Defense Ministry demolishes illegal West Bank outposts of Sde Yonatan, Or Meir

The illegal West Bank outposts of Sde Yonatan and Or Meir are evacuated and demolished by personnel from the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration agency and Border Police officers, with several dozen officials dismantling rudimentary homes and sheep pens.

Sde Yonatan, close to the settlement of Michmash, northeast of Jerusalem, was built on private Palestinian land, the Civil Administration says, and has been established and demolished several times in the last two years.

It was most recently demolished on December 26 last year.

Or Meir, situated close to the Ofra settlement not far from Michmash, was also established on private Palestinian land. It too was recently demolished, with Civil Administration forces last removing the outpost on December 25.

The two outposts were inhabited by young settler activists who raised sheep on the surrounding land and were preparing the sites for greater numbers of settlers to take up residence, according to settler activists.