Israeli forces dismantled the first inhabited, illegal Jewish outpost in the West Bank on Thursday. For the past year, several families have been living in tents on a small hillside, which settlers call Mitzpeh Yitzhar, located just south Nablus—the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank.

Although this is one step taken by the Israeli government to say it is complying with the ‘roadmap’, there is a hidden truth. Five more illegal outposts were set up at the same time troops demolished Mitzpeh Yitzhar, and the Israeli government only plans to tear down four more populated outposts.

An outpost is a small caravan or two set up by individual Jewish settlers and may or may not be inhabited. They are usually set up on stolen Palestinian private land. Currently, there are close to 150 illegal outposts in the West Bank and Gaza.

Peace Now, an Israeli group that monitors settlements, says that more than 60 illegal settlements and outposts have gone up in the West Bank since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon assumed power in 2001. This is part of over 200 illegal settlements that have been built since Israel invaded the area in 1967. A settlement is a permanent structure built on occupied land and is illegal, according to international law, particularly the 4th Geneva Convention.

The settlers, who have extreme ideologies concerning the land, in Mitzpeh Yitzhar seriously clashed with the Israeli forces ordered to take down the outpost. They used large rocks to construct barricades, lit hillside brush fires that spread to nearby Palestinian farms and olive groves and threw themselves in front of army vehicles in an attempt to prevent soldiers and police officers from taking down several tents and huts.

In the midst of turmoil between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and the two governments and their citizens, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives today from Jordan to hold separate talks with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. He hopes to persuade both sides to put the faltering peace plan, known as the ‘roadmap,’ back on track.

Powell is meeting Sharon in Jerusalem this afternoon before traveling to Jericho to meet with Abu Mazen.