Settlers establish outpost inside Palestinian city of Jericho, on border of PA-run area

Several dozen settler activists take up residence in eight homes in the Palestinian city of Jericho, which they say they purchased with the cooperation of the Benyamin Regional Council, a state-funded settlement municipal authority.

The Nachala settlement organization and the Benyamin regional council say they jointly coordinated the project to buy the properties in secret, while IDF forces escorted the families to their new homes today.

The new outpost is located in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel has full control, but is just meters from parts of Jericho which are in Area A of the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority is meant to have full military and civilian control.

The Benyamin Regional Council says the buildings are on state land, which is not privately owned.

Regional Council head Israel Ganz says in announcing the development that the step was part of efforts to “dismantle the Oslo Accords,” the 1990s Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement that established the PA.

“In the Oslo Accords, Israel abandoned [Jericho], and to this day, we are paying the price for that flight. Today, we are beginning to reverse course. We are dismantling the Oslo Accords through our actions — house by house, family by family,” says Ganz.

Two Jericho residents who live in the area tell The Times of Israel that the settlers blocked off the area when they entered their new homes, and that the IDF has not allowed Palestinian residents to return to dozens of homes in the area or to the surrounding agricultural land.

According to the Palestinians, the settlers also opened fire as they entered. Footage shows an Israeli activist assisting a Palestinian with a head injury sustained during the incident.

Police and IDF forces arrived at the scene after the settlers entered the area.

Peace Now, which opposes the expansion of settlements, describes the development as “a security danger and diplomatic catastrophe” and says it will create “apartheid” inside Jericho.

“Establishing a settlement in Jericho could create a reality similar to that which exists in Hebron, placing an immense burden on the IDF to protect an Israeli population in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood,” says the organization.

It called on the IDF to remove the settlers from the homes immediately.