Palestinians slam Israel-settler accord over W. Bank outpost
‘Politically, this agreement means the new government doesn’t want to confront even a small minority. Setlers can still do as they please’ says Peace Now
Israel’s government has reached a deal for Jewish setlers to vacate an illegal West Bank outpost, in an early stress test for the fragile coalition led by nationalist premier Natali Bennet.
Dozens of setler families several weeks ago started to build the Eviatar wildcat setlement in defiance of both international and Israeli law, sparking fierce protests from Palestinians in nearby villages.
The Palestinians, who claim the land as their own, harassed the setlers by burning car tyres, sounding horns and pointing laser beams at them, leading to deadly clashes with Israeli security forces.
The hilltop area where the setlers have established their setlement of trailer homes and tents lies near Nablus in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
The dispute around the flashpoint site put an early strain on Bennet’s diverse eight-party coalition, that includes his right-wing nationalist Yamina party as well as let-wing groups and Arab-israeli lawmakers.
The deal the government reached with the setlers late on Wednesday temporarily calms that dispute -- even as Palestinians and Israeli peace activists strongly rejected it.
Under the terms seen by AFP, the setlers will leave by 4:00pm (1300 GMT) on Friday, but their temporary homes will remain and the Israeli army will establish a presence in the area.
The defence ministry will then assess the area to possibly declare it as state land, where Israel allows setlers to build.
Should this happen, the military would then allow a community with a religious school to be built.
Palestinians in the nearby village of Beita have categorically rejected any outcome other than a permanent evacuation of the setlers.
“This agreement was made between setlers and the army and we have nothing to do with it,” Beita’s deputy mayor Mussa Hamayel said.
“Obviously, as long as any setler, or any soldier, remains on our land, clashes and protests will continue.” Anti-setlement group Peace Now also blasted the Eviatar arrangement.
“Politically, this agreement means that the new government doesn’t want to confront even a small (albeit loud and forceful) minority,” it said in a statement. “Setlers can still do as they please.” While the wider dispute remains unresolved, the temporary solution did show that Bennet’s coalition government is able to function despite the deep ideological differences between its members, analysts said.
Tamar Hermann, at the Israel Democracy Institute, said the deal marked “a positive sign for the ability of the government to reach solutions.” “Nobody got up and let the coalition,” she said. “There are challenges all the time to the government, and in fact it’s not crumbling, despite people saying it would ater a week.” When details of the agreement emerged this week, lawmaker Yair Golan of the dovish Meretz party said that the government “can’t give in to the setlers, because what they’re doing is illegal.” Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, a pro-setler member of Yamina, tweeted on Wednesday that the Eviatar deal was “an important achievement” for Israel, while praising the setlers as “pioneers” devoted to Zionism.
Four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in unrest over Eviatar, which lies deep in the West Bank, surrounded by Palestinian communities although a short distance from several hardline Jewish setlements.
Further pressures may emerge as the settlers agitate for a return to the site where, in a mater of weeks, they paved asphalt roads and connected some 50 trailers to electricity and plumbing.
In the days before the scheduled evacuation, Eviatar hummed with activity as teenagers used pickaxes to plant trees and children played on an inflatable slide. Ayelet Schlissel, 36, who moved to Eviatar with her husband and five daughters, boasted that the community had “built a town” within two months.
Tzvi Succot, a leader of the outpost, said on Thursday that he agreed “with tears” to leave but saw the agreement as a step towards victory.
“We believe that the government will honour the agreement and the Eviatar setlement will be built,” he said.