18 settlers detained for assaulting security forces during illegal outpost removal

Israeli security forces arrested 18 settlers who rioted and attacked troops during the evacuation of an illegal outpost in the northern West Bank on Monday, the military said.

Dozens of Border Police officers and Civil Administration soldiers arrived at the Givat Ora Yisrael outpost, near the Palestinian town of Salfit, to demolish it.

Givat Ora Yisrael has been evacuated by Israeli authorities in the past.

The military said the troops “conducted a renewed enforcement operation against several illegal structures built in a closed military zone… where Israeli civilians have repeatedly engaged in violent and illegal activities.”

There were no reports of injuries.

Footage showed an excavator demolishing a house at the outpost while settlers were holed up on the roof, and a car being destroyed by a backhoe.

Other images showed fires set in the area, apparently by the settlers.

כוחות גדולים של מג"ב הורסים את גבעת עורה ישראל בשומרון בה מתגוררות שתי משפחות. התושבים מדווחים על אלימות קשה, הרס בית כשתושבים על הגג, והריסת רכבים באמצעות מחפרון pic.twitter.com/6qrHQE6u6F

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Israeli rioters from the illegal outpost “set tires on fire and placed roadblocks on main roads in the area in an attempt to hamper forces from the enforcement operation,” according to the military.

“As a result, roads and main routes remained blocked throughout the morning, disrupting the daily lives of residents of the area and causing roadblocks and traffic congestion across all roads in the area,” the military said, adding that the forces “cleared the roadblocks to restore order in the area.”

The IDF said that during the evacuation of the outpost, dozens of settlers “engaged in physical and verbal violence against security forces, despite the forces’ efforts to avoid physical confrontation.”

The troops detained a total of 18 suspects “for assaulting and obstructing security personnel,” and seized several vehicles belonging to the rioters, the army said. The suspects were handed over to the police for questioning.

“Incendiary materials, weapons used for assault, and pepper spray were found in one of the vehicles,” the IDF added.

The Ynet news site cited security sources as saying that the outpost has been used by extremist settlers as a staging ground to carry out attacks on Palestinian villages in the area.

The outpost was located in Area B of the West Bank, which is supposed to be off-limits to Israeli settlers.

Under the current government, settler extremists have been emboldened to establish illegal outposts not just in Israeli-controlled Area C of the West Bank, but also in areas A and B, which are under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority.

Over 200 illegal settlement outposts have been established in the West Bank during the four-year term of the outgoing government, many of which have reportedly been set up with the coordination of settlement municipal authorities, the IDF, and other state agencies.

A small percentage of outposts are set up without such coordination, and it is these outposts that are often the target of enforcement by the Civil Administration, a quasi-military agency within the Defense Ministry controlled by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the architect of the government’s massive expansion of the settlement enterprise.

Residents of these outposts speak openly about being motivated by a desire to drive Palestinians off their lands in adjacent villages, with the effort moving beyond Area C to all other parts of the West Bank.

Israel held an election for the Knesset last week that produced inconclusive results, with neither the coalition under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor the bloc of parties seeking to oust him having a clear path to forming a new government.

Settler violence against Palestinians has soared this year and spiked further in the weeks leading up to the election.

Israel has faced growing international criticism over the surge in violence, which Netanyahu has downplayed as the work of a small number of delinquents from outside the West Bank. Critics accuse the government of condoning and even encouraging the violence, which has led to the displacement of dozens of Palestinian families.

The IDF also faces mounting criticism for troops often standing by while attacks unfold, actively participating, or failing to prosecute those responsible.