04/08
      2.   Get the SQUATTERS off that land. 04:38  |  POP 08/04/08
      3.   ALL SETTLEMENTS are on PALESTINIAN LAND DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 05:09  |  MOE 08/04/08
      4.   Look at Ofra in a Map It will one day be apart of the Palestinian 05:10  |  ALI 08/04/08
      5.   My recommendation: since ALL settlements are illegal,best to 05:14  |  lakshmi 08/04/08
      6.   What here has not been known for a long time? 05:36  |  Mark Lincoln 08/04/08
      7.   Left Wing Extemist Against Jewish Villages? What`s New? 05:40  |  Straight Talk 08/04/08
      8.   Ramon doesn`t get it 05:43  |  Jack 08/04/08
      9.   Why does Israel refuse to allow Palestine to exist? 05:48  |  POP 08/04/08
      10.   Jewish Values = Land Theft. 05:49  |  POP 08/04/08
      11.   Ofra Built on Land of a "Former Jordanian Military Camp" 06:18  |  Steve 08/04/08
      12.   God given right of chosen race to promised land 06:20  |  Israel_is_Done 08/04/08
      13.   Ofra 06:41  |  danite 08/04/08
      14.   #9 POP: What Would You Have Called This Land If The Romans ... 06:48  |  Lavi 08/04/08
      15.   Ramon is nuts 06:51  |  Yossi 08/04/08
      16.   Duh!!! 07:10  |  Ben 08/04/08
      17.   Moe & Ali - SUE 07:13  |  Mark of Lewiston 08/04/08
      18.   Why the surprise here? 07:17  |  Natallie Durson 08/04/08
      19.   Steve - Will You Pay the Rent? 07:23  |  Mark of Lewiston 08/04/08
      20.   settlements or reality-which is it to be? 07:33  |  Mark 08/04/08
      21.   "Surprise"...!? 07:39  |  Esther 08/04/08
      22.   Stolen land? Shocking just shocking i say 07:51  |  Ben 08/04/08
      23.   Ramon`s reply 07:54  |  Victor on behalf of 08/04/08
      24.   Ramon the CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER speaks about "laws" !!!! 07:54  |  Moshe 08/04/08
      25.   Much confusion about who owns land 07:59  |  x-ray 08/04/08
      26.   The Arabs and their allies should know : Israel a Jewish state. 08:07  |  Jean Van Daem 08/04/08
      27.   #8 great point-Ramon is from Jaffa 08:17  |  Adam Newman 08/04/08
      28.   News for Mr. Ramon 08:26  |  Ghassan 08/04/08
      29.   How Haaretz lies and promotes an anti Israel view. 08:34  |  Ken Jurist 08/04/08
      30.   All Palastinians on Jewish Land 08:44  |  Sam 08/04/08
      31.   MOE.AS Pals owned only about 30% of the land to start with- 08:46  |  PETER SM 08/04/08
      32.   RAMON of the famous kiss is now a lawyer ? 08:57  |  victor hardman 08/04/08
      33.   Compensation 09:00  |  Joseph 08/04/08
      34.   And they race to the keyboard to respond LOL 09:01  |  Abraham 08/04/08
      35.   Why yell at Israel? 09:02  |  Oddvark 08/04/08
      36.   Stolen Land? 09:02  |  Vital 08/04/08
      37.   Morality and pragmatism--to ALI 09:09  |  Meir Gush Etzion 08/04/08
      38.   To 13 Danite Ofra. 09:18  |  Vital 08/04/08
      39.   Quick!! Race to the keyboard.Silly People 09:19  |  Abraham 08/04/08
      40.   Patriotic Jews are needed 09:20  |  Atoo 08/04/08
      41.   #14 Wrong logic. 09:29  |  Atoo 08/04/08
      42.   Palistinian land LOL 09:38  |  Wise Saba 08/04/08
      43.   The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be His name 09:43  |  Ivar 08/04/08
      44.   Ramon, Can`t you hold your tounge??? 09:50  |  The Judge 08/04/08
      45.   Blatant stealing by the land thieves of Israel 10:28  |  Clickfool 08/04/08
      46.   THE LIES ARE BEING EXPOSED... THOSE HOUSES BELONG TO PALESTINIANS 10:48  |  TripleJump 08/04/08
      47.   Time to return stolen land to the Palestinian OWNERS 10:50  |  Amir 08/04/08
      48.   #44 boris the clucking fool and ottoman land law 10:51  |  victor hardman 08/04/08
      49.   the first settlement in Samaria 11:12  |  Zev 08/04/08
      50.   to Natalie Durson 11:13  |  Harry 08/04/08
      51.   Re Victor-of-Belfast #32 11:23  |  Esther 08/04/08
      52.   TRIPLEJUMP MILLIONS OF ARABS ARE LIVING ON JEWISH LAND 11:24  |  PETER SM 08/04/08
      53.   # 7 this is the typical reaction to truth 11:30  |  Suad 08/04/08
      54.   #51 ramon out on a limb and katsav on trial esther? 12:03  |  v ictor hardman3 08/04/08
      55.   # 8 u r also such a typical truth denier 12:08  |  Suad 08/04/08
      56.   Israel won 1967 12:59  |  American Christian 08/04/08
      57.   What is fair 13:03  |  American Christian 08/04/08
      58.   stolen land 14:18  |  a.b. 08/04/08
      59.   Compensation (#19) 14:34  |  Steve 08/04/08
      60.   Genesis 1:1 14:49  |  Kenneth 08/04/08
      61.   Compensation, perhaps. Moving our towns? Not a chance. 14:50  |  Chaim 08/04/08
      62.   compensation? 15:00  |  Francois Naim 08/04/08
      63.   Not surprising 15:04  |  Alex 08/04/08
      64.   Theft By Any Other Name 15:24  |  Yaakov Sullivan 08/04/08
      65.   COMPENSATION IS NOT AN OPTION.... STOLEN LAND HAS NO PRICE! 15:30  |  TripleJump 08/04/08
      66.   Ramon go home 15:32  |  Susan 08/04/08
      67.   Ramon go home 15:32  |  Susan 08/04/08
      68.   OK POP....YOU FIRST!!! 15:46  |  AMERICAN REVISIONIST 08/04/08
      69.   Good ole Kenneth drags out that dusty book of myths # 60 15:54  |  Clickfool 08/04/08
      70.   All settlements are illegal and one day..... 16:23  |  Deborah