By JPOST.COM STAFF, JONAH MANDELehud barak judea and samaria soldiers(photo credit: Defense Ministry )
Civil administration inspectors attempting to issue stop-work orders around Judea and Samaria encountered settler resistance on Tuesday, with protesters blocking their entry from Kiryat Arba.
Settlers also spread out along roads near Karnei Shomron and refused to let inspectors pass.
Residents from Shavei Shomron, Talmonim and Revava, were also successful in preventing the inspectors' access to the construction sites, though no violence was reported.
In some instances local leaders were present at the sites, such as Kiryat Arba Mayor Malachi Levinger, and Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shaul Goldstein, who sped to Har Gilo, planning to bar expected inspectors from entering by simply not opening the settlement's electronic gate.
"We have no dispute with the inspectors, they are our brothers," Goldstein said to Army Radio on Tuesday afternoon, pointing out that the moratorium had not been approved by the government but rather by the security cabinet in a "sudden move" worthy of totalitarian regimes, and hence not a legitimate Israeli law to be followed.
However the inspectors had not arrived at Har Gilo by early afternoon.
The inspectors were more successful on Monday, when they managed to issue 50 injunctions at sites where they felt the foundations were not yet properly set. Four bulldozers and tractors, as well as building materials, were also confiscated.
Also Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak stressed that the security cabinet's decision on a ten-month moratorium on new construction in Judea and Samaria will be fully implemented.
"Government decisions must be obeyed and will be fully implemented, in a way that will ensure as much dialogue with the settlers as possible," a conciliatory Barak said after meeting with reserve soldiers at the Judea and Samaria Division headquarters, ahead of a session with the IDF commanders charged with reinforcing the edict.
"The Judea and Samaria leadership is responsible, patriotic and Zionist, and withstood many ordeals. I believe and hope we shall overcome this ordeal, while executing the government's decisions," he said.
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