'Israeli' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu orders dismantling of West Bank settler outposts
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
- US envoy Mike Huckabee calls violent settlers “terrorists” and demands severe consequences.
- Smotrich confirms Netanyahu ordered evictions while backing continued settlement expansion in Area C.
'Israeli' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered unauthorized settler outposts in the West Bank to be dismantled, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday, amid pressure from the United States to crack down on settler attacks on Palestinians.
The order applies to outposts established by settlers without official authorization from the 'Israeli' state, the sources told Reuters.
Outposts typically consist of prefabricated caravans and house a small number of settlers.
The state has from time to time demolished such structures and also formally recognized others, allowing them to access government funding.
It was not immediately clear when the operation would begin.
United Nations bodies and most governments deem all 'Israeli' settlements illegal under international law and consider the West Bank to be occupied territory under military control.
'Israel' argues the territory is disputed, not occupied.
US presses 'Israel'
Netanyahu ordered the eviction of the unauthorized outposts in response to pressure from the United States, the country's closest ally, the sources said to Reuters.
US Ambassador to 'Israel' Mike Huckabee on Saturday denounced violent settlers as terrorists and called for them to face severe consequences following a meeting with several Palestinian Americans in a West Bank Palestinian town.
On Saturday, Ambassador Huckabee said it was in 'Israel's' own interest to take action against settlers carrying out what he described as "criminal behaviour and terrorism".
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The 'Israeli' website Ynet earlier reported that the orders targeted around 100 outposts across the occupied territory.
The 'Israeli' prime minister's office and the military, who would normally take part in clearing any outposts in the West Bank, did not immediately respond to a request to comment from Reuters.
Last month, 'Israeli' settlers besieged the homes of Palestinians in a nearby village, including one owned by a Palestinian American, before the military forced them from the area.
The village's Palestinian residents have said they have continued to face harassment and intimidation by 'Israeli' settlers.
The 'Israeli' government has condemned settler violence, though perpetrators are rarely arrested and even less frequently prosecuted.
Smotrich confirms Netanyahu's instruction
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, asked at a conference in the occupied Jerusalem about the Ynet report, said Netanyahu has given "an instruction to evict places built in Areas A and B", referring to parts of the West Bank in which most Palestinians live.
Under the Oslo Accords, interim peace agreements reached in the 1990s between 'Israel' and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the West Bank was split into three zones: Area A, Area B, and Area C.
Smotrich, a settler himself who has overseen settlement housing projects and formally recognized homes built illegally, said while he disagreed with Netanyahu's decision, the government had made huge strides in advancing settlements in Area C.
There are 340 outposts in the West Bank along with 146 settlements formally recognized by the 'Israeli' government, according to Peace Now, an 'Israeli' organization that is critical of settlement expansion and advocates for a two-state solution.
