The area occupied by supporters of the far-right Religious Zionism party has been evacuated by order of the Israeli Defense Minister
A West Bank settlement erected by a group of Israeli settlers has been short-lived. The Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, has ordered the immediate evacuation of the illegal occupation, erected in honor of the spiritual leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, Haim Drukman, who died in December of the previous year.
This decision opens the first schism on this issue within the new Israeli government, where the leader of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich, has obtained unprecedented powers within the body that regulates the daily life of Israelis in occupied territory, the so-called Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
Smotrich has denounced Gallant’s decision, which in his opinion has ordered the evacuation “against previous orders”, without consulting the matter and “completely against the agreements of the government coalition that serve as the basis for its existence.” In fact, the far-right leader has ordered the COGAT leadership to halt the evacuation of the settlement “until it is possible to hold a conversation on the subject” this coming Sunday, at the earliest, reports the ‘Times of Israel’.
The settlement would have been built by Drukman’s grandson in the vicinity of the Migdalim settlement and has sheltered five families, according to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan, who have already been evicted.
protests
The area is currently under military control amid protests that have been attended by two other ultras such as the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, and the deputy of his ultranationalist Jewish Power party, Limor Son Har-Melech.
“When the Arabs build in Judea and Samaria,” Ben Gvir denounced, referring to the Biblical name for the West Bank, “the Administration sits idly by but when the Jews do it, it takes hours to destroy the settlements.”
The founders of this new settlement have specified that it has been erected near the Transamaria highway to alter Palestinian territorial contiguity, while Drukman’s grandson, Neve Schindler, has stressed that “it is the best way to commemorate” his grandfather.
“We ask the entire nation of Israel to come to strengthen and join our activities. The campaigns for Judea and Samaria – the biblical name for the West Bank – do not stop for a moment. We need you to win,” Schindler said.
Drukman was one of the founders of the Gush Emumim (Believers Bloc) settlement movement, and later turned to the right and extreme right from center-right positions, where Religious Zionism now stands.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law, although the Israeli authorities differentiate between those to which construction permits have been given and those to which they have not, as is the latter case.
“The Government approves the establishment of settlements as long as it is done legally and in coordination with the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Defense, which has not happened,” according to a statement collected by the Times of Israel.
The prime minister thus lowers a rhetoric in which he came to defend, before taking office, that “the Jewish people have the exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas in the Land of Israel”, before declaring his support for the “expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
#illegal #West #Bank #settlement #remains #military #control