"The forthcoming period in the territories will be an interesting
period, during which it will be decided whether to extend the
construction freeze," Col. Yitzhak Bar, commander of the Samaria Brigade,
said. "It is expected to be particularly complicated."
The Israeli demolition took place as Defense Minister Ehud Barak flew to
the United States for his third trip in less than two months. Jewish
community leaders said Barak has ordered demolitions before and during every
trip to Washington, which has demanded the continuation of a Jewish
construction freeze.
"He [Barak] intentionally does this so that photographs of the
demolition arrive in Washington," Benny Katzover, a community leader, said.
The Samarian region of the northern West Bank has long been the focus of
military operations against Jewish communities. Officials acknowledged that
the policy has radicalized many of the estimated 75,000 Jewish residents.
The military has also been exercising with the police's Border Guard to
quell Jewish unrest amid the prospect that the construction freeze would be
extended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had pledged to resume
building. The exercises were said to have included raids on Jewish
communities in the West Bank.
"There is a concentration of several meetings where decisions will be
made," Bar said. "As a brigade commander, I will be asked to do what will be
determined in the best possible manner."
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