Israeli gov't and settlers reach deal over West Bank outpost,
Palestinians angered
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[June 30, 2021]
By Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jewish settlers have
agreed to quit a remote outpost that has become a flashpoint for clashes
with Palestinians who also claim the land, officials said, under a deal
aimed at addressing an awkward political test for the new Israeli
government.
Under the agreement with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the settlers
will leave Givat Eviatar outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
But it seemed likely that at least some of the outpost's new buildings
would remain, locked and under military guard, an outcome that is
certain to anger Palestinian protesters who demand it be removed.
The hilltop settlement outpost near the Palestinian city of Nablus was
established without Israeli government permits in May and is now home to
more than 50 settler families.
The Israeli military ordered it to be cleared, presenting an early
challenge for the new prime minister. Bennett was once a leader of the
settler movement and heads a pro-settler party, putting him at odds with
some of his own voter base if the settlers were forcibly evicted.
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But his ruling coalition only survives with the support of left-wing and
Islamist Arab parties, making sensitive policy decisions on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict difficult.
An official with Israel's Defence Ministry, which administers the
settlements, said the Givat Eviatar families had agreed to leave
voluntarily by the weekend.
Troops would stay on and a land survey conducted to
determine if a government-backed settlement can be established there,
the official told Reuters.
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![](../images/063021pics/news_t31.jpg)
An aerial view shows Givat Eviatar, a new Israeli settler outpost,
as smoke from fires lit in the Palestinian village of Beita, drifts
above, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Amir
Cohen
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Settler leader Yossi Dagan said the families would leave on Friday
under the deal. The structures serving as their homes would be
locked, he said, suggesting they would not be dismantled. The
Defence Ministry official did not confirm that.
On Wednesday Moussa Hamayel, deputy mayor of the nearby Palestinian
village Beita, said: "We will continue our popular activities
(protests) until the settlement is removed and our land is returned
to us." Beita's residents claim ownership of the area on which Givat
Eviatar sits.
Most world powers deem all of the settlements, built on land Israel
captured and occupied in a 1967 Middle East war, to be illegal.
Israel disputes this, citing historical ties to the land on which
they sit, and its own security needs.
Israeli soldiers have shot dead five Palestinians during
stone-throwing protests since the outpost was set up, Palestinian
officials said. The military did not comment on fatalities, but said
troops used live fire only as a last resort.
(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta, Editing by William Maclean)
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