West Bank outposts illegally funded

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JERUSALEM -- Israel's Housing Ministry has spent millions of dollars on unauthorized construction in the West Bank, a government report said yesterday, leading the attorney general to impose a new way of monitoring settlement spending.

Also yesterday, the Palestinian legislature, for the first time, fired a high-ranking official it accused of corruption.

Israel released a co-founder of Hamas, Muhammad Taha, after holding him for 14 months without charges. Mr. Taha, accused by the army of leading Hamas' military wing, was arrested in a raid on the Boureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The report issued by the watchdog state comptroller detailed how the Israeli Housing Ministry funneled about $6.5 million for illegal construction, more than half of it to unauthorized outposts.

Attorney General Meni Mazuz had ordered an unprecedented freeze last month on funding for settlement construction, charging that settlements were diverting state funds to the outposts.

The Justice Ministry announced yesterday that Mr. Mazuz has lifted the freeze after approving a monitoring system to ensure government money is not used for illegal projects.

From January 2000 to June 2003, the Housing Ministry approved 77 contracts for construction projects in 33 West Bank areas, 18 of them unauthorized outposts, the report said. Of the $6.5 million given to illegal West Bank construction, about $4 million went to the outposts, the comptroller's report said.

Housing Minister Effie Eitam, leader of the pro-settler National Religious Party, pledged to respect the law.

"I promise that every shekel that comes from the government will be transferred to legal activities," Mr. Eitam told Israel's Army Radio after the report was released.

Israel is obligated under the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan to dismantle dozens of unauthorized West Bank outposts, many of them no more than a trailer on a barren hilltop.

Palestinians view the outposts as further encroachment on land they want for a state. Although Israel has removed a few of the outposts, most were rebuilt within days.

On Sunday, members of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud Party voted against his plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and small parts of the West Bank. In consultations in New York on Tuesday, the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- endorsed Mr. Sharon's plan.

In a letter to Quartet members yesterday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said the defeat of Mr. Sharon's plan was an opportunity to return to negotiations "and the end to Israeli occupation of all Palestinian territory."

In another development, the Palestinian legislature yesterday fired the head of the Palestinian Monetary Authority after a parliamentary probe concluded he was involved in corruption and mismanagement.

Amin Haddad was the first high-ranking Palestinian official to be fired by parliament for corruption. The monetary authority monitors the flow of money at the Bank of Palestine. The Palestinian administration assumed control over the private bank three years ago, but losses have tripled during that time to $34 million.

In the West Bank village of Talouza, troops fatally shot an armed Hamas fugitive, the army said. Villagers said the dead man, Einad Janajra, was the target of an Israeli raid last month but escaped, and an innocent bystander, a university lecturer, was killed instead.

In the Gaza Strip, two Palestinians were killed in fighting with the Israeli army. In the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, a Palestinian security guard was killed by Israeli gunfire after dozens of youths began throwing stones at troops.