US Secretary of State John Kerry said during a hearing at the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs on April 17 that “the window for a two-state solution is shutting." One can assume Kerry’s warning did not bother the settlers of Adei Ad in Samaria, for whom “the window of opportunity” is at most a crack in the wall overlooking a Palestinian village.
The illegal outpost of Adei Ad is located on Hill No. 6 in southern Samaria. The following is an excerpt from the interim report presented by the former head of the Special Tasks Department in the State Prosecutor’s office, Talia Sasson, to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on the subject of “The Unauthorized Outposts in Judea, Samaria and Gaza”:
"Adei Ad, 799m high, Shvut Rahel, Hill 6/ Established: September 1998/ Nearest Settlement: Shiloh, estimated distance 3.5km [2.1 miles] as the crow flies; 2.3km [1.4 miles] from Shvut Rachel (itself an illegal settlement)/ Government or Defense Minister Authorization: None/ Land Rights: state property + private Palestinian lands/ Planning Status: None/ Jurisdiction: a small part of the outpost is in the jurisdiction of the Mateh Benjamin regional council; the outpost is not within the boundaries of any settlement/ Number of Residents: 20 families/ Type of Building: 34 temporary caravans; one caravan + a container serving as a goat pen; a wooden structure; sheds; 5 containers; foundations for a permanent structure; guard hut; wooden pergola; chicken coop/ Funding Agency: the Ministry of Construction and Hou sing paid NIS 1.3 million [$350,000] for infrastructure and NIS 150,000 [$41,000] for public buildings: in total NIS 1,450,000 [about $400,000] / Electricity Hookup: no request made/ Water Hookup: probably get water from Shvut Rahel."
Eight years have passed since the Sasson Report was submitted, and on April 18 the human rights organization “Yesh Din” issued an additional report, unusual in scope, which uses the inconsequential outpost of Adei Ad to illustrate how outposts have been used to take over Palestinian lands. Its 150 pages detail the system used by Israel to deepen control over the West Bank in recent decades, the destructive influence on rural Palestinian society, how the “rule of law” really works on the hills east of the Green Line and to what end.
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