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Inside the Israeli Settlement Enterprise

The illegal outpost Adei Ad in the West Bank illustrates the methods used by settlers, backed by the state, to take over Palestinian lands, writes Akiva Eldar.
A view shows the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem in this picture taken December 4, 2012. Israel risks sleep walking into a crisis with its allies over relentless settlement-building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem unless it realises that the international anger is genuine and adjusts its course. Picture taken December 4, 2012. To match Analysis ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/ISOLATION    REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3DF7C
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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”:

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