Israeli settlers agree to leave flashpoint West Bank outpost: Officials

Jewish settlers agreed Monday to leave a new outpost in the occupied West Bank that has stirred weeks of Palestinian protests following a deal with Israel’s government, officials said.

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Under the agreement, confirmed by settler leaders and the interior ministry, the settlers will leave the Eviatar outpost within days but their mobile homes will remain and Israeli troops will establish a base in the area.

According to a statement from regional settler leader Yossi Dagan, the defense ministry has agreed to study land claims to assess the prospect of a future recognized settlement.

Dagan said the agreement had been approved by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, defense Minister Benny Gantz and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.

Shaked’s office confirmed the deal, but spokespersons for Bennett and Gantz were not immediately available to comment.

About 50 Jewish families moved to Eviatar last month, erecting huts, tents and caravans -- in defiance of international and Israeli law -- on land near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians claim for a future state.

Palestinians in the nearby community of Beitar responded with nightime protests, flashing horns, burning tires and shining laser beams to keep the settlers awake.

Moussa Hamayel, the deputy head of the Beita municipality, told AFP that the Palestinian community had “completely rejected” the purported compromise.

In unrest sparked by the protests, four Palestinians including a teenager have been killed by Israeli troops.

Eviatar is named after a settler fatally stabbed near Beita in 2013.

An earlier version of the outpost was evacuated by Israeli authorities.

Israeli families returned to the outpost in May after a yeshiva student was shot dead by a Palestinian gunman nearby.

Gantz ordered the settlement removed, but Benjamin Netanyahu -- who served 12 unbroken years as prime minister, before he was unseated on June 13 -- froze the decision.

Bennett, who ousted Netanyahu by joining a broad coalition including left-wingers and an Arab party, is the former head of the Yesha Council, a settlers’ lobbying group.

All Jewish settlements in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, are considered illegal by most of the international community.

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