January 08, 2008	Tuesday	Zilhaj 28, 1428

JERUSALEM, Jan 7: The Israeli Defense Ministry wants to block publication of a database containing full details about Israeli settlement and outpost construction in the West Bank, on the ground it would harm Israel’s security and foreign relations, according to a court document obtained on Monday.

An Israeli government official familiar with the case said Israel doesn’t want the international community to know the true extent of the country’s West Bank settlement activity.

“Israel won’t release the list because it doesn’t want to be embarrassed diplomatically,” he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is so diplomatically sensitive.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, the database shows extensive building was carried out without permits in dozens of settlements and unauthorised settlement satellites known as outposts.

The database relied on data from the military and other government agencies, as well as aerial photography. And it showed that the state’s own information on the scope of settlement construction was incomplete, Haaretz said.

The Movement for Freedom of Information in Israel and the anti-settlement group Peace Now petitioned a Tel Aviv court to have the database released.

But a document submitted to the court last week by the Tel Aviv district prosecutor’s office included the Defense Ministry’s position that “at the current time, the publication of the information could harm Israel’s security and foreign relations.” The document, which did not detail the alleged potential harm, cited Brig Gen Michael Herzog, Defence Minister Ehud Barak’s chief of staff.

According to Peace Now, Israel has built 122 settlements. In addition, it says more than 100 settlement outposts have been erected in the West Bank. Some 270,000 people live in these settlements and outposts, in addition to 180,000 who live in Jewish neighbourhoods Israel has built in east Jerusalem since capturing it in the 1967 Mideast war and annexing it.—AP