Settlers set up several unauthorized outposts in West Bank overnight — report

A number of illegal outposts were established essentially overnight across the West Bank this week, according to multiple Hebrew media reports Friday, following Tuesday’s deadly Palestinian terror attack where four Israelis were killed near the settlement of Eli in the northern part of the territory.

Channel 12 reported at least seven such outposts. Haaretz said “several” outposts were set up since Wednesday with the knowledge of the political echelon.

A Palestinian journalist on Twitter circulated photos of a new outpost mid-setup near the Palestinian town of Selfit and close to the outpost of Immanuel.

The reports come a day after settlers established an illegal outpost just a few kilometers from the Eli settlement on Wednesday night. Photos provided by Peace Now showed five buildings made of prefabricated metal walls erected at the site, just outside the Ma’ale Levona settlement in the northern West Bank across Route 60 from Eli.

Separately, dozens and possibly hundreds of settler activists took up residence in the illegal, oft-evacuated hilltop outpost of Evyatar several kilometers north of Eli, and were holding events and activities at the site in recent days.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir paid a visit to Evyatar on Friday morning, urging Jewish Israeli settlers to “run for the hilltops,” a call to establish outposts.

Public Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (second left) with settlement leaders at the Evyatar outpost in the West Bank, June 24, 2023 (Twitter screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

“There needs to be a full settlement here. Not just here but on all the hilltops around us,” Ben Gvir said. “We have to settle the land of Israel and at the same time need to launch a military campaign, blow up buildings, assassinate terrorists. Not one, or two, but dozens, hundreds, or if needed, thousands.”

Following the visit, clashes reportedly erupted between Israeli security forces and Palestinians from the neighboring village of Beita, who say Evyatar was built on the village’s lands.

Groups of settlers have also been rampaging through a number of Palestinian towns and villages since Tuesday as a reprisal to the attack, setting homes, cars, and fields ablaze, and terrorizing residents.

On Tuesday night, an unknown number of settler vigilantes ripped through several Palestinian towns in the Nablus area of the northern West Bank including Huwara, the scene of another deadly settler riot earlier this year after a terror attack, burning cars and fields and stoning homes. Hundreds of Israeli settlers also tore through the Palestinian towns of Turmus Ayya and Urif on Wednesday afternoon — shortly after the victims of Tuesday’s attack were buried.

Confrontations erupted between Israeli security forces trying to disperse the settlers and Palestinian residents who hurled stones and fireworks, killing a 27-year-old Palestinian and wounding at least a dozen others.

Palestinians remove furnishings from a torched home in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, days after a rampage by Jewish settlers, Friday, June 23, 2023. (AP/Majdi Mohammed)

One Palestinian — 27-year-old Omar Qattin — was killed in unclear circumstances in Turmus Ayya. Despite surveillance footage apparently showing Jewish Israelis opening fire in the town, a defense source told The Times of Israel on Friday that Israeli security authorities were unaware of gunfire by settlers during the rioting.

Four suspects are being held for the reprisal attacks.

The military has condemned the attacks, stressing that the settler violence made it harder for the army to focus on its main mission — protecting Israeli civilians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday denounced the rioting in a statement that also addressed unrelated clashes in the Golan Heights, calling on Israelis to obey the law.

His government’s official response has been to announce the impending authorization of 1,000 new homes in Eli.

It also gave the go-ahead to retroactively legalize two illegal outposts near Eli, which is some five kilometers (three miles) south of Evyatar. That came on top of another outpost in the area already set to be approved at a Monday meeting where authorities are expected to authorize some 5,800 homes across the West Bank.

As of Friday, no order to evacuate Evyatar has been given, though previous attempts to resettle it have been stymied by the Defense Ministry. The appearance of Ben Gvir and other coalition figures also made the possibility of an imminent evacuation less likely. The Civil Administration has also yet to be given orders to evacuate the settler activists from the outpost.

Settlement leadership at Evyatar illegal West Bank outpost, June 21, 2023. From left: bereaved father Elisha Guetta, Samaria Council Municipal Chief Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan and Tsofia Borovsky, after whose murdered husband Evyatar the settlement is named. (Courtesy: Nachala Settlement Movement)

Channel 13 reported Friday that settler activists who made their way to Evyatar this week also plan to set up four more illegal outposts near existing outposts or settlements including Immanuel, Tekoa, Neve Erez, and Mevo’ot Yericho — also with the knowledge of officials.

Evyatar was originally established illegally and without authorization in 2013 after a terror attack at nearby Tapuah Junction, in which Evyatar Borovsky was killed. The outpost was subsequently demolished, but in 2021 the Nachala settlement organization arranged for several families and activists to return to the site.

The previous Netanyahu government promised to find a solution for the Evyatar residents, in return for which they voluntarily left the outpost without the structures at the site being demolished.

The new Netanyahu government, which took office in December, pledged in its coalition agreements with Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party to legalize Evyatar, which is likely built on land belonging to residents of nearby Palestinian villages, though that question has not been fully settled.