Israel allows wildcat settlement expansion in occupied West Bank outpost

Israeli officials acknowledge that they have allowed wildcat settler units to be built at the illegal outpost of Homesh in the northern West Bank, after barring hundreds of activists from holding a demonstration against the plan.

The far-right cabinet responded to a petition filed by the so-called  High Court of Justice on Friday, saying that Minister of War Yoav Gallant had ordered the military to allow the illegal expansion at Homesh in late May.

The site in the northern West Bank has long hosted a makeshift yeshiva – an extremist educational institution, which was established on private Palestinian land.

As part of attempts to legalize the unlawful outpost, extremist settlers moved a caravan onto an adjacent hilltop and started operating the yeshiva from there instead.

The Israeli military initially moved to block the plan as it was being conducted without the necessary permits, but Gallant ordered the military to stand down.

The Yesh Din rights group that filed the petition sent Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara a letter, urging her to open a criminal probe against Gallant and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Baharav-Miara.

In its response to the high court petition, the Israeli cabinet alleged that though the transfer of the yeshiva may have been illegal, Palestinian farmers can now access their land where the old Homesh yeshiva used to be located.

This is not actually the case though, since an Israeli military checkpoint has been established outside the outpost and continues to prevent Palestinians from reaching their lands.

Yesh Din slammed the response, saying authorities violated their explicit commitment to the court not to seek to establish a permanent settlement at Homesh, which was evacuated along with several other northern West Bank communities as part of Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.

Also on Friday, Israeli troops blocked several hundred activists from marching toward Homesh, violently dispersing the group. 

Participants in the demonstration, organized by Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement organization, arrived near the Shavei Shomron settlement and sought to walk several kilometers north to Homesh.

The group said it informed the Israeli military ahead of time of the planned demonstration. However, Central Command Chief Yehuda Fox ruled on Friday that the demonstration would not be approved, citing what he termed as security concerns.

ME