Middle East Desk
Report
WEST BANK: Israeli settlers who constructed an unapproved outpost near Beita in the occupied West Bank said they have agreed to withdraw from the site.
Tensions in the occupied West Bank reached new highs in the past months with the Evyatar settlement being one of the focal points of clashes as settlers refused to evacuate the land and Palestinians demonstrated against their presence. Several Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded by Israeli forces supporting the illegal settlers.
According to a statement on Wednesday by the Samaria Regional Council, a settlers’ organisation, the Israelis are due to leave by Friday following a compromise offered to them by the Israeli government.
The Samaria Regional Council also reportedly said the settlement’s structures will not be demolished, but rather transformed into a base for the Israeli military, an outcome that is certain to anger Palestinian protesters who demand it be removed.
Yossi Dagan, head of the northern West Bank settlement authority, said the agreement was a necessity given “these tough times of division”. Prior to the agreement, a court-imposed eviction notice was in force as the military’s civil administration unit ruled the outpost’s 50 prefabricated settler homes were illegally built on private Palestinian land.
