West Bank settlers complained Thursday that they are being spied on by the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence agency.
They said the agency is acting on orders from Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to spare the government surprises like the establishment of two new settlements in the West Bank in the past 10 days without advance notification.
The Prime Minister’s Office denied the charge.
The militant Gush Emunim settlers movement put up a settlement called Revava on April 16 and another called Talmon B on Tuesday.
Each was erected overnight shortly before a scheduled visit by U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, who is on a Middle East peace-seeking mission. They caused political embarrassment to Shamir.
The United States has made clear repeatedly that it considers settlement activity an “obstacle to peace,” a position Baker reiterated Wednesday in Damascus.
Shamir’s Likud bloc and its right-wing coalition partners are committed to settlements for ideological reasons. But the government would like to control their timing.
The Defense Ministry acted Thursday to prevent Jewish militants from further expanding the new settlements during Baker’s visit. The secretary arrived here Thursday night for meetings Friday with Israeli leaders.
Settlers managed to haul six more mobile homes to Revava on Thursday. But the army prevented them from bringing in 10 more.
Defense officials said there could be no further work at Revava until the High Court of Justice hears a suit filed by a local Arab landowner.
Revava, said to have been approved by the Cabinet years ago, was to be inaugurated on April 18, Israel’s Independence Day. The settlers jumped the gun by two days in what was seen as a gesture of defiance to Baker.
Talmon B was never approved. The settlers claimed it is simply an extension of an existing settlement called Talmon. Shamir’s office went along with that explanation, even though the two sites are miles apart.
Revava and Talmon B consist at present of several mobile homes housing a handful of families and some single people.
The settlers said they were told by the manufacturer of their mobile homes that the Shin Bet had them under surveillance.
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