IDF hasn't picked general to run Oct. outpost evacuation

Many questions surround an anticipated operation to remove unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts, including which Israel Defense Forces major general will be responsible for the operation and exactly when it will take place.

Both the GOC Central Command and the commander of the IDF's forces in the West Bank are slated to be replaced in mid-October. And Defense Ministry officials say the timing of the operation, which is to involve 23 outposts that the government has committed to evacuate, has not yet been decided, though Defense Minister Ehud Barak has told defense officials it will take place in the next several months.

Both IDF and police officials, however, predict that it will not take place in the next five weeks - or in other words, until after the Muslim month of Ramadan, after the Jewish holidays and after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns from a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Meanwhile, the IDF's Civil Administration continues to issue demolition orders against the outposts. Among those sent out this week were orders for the evacuation of Havat Gilad and other outposts near the settlement of Yitzhar.