JERUSALEM: Israeli security forces evacuated and demolished an illegal settler outpost in the occupied West Bank on Monday, with the authorities citing “severe incidents of violence.”
A large force was deployed to the Tzour Misgavi outpost in the Gush Etzion area, south of Jerusalem, video footage broadcast by Israeli media showed.
Heavy machinery could be seen preparing to demolish the structures, with one clip showing a bulldozer knocking into the side of a building with people stood on top.
Israeli media said 25 families were evacuated from the site.
In recent weeks, attacks attributed to Israeli settlers, notably those living in outposts, have multiplied in the West Bank, targeting Palestinians, Israeli and foreign anti-settlement activists and sometimes Israeli soldiers.
“The evacuation is being carried out in accordance with the law and the applicable regulations,” said COGAT, the Israeli body that runs civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.
“Criminal activity and severe incidents of violence at the site affected the security of the area,” it said in a statement.
The Israeli military, COGAT’s civil administration department responsible for demolishing outposts, and the security authorities will continue to “uphold law and order” in the West Bank, “with a particular focus on enforcing action against structures built illegally, which undermine the security and public order of all residents in the area.”
While all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, outposts are also prohibited under Israeli law.
In a video message to residents, Yaron Rosenthal, the head of the Gush Etzion regional council, said there was “no other choice” but to dismantle the structures.
“Historically, settlements in Gush Etzion have always been built with the agreement of neighboring settlements, the regional council, and the settlement authorities,” he said.
“In this case, no one coordinated the construction,” he said, adding that he had “asked them to stop” since January.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and more than 500,000 Israelis now live there in settlements.
A minority engage in violence against Palestinians, who complain that Israeli forces usually do not arrest settlers.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.
At least 1,006 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
During the same period, 43 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank, according to official Israeli figures.
Israeli forces dismantle West Bank settler outpost
https://arab.news/yayfp
Israeli forces dismantle West Bank settler outpost
- In recent weeks, attacks attributed to Israeli settlers, notably those living in outposts, have multiplied in the West Bank
- Attacks have targeted Palestinians, Israeli and foreign anti-settlement activists and sometimes Israeli soldiers
Iran FM tells UN all military bases of ‘hostile forces’ legitimate targets
- UN chief condemns escalation, calls for immediate return to negotiating table
- Emergency session of Security Council set to convene on Saturday in New York
NEW YORK: Iran will use “all necessary defensive capabilities and means” to confront attacks by the US and Israel, and will treat “all bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile forces in the region” as legitimate military targets under its right to self-defense, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the president of the Security Council, Araghchi said US and Israeli airstrikes are “a clear violation” of the UN Charter and amount to “an open armed aggression” against Iran.
Tehran is exercising its “inherent and lawful right of self-defense” under the UN Charter, he added.
The letter, seen by Arab News, accused the US and Israel of launching coordinated, large-scale attacks on Iranian territory, targeting defensive facilities and civilian sites in several cities.
Araghchi said Iran will continue to act “decisively and without hesitation until the aggression ceases fully and unequivocally,” adding that the US and Israel “shall bear full and direct responsibility for all ensuing consequences, including any escalation arising from their unlawful actions.”
He called on the 15-member Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to address a “breach of peace which is a real and serious threat to international peace and security,” and urged UN member states to “unequivocally condemn this act of aggression.”
An emergency session of the council is set to convene in New York on Saturday, requested by France, Bahrain, Colombia, China and Russia.
The Russian mission at the UN said in a statement that during the meeting, Moscow will demand that the US and Israel “immediately cease their illegal and escalatory actions and embark on a path toward a political and diplomatic settlement.” It added that “Russia is willing to provide all necessary assistance in this process.”
Meanwhile, Guterres condemned the military escalation, saying “the use of force by the United States and Israel against Iran, and the subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, undermine international peace and security.”
The UN Charter clearly prohibits “the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations,” Guterres said in a statement.
He called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation, and an immediate return to the negotiating table, adding that “failing to do so risks a wider regional conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”
UN human rights chief Volker Turk also deplored the escalation and warned that civilians are the ones who end up paying “the ultimate price.”
He said: “Bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences but only result in death, destruction and human misery.”
Turk called for restraint and implored the parties “to see reason, to de-escalate, and (return) to the ‘negotiating table’ where they had been actively seeking a solution only hours earlier.”
