The Left Speaks to the Left Again
The Ministers' Committee headed by Haim Ramon met this week ostensibly to understand and deal with the outstanding issues which make the communities known as the "unauthorized outposts" problematic. The nine ministers, among them Foreign Minister Livni, Minister of Agriculture Simhon, Minister of Defense Barak, Deputy Prime Minister Lieberman, were joined by Talia Sasson, Pinchas Vallerstein, Ron Nachman and representatives of the extreme Left organization, Peace Now.
While the Yesha representatives came with operational recommendations for taking care of the primarily bureaucratic obstacles to finalizing the legality of most of the outposts, it was clear that the committee had no intention of completing the work that previous governments had left undone.
Tellingly, every sentence of the government's document began with the words: "Building will not be undertaken in the case of…" rather than setting forth circumstances under which building could, in fact, be undertaken.
The committee may have unknowingly sabotaged their own recommendations by alienating both the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Agriculture by their document's usurping of their power. It would be quite surprising if Barak and Simhon would agree to such maneuvering.
Should the document be approved, however, it would be even more unworkable than the situation today since virtually all decisions, from the most technical engineering and land allocation decisions to military strategic decisions, are relegated to the political arena.
