MASCIOT, West Bank, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A year and a half after soldiers evicted his family from an illegal settlement on Gaza Strip's coast, 27-year-old Yossi Hazut led visitors through barren desert land to the site he expected to be his home.
The site in the Jordan Valley is a former military camp that now houses a school for boys about to join the military. Hazut pointed to the surrounding hills and said its boundary-line will run along them so that the settlement, Masciot, will cover more than 210 acres.
But reports that the Defense Ministry approved construction elicited strong criticism from the United States and the European Union.
"If Israel were to establish a new settlement in the West Bank, or, for that matter, expand an existing settlement, the United States would consider that a violation of Israel's obligations under the (internationally devised) Roadmap (for peace). We have said consistently that the parties should avoid taking steps that could be interpreted as pre-determining outcomes that, ultimately, should be determined in final status negotiations between the parties," Stewart Tuttle, press attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, told United Press International.
The European Union's presidency said unilateral action was, "Illegal under international law." It "Threaten(s) to render the two-State solution physically impossible to implement."
Hazut, who leads the would-be settlers, was unfazed. All settlements were built despite international condemnations and some defied the Israeli government too.
His old settlement, Shirat Hayam, was illegal. Soldiers and policemen had to break into homes, sometimes through the windows, to force out squatters.
Now Hazut wants to work with the government in order to qualify for financial aid. Foreigners should not intervene.
"Israel is not the 52nd star in the U.S. flag," he said.
Masciot is not a new settlement. It was established in 1982 by a military unit, Nahal, that combined army service with launching settlement-outposts that would be turned over to civilians.
In Masciot the going was rough. The Nahal left, a full-fledged military base was established, then the army left and finally a school with some 50 students moved in combining studies with some military training.
"Look at the trees," Hazut urged. They prove Maskiot has been here years, he said.
His group wanted to settle Masciot to maintain their community, establish new homes fairly quickly, and make a regional impact.
"When young idealistic guys come to a place that wants them, the connection sets of sparks that kindle hidden (pioneering) spirits among the people who live here and create a new atmosphere," he said.
Masciot will be one of the biggest settlements in the area and one day, "We'll bring the sea, too," he predicted.
"The prophet (Zechariah) said it will happen, so it will happen," Hazut said.
The Defense Ministry nevertheless took a step back. "The process (of approval) hasn't been completed yet. It's still being handled," the Civil Administration's spokesman in the West Bank, Capt. Zidki Maman, said.
However, the mayor of the Jordan Valley Regional Council Dubi Tal told UPI that two weeks ago he had received all the Defense Ministry permits he needed.
After the international criticism Defense Minister Amir Peretz asked them to wait for the government to clear up matters with the United States "so we're delaying," Tal said.
It was a gesture, he indicated. Legally the process cannot be halted any longer, he argued.
Thirty small prefabricated homes will be moved to Masciot and the settlers will then build their permanent houses, he added.
Olmert's media adviser, Miri Eisin, defended the plan. It was initially approved in 1981, that is 22 years before the road map, the site was "never really abandoned," and its residents will be going there as, "private individuals not as a group."
"They are citizens of Israel. They can go live anywhere that's legal in the State of Israel," Eisin stressed.
"We're within the roadmap and the Letter of Understanding" that President George W. Bush had written Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in April 2002, she argued.
The road map says Israel must freeze "all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)" but the letter notes, "New realities on the ground."
Why then is the government authorizing such activity?
Peace Now suggested the government sought a deal whereby it would let some settlers move to Masciot and they would agree to remove other illegal outposts.
However Zeev Hever, secretary-general of Amana that builds the settlements, told UPI that Sharon had approved Masciot shortly after the withdrawal from Gaza and that a quid pro quo was not raised in any debate on removing outposts.
"We said so and they didn't even try to sell us (the idea)," he said.
Hebrew University Political Science Professor Avraham Diskin told UPI the government's moves reflect the decision-makers' ambivalence.
On the one hand Olmert expressed readiness to evacuate "many territories and communities." Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni suggested Israel's future border roughly follow the security barrier it is building now. Masciot would then be miles beyond that line.
On the other hand Israel has no serious, credible partner for a peace agreement.
Therefore, said Diskin, "There is hardly a way to avoid a mixed strategy," that is follow two alternatives with "a certain proportion" between them.
"The most logical thing to do in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is to follow a mixed strategy," Diskin said. If Israel would seem to be too soft it would be considered a sucker, a weakling, and there would be no reason to conclude deals with it, he added.
