Deputy Defense Minister Mordechai Zipori announced yesterday further Gush Emunim settlements at military camps on the West Bank and indicated that such settlements will be a continuing feature of government policy. He said the government is not bound by any plans of the previous government or by the so called Allon plan. It is the intention of the government to establish as many new settlements on the West Bank as possible with the ultimate aim of settling areas in strategic regions and along essential routes, he said.
Zipori said he would have preferred that the settlements were not located in army camps but political considerations forced Israel to act in that way. He said the Defense Ministry would be responsible for the settlements in the Judaea and Samaria regions.
A Gush group will enter a military camp at Sanour in Samaria next week, Zipori said. He added that the Gush groups may remain in the camps even after the army pulls out and would lay the groundwork for permanent settlements to come. According to Zipori, Gush groups will settle in army camps at Givon, Beth Horon, Beth El and a camp in northern Samaria. Meanwhile, it was reported that a Gush group has been persuaded to give up its plans to settle in Jericho and will move instead to Maaleh Edumim on the Jerusalem-Jericho road.
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