Citing security, state refuses to release data on settlements

Haaretz 12:56 07/01/2008

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

The government is refusing to publish a database containing full details about the settlement enterprise in the territories, including outposts and neighborhoods built across the Green Line. In response to a High Court of Justice petition on the matter, the Defense Ministry is arguing that publication would harm state security and Israel's foreign relations.

In October 2006, Haaretz revealed the existence of the Spiegel Report - the largest database ever compiled by the state on the settlements, by then special adviser to the defense minister Brigadier General Baruch Spiegel. The report, whose preparation was kept secret, revealed that extensive building was carried out without permits on dozens of veteran settlements - not just outposts - often on privately owned Palestinian land. Spiegel's data came from the Civil Administration and other government agencies, as well as from photographic sorties carried out by civilian aircraft leased by the military establishment.

The data collection began after Spiegel and other Defense Ministry officials realized that the state's figures on the settlements were incomplete. It became clear that often the state's own information was incomplete in comparison with the data presented by the U.S. administration or gathered by Peace Now's monitoring staff. The lacunae stemmed from the government's policy of looking the other way. In some cases, information was deliberately kept hidden in order to help the settlers expand their control over land without having to contend with judicial oversight of their activities.
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At the time, military sources described the information as "explosive" from a security and foreign-policy point of view, and claimed that part of the reason for the secrecy about the database was to avoid embarrassing Israel's relations with the U.S. In the wake of reports about the database, the Movement for Freedom of Information in Israel and Peace Now petitioned the district administrative court in Tel Aviv, demanding that the database be released for publication in accordance with the Freedom of Information Law.

Last week the Tel Aviv district prosecutor's office submitted a pre-petition response including a statement from Brigadier General Mike Herzog, Defense Minister Ehud Barak's chief of staff. Herzog and the prosecution asked the court to bar publication of the material. They claim that while they have no quarrel with the principle of freedom of information they seek to invoke Chapter 9A of the law to prevent publication "for fear of harming state security and foreign relations."

In his statement, Herzog argued that, "At the present time, public disclosure of the material could cause injury," about which "we are unable to expand upon." The attorney's office even asked the court for an in camera session, without the presence of the petitioners, during which the state would explain the basis of its claim. Judge Michal Rubinstein has not yet issued a decision on the matter.