Netanyahu said to back recognition of illegal farming outposts in West Bank

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports recognizing illegal farming outposts in the West Bank, some of which are home to extremist settlers who have been carrying out attacks on neighboring Palestinians, the Ynet news site reported Wednesday.

The prime minister also called for educational measures to reduce violence perpetrated by so-called hilltop youth, according to a document obtained by the Ynet news site, which summarized a high-level security discussion last month on addressing settler violence.

The discussion by the forum, which was said to include Defense Minister Israel Katz and the chief of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, came as settler violence spiked across the West Bank.

Ynet reported that a section of the document titled “Prime Minister’s Summary” called the illegal farms “a positive response that is necessary in order to safeguard Area C,” the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, and said they “act as a response to Palestinian activity in the area.”

Settler leaders claim that Palestinians are illegally expanding their villages in Area C, while Palestinians note that Israel grants building permits in the territory almost exclusively to Israeli settlers.

Rights groups also argue that settlers have been using the farming outposts to take over additional land, while violently intimidating neighboring Palestinians. Hundreds of Bedouin families have fled their homes due to repeated attacks.

Over the past two years, Palestinian villages in Area C have been targeted in an increasing number of attacks by extremist settlers, which go unpunished in the vast majority of cases.

Nonetheless, Ynet reported that Netanyahu is pushing for the farming outposts to be legalized. There is no comment from the Prime Minister’s Office.

While successive governments have provided security and funding to West Bank outposts, they were built without the necessary permits, making them illegal under Israeli law.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also oversees civilian affairs in the West Bank, and Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock — both from the Religious Zionism party — have directed tens of millions of shekels to the farms, according to Ynet. The funds have apparently gone to security measures and mobile dwelling structures.

Ynet reported that, according to security officials, there are approximately 1,000 hilltop youths, among them 300 who are considered violent. At the center of that group, the officials said, is a hard core of 70 activists.

According to the document, Netanyahu called for combating the violence through education.

“The goal we should pursue is using educational tools to remove as many Jewish youths as possible from the cycle of violent activity in Judea and Samaria,” the document said, according to Ynet, using the biblical term for the West Bank, which is preferred by the government.

“Unfortunately, although efforts have been made, the number of youths who are involved has only grown, and that’s because there isn’t a central address that covers the spectrum of social and educational treatments,” it added.

Settler attacks have been escalating in recent weeks, prompting security agencies to invest more in fighting the trend. Prosecutions of Jewish extremists are rare, however, and convictions are even rarer. Critics accuse the government of shrugging off the attacks.

Netanyahu has described the attackers as a minority that does not represent most settlers in the West Bank.

As of early November, the IDF had recorded at least 752 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence since the start of the year. The total for 2024 was 675 incidents.