Settlers establish illegal outpost in Palestinian village, IDF evacuates site

Settler activists attempt this morning to establish a new illegal settlement inside the West Bank Palestinian village of Tayasir, which has been the subject of severe settler attacks in the last two weeks.

The outpost was subsequently evacuated by IDF forces during the course of the day, Tayasir resident Amer Dabak and the IDF itself say.

Dabak says that the settlers had set up their outpost, including tents and other structures inside Tayasir itself, which is located in the northern Jordan Valley.

He also claims that IDF soldiers accompanied the settlers while setting up the outpost and that it was established “under their protection.” The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit says it is “unfamiliar with such reports.”

Palestinian residents of rural communities and Israeli human rights organizations increasingly accuse IDF soldiers of collaborating with settler extremists to harass such communities and forcibly displace them from the land.

Extremist settlers have often used the tactic of setting up an outpost extremely close to small rural Palestinian communities, and using it as a forward post to commit violence against such villages to force them to leave. Such tactics have been used in Zanuta in the South Hebron Hills, Wadi as-Seeq in the central West Bank, and Muarrajat in the southern Jordan Valley, among many others.