TEL AVIV, Oct 27: Israel was accused on Monday of breaching the terms of the Middle East roadmap after granting “permanent settlement” status to at least five illegal outposts in the West Bank.

A senior adviser to Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said the decision would allow the settlements to obtain grants for education and infrastructure projects as well as being eligible for protection by the army and police.

“We need to give the minimum services to these people who are on the ground, especially for security and education,” Ron Sheshner, senior advisor to Mofaz on settlements, told public radio.

The radio said that several of the outposts set to be accorded “legal” status had earlier been dismantled by the army.

In addition, the radio reported that parliament’s finance commission would unlock some 29 million dollars worth of funds to build apartments in West Bank settlements.

Under the terms of the internationally drafted roadmap, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government is obliged to freeze settlement activity in general and dismantle around 60 outposts in the West Bank that have been set up since he came to power in March 2001.

Since the roadmap was officially launched in June, the number of settlement outposts has remained largely unchanged.

Around a dozen were dismantled by the army in a blaze of publicity, but new ones have been since been set up by radical settler groups.

Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei accused Israel of “violating all the laws and international norms” by declaring that the outposts were legal.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the latest move illustrated that Sharon’s government was determined to kill off the “roadmap”.

“Israel is continuing to bury the roadmap,” Mr Erakat said.

He called on the sponsors of the peace plan — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — to pressure Israel to reverse its decision, which he described as part of a wider aim “to destroy the peace process and the Palestinian Authority and prolong the occupation”.

Dror Etkes, of the Israeli leftist group Peace Now’s Settlement Watch programme, said the move was a blatant breach of the terms of the roadmap.

“According to the roadmap they are expected to dismantle these outposts. Instead what we are seeing is that they are being integrated,” he said.

“They (the Sharon government) are very committed to the peace process — on condition that they don’t have to dismantle the outposts and end the occupation.” —AFP