According to the 2005 Sasson Report, commissioned by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, there are four principal characteristics of an outpost: A. There was no government decision to establish it, and in any case no authorized political echelon approved its establishment. B. The outpost was established with no legal planning status. Meaning, with no valid detailed plan governing the area it was established upon, which can support a building permit. C. An unauthorized outpost is not attached to an existing settlement, but rather at least a few hundred meters distant from it as the crow flies. D. The outpost was established in the nineties, mostly from the mid nineties and on.