Peace Now reveals that in the past month the Ministry of Defense authorized the illegal outpost of Givaat Salit despite Israel’s commitments in the Road Map to evacuate it. The Government of Israel has authorized another illegal outpost, Givaat Salit, in the Jordan Valley. The government wished to avoid issuing an official decision legalizing the outpost because it could have led to international criticism. The authorization was not announced publicly, and was uncovered by Peace Now. The outpost of Givaat Salit, located in the north part of the Jordan Valley, contains 14 families and was established in September 2001. According the State of Israel’s official commitment in the Road Map, Israel must evict all outposts created after March 2001. The outpost was authorized by connecting Givaat Salit as a neighborhood of Mechola, a nearby settlement. However an inter-city highway separates the outpost and the settlement in both cases. In similar manner, the outpost of Shvut Rachel (http://peacenow.org.il/eng/content/peace-now-reveals-hundreds-new-housing-units-planned-deep-west-bank) was authorized as a neighborhood of the settlement of Shilo, only few months ago. This announcement comes a month after the government of Israel authorized 3 outposts (Rechalim, Bruchin, Sansena) as settlements. (http://peacenow.org/entries/bibi_govt_establishes_3_new_settlements_-_what_you_need_to