Voters in Maale Levona settlement and its farming outpost worry about evacuation, territorial concessions to Palestinians

Residents of a settlement farming outpost on a hilltop in the central West Bank say they are worried that a government formed by the opposition parties would demolish their nascent settlement and remove them.

The residents of Ram Farm just south of the Maale Levona settlement declined to be interviewed at length, saying they were “people of deeds, not words,” and that all their efforts were being invested in building a new communal building before winter sets in.

The outpost was established in the spring this year in coordination with the Benjamin Regional Council, the local municipal authority, and the Amana settlement organization, which finished paving an access road last week, but lacks cabinet approval and so is technically illegal.

Illegal farming outposts have become an election issue, with critics asserting that they have been used by the outgoing government to displace Palestinians. Opposition parties have said they would demolish such outposts, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lauded their establishment.

Over in Maale Levona, Valery Nirman, 82, says he voted for the ultra-nationalist Otzma Yehudit party because of the stance of party leader National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in favor of annexing the West Bank and against territorial concessions to the Palestinians.

“The Palestinians were in Jordan and were kicked out; they were in Lebanon, and they were kicked out from there too; they try to take countries from their owners,” claims Nirman, who has lived in Maale Levona for 35 years but was born in Russia.

Zohar Hindi says he voted for the Likud party, declaring that no other politician in Israel would lead the country as effectively as party leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Everything he’s done until now has been amazing; there’s no one who can replace Bibi,” says Hindi, using Netanyahu’s nickname. Hindi rejects criticism of Netanyahu over the catastrophic October 7, 2023, invasion and massacres by Hamas, maintaining that it was the security chiefs who failed on that day, not the prime minister.

Addressing another key election issue, drafting the ultra-Orthodox into military service, Hindi says there is no need for it, claiming there are “enough draft dodgers who are not Haredi who do not enlist,” and calling the issue “just a political gimmick” with which to attack the Likud party.