By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press
A view of the West Bank Jewish settlement outpost of Givat Assaf, northeast of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, on Thursday.
GIVAT ASSAF, West Bank (November 14, 2:14 a.m. AST) - It began with a single tent at a busy West Bank junction two years ago. Now, a playground with a Donald Duck ride and neat lawns between trailer homes give this settlement outpost an air of permanence.
Israel has agreed to remove more than 100 such outposts as part of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, but has taken little action. Instead, the government has quietly funded construction in some and plans to grant legal status to others.
It has been Israel's declared policy for several years not to build new settlements. However, peace activists fear outposts like the one at Givat Assaf are growing into exactly that.
"First a road is built, then a caravan goes up, a few months later there are a dozen trailers," said Dror Etkes of Peace Now, a watchdog group that monitors settlement growth. He pointed to Maale Adumim, which started out as an archaeological camp and now has 28,000 residents.
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