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Why Israel Can No Longer Quibble Over Outposts

Today in Haartez, veteran military correspondent Amos Harel reports on the fact that the US is apparently no longer accepting the Roadmap formula regarding the number of outposts Israel has to remove.  Harel makes the case that this is further evidence of the Obama Administration's "unyielding" approach on the settlements issue.

Which may be true.  But Harel fails to note a simpler explanation for why, regardless of other aspects of the administration's policy on settlements, the Roadmap formula -- under which Israel is responsible for evacuating only those outposts established during Sharon's time as Prime Minister -- is no longer the exclusive measure of Israeli responsibility vis a vis outposts.

The reason?  Because the other outposts - the ones not established under Sharon's watch, were established during periods when two other men served as Prime Minister.  And those two men -- Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak -- are again running the show today. 

Let's review:  Phase I of the Roadmap required that Israel "immediately dismantles settlement outposts erected since March 2001."  Why March 2001?  Because Sharon was inaugurated as Prime Minister on 3/8/01, and he somehow got the US to buy the argument that he should be held accountable only for outposts that were established while he was in office.

This is a strange argument.  Rule of law does not vary based on who was in charge when a law was broken.   The assertion that as head of state, Sharon could not be held responsible for rectifying the illegal situation that arose under his predecessors is ludicrous.   It would be like the IRS auditing a Fortune 500 company and discovering years of unpaid taxes, only to be told by the CEO: "I cannot deny the fact that the company appears to have been violating the law for the past decade, but I only took this job last year, so you can only hold me responsible for the taxes and fines that have accumulated since I came on board."

But it is an argument that the US bought, establishing the principle that outposts fall into two categories:

Category 1: Sharon-era outposts, which under the Roadmap Israel should have evacuated "immediately" (keeping in mind that the Roadmap was announced in April 2003);

Category 2:  Pre-Sharon outposts, that Israel recognizes are also illegal (as made clear in the Sasson Report - commissioned by Sharon and written by former Israeli Justice Ministry official Talia Sasson).

How can the Obama Administration hold Bibi and Barak responsible for this second category? Because the current Prime Minister and Defense Minister are collectively responsible for virtually all of the outposts of the pre-Sharon era. The proliferation of outposts began in 1996, when Bibi was prime minister -- he ran the show from 6/18/96-7/6/99 -- and continued under Barak, who was in charge from 7/6/99-3/7/01.

Regardless of how ludicrous the standard of "personal responsibility" established by the Roadmap was, it is a principle that today has come back to haunt the Israeli government.  Because with Barak and Bibi back in power, by Israel's own logic the Obama Administration is absolutely right to demand that every outpost be removed immediately.  Kinda of ironic, no?