About 50,000 Israelis, including eight ministers and 20 MKs, marched to the Evyatar outpost on Monday afternoon to demand the regulation of the outpost.
The politicians who took part in the march include Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, MK Boaz Bismuth and MK Simcha Rothman, among others.
Leaders of religious Zionist Judaism took part in the march as well, including Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, the rabbi of the Samaria Regional Council; Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, former chief rabbi of Ramat Gan; Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed; Rabbi Dov Lior, former chief rabbi of Hebron; and Rabbi Yaakov Medan, a rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat Har Etzion.
The march and rally are being secured by the IDF and Israel Police as Israeli forces continue their efforts to catch the terrorists behind the shooting attack in which Maia and Rina Dee were murdered in the Jordan Valley and the shooting attack in which two IDF soldiers were injured in Huwara.
Israeli media reported that defense officials are concerned that the march is diverting security forces from handling other issues, such as the hunt for the terrorists behind recent shooting attacks and efforts to prevent further attacks.
An Israeli border police officer aims his weapon at Palestinian demonstrators protesting against Israeli settlements near Nablus in the West Bank, April 10, 2023. (credit: RANEEN SAWAFTA/REUTERS)شاهد | جنود الاحتلال يعتدون على الصحفيين أثناء تغطية المواجهات قبالة جبل صبيح. pic.twitter.com/qGV9Vq4TZA
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) April 10, 2023
Disturbances were reported in the Palestinian village of Beita, located near Evyatar, during the march, with the IDF firing tear gas towards Palestinians and journalists in the village.
Hadash-Ta’al MK Aida Touma-Suleiman expressed outrage at the march on Monday, linking it to the repeal of parts of the Disengagement Law (which concerns areas over 20 km north of Evyatar) and saying “The responsibility for the atrocities and destruction experienced by the Palestinians falls on everyone! Do not confuse the brain with your selective democracy!”
The march, which took place just a few kilometers away from the town of Huwara, also comes as tensions remain high in the region after multiple rounds of rocket fire from Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip in the past week and a wave of terrorist attacks in recent months.
Yossi Dagan: Marching to Evyatar in response to terror
Before the march headed out, Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan stressed that “The arrival of the masses today is proof that the people of Israel want Evyatar and want Zionism. Together we march now and say: We will never give up on the Land of Israel, it is possible and necessary to overcome weaknesses and delays, it is possible and necessary to settle in our eternal Land of Israel.”
“The arrival of the masses today is proof that the people of Israel want Evyatar and want Zionism. Together we march now and say: We will never give up on the Land of Israel, it is possible and necessary to overcome weaknesses and delays, it is possible and necessary to settle in our eternal Land of Israel.”
Yossi Dagan
“The victory of the people of Israel over terrorism is the establishment of new settlements. They want to take us out of our land and we will raise our spirits, we will march with our heads held high to Evyatar, which is a symbol of the faith and strength of the people of Israel. We will demand this very simple thing, to build freely in our land, to regulate the Evyatar plan, and allow the 53 families to return home. Together we will win.”
Elyada Barak, the brother of Evyatar Borovsky after whom the outpost is named, stated “I came here to represent our beloved family. Unfortunately, my father could not come due to his health condition, I can only imagine Evyatar watching us from above, seeing all the blessed work, all the righteous who build the Land of Israel as it is, all the multitudes who struggled to come and all those who support us from afar. Evyatar must be rubbing his eyes in disbelief, smiling and proud of all of you.”
Borovsky was murdered in a stabbing attack at the Tapuah Junction in 2013.
Barak called for the establishment of settlements in memory of Israelis murdered in recent terrorist attacks, saying “In these days, the State of Israel should adopt the Evyatar outline and promote development plans for the settlement of Mitzpe Yaakov and Asher on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Hallel and Yagel on the ruins of Huwara and Mitzpe Rina and Maia in the Jordan Valley.”
Ben-Gvir stated at the march that “We do not surrender to terrorism, not in Evyatar, not in Tel Aviv. We are here in order to say the people of Israel are strong. We are here and will stay here.”
“We do not surrender to terrorism, not in Evyatar, not in Tel Aviv. We are here in order to say the people of Israel are strong. We are here and will stay here.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir
Israeli Jews are seen marching to the Evyatar outspot, near the West Bank city of Nablus, during the Passover holiday, on April 10, 2023. (credit: SRAYA DIAMANT/FLASH90)Daniela Weiss, the chair of the Nahala movement, stated “The most effective way to deal with terrorism, as it has been throughout history, is to establish new settlements. We see the large gathering of the public voting with their feet for the settlement of the land and the immediate return to Evyatar.”
Smotrich stated at the rally that “This place will be bustling with life – Jews, upright, proud, lovers of the land and the Torah, and like Evyatar, existing settlements and new settlements will also be regulated because this is our land and there is nothing without it.”
The MKs who took part in the rally signed the “Evyatar Charter” which calls for the regulation of the outpost and the establishment of new settlements.
The left-wing Yesh Din organization called the march to Evyatar “provocative” and “a demonstration of Jewish supremacy, carried out to poke a finger in the eye of the Palestinians.”
“While the residents of the Palestinian territories are subject to a blockade, masses of settlers will march to miraculously lift the ideology of expropriation and plunder.”
Yesh Din
“While the residents of the Palestinian territories are subject to a blockade, masses of settlers will march to miraculously lift the ideology of expropriation and plunder,” added the organization. “The participation of the ministers in the march today is another plank to the burning fire in the occupied territories, as its main victims are, as usual, the Palestinians.”
The spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority Presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, condemned the march on Monday, calling it an “invasion of settler militias” and warning that it “pushes matters towards an explosion, which no one will ever be able to control.”
Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk warned that the march to Evyatar “means [Israel’s] insistence on continuing the ongoing wave of escalation.”
“The settlers’ march towards the Evyatar outpost, and the storming of dozens of others at the al-Aqsa Mosque, pour more oil on the fire of the ongoing escalation, and push the resistance to further discuss its legitimate options.”
After a terrorist attack in February in Huwara in which Hallel and Yagel Yaniv were murdered, settlers and politicians returned to Evyatar, but were removed shortly after by the IDF.
The settlers who established Evyatar originally evacuated the outpost in July 2021 as part of a compromise with the Israeli government under which then-prime minister Naftali Bennett agreed to advance the legalization of the outpost. Since then, there has not been much progress concerning the arrangements of the deal.
Under the deal, the structures placed at the site at the time remained there and an army base was set up at the site. The Civil Administration conducted a survey of the land in the months after the deal was signed to establish which areas of land could be declared as state lands on which Evyatar could be established and found that about 60 dunams of the area could be declared as such, according to Ynet.
According to the arrangement, the settlers were meant to be allowed to establish a yeshiva at the site once the land was declared as state land and the government would move to legalize the outpost. Neither part of the deal came to fruition.
The legalization of the outpost was included in the coalition agreements signed by the Likud and the Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist parties.
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