- Palestinian Ayesha Shtayyeh faced eviction and harassment from settlers
- Illegal outposts in the West Bank have surged, linked to violence
- Organizations like the WZO and Amana support the outposts’ expansion
Last October, Palestinian grandmother Ayesha Shtayyeh claimed a man put a gun at her head and ordered her to leave the location she had called home for 50 years.
She said that the armed threat was the result of an increasingly aggressive campaign of harassment and intimidation that began in 2021 when an illegal settler outpost was erected near her home in the occupied West Bank.
The number of these outposts has increased dramatically in recent years. There are currently at least 196 across the West Bank, with 29 established last year – more than any prior year.
Outposts, which can be farms, clusters of dwellings, or even caravans, frequently lack established boundaries and are unlawful under Israeli and international law.
Organisations with close ties to the Israeli government supplied money and land for the establishment of new illegal outposts.
According to experts, outposts can grab vast areas of territory faster than settlements and are increasingly associated with violence and harassment of Palestinian people.
Palestinian Authority, which governs a portion of the occupied West Bank.
We examined hundreds of satellite pictures to ensure that outposts had been built at these places and to determine the year they were established.
Our study indicates that over half (89) of the 196 outposts we validated were created after 2019.
Some of these are linked to the rise in violence against Palestinian populations in the West Bank. Earlier this year, the British government sanctioned eight hardline settlers for inciting or inflicting violence on Palestinians. At least six had built or were living in illegal outposts.
Avi Mizrahi, a former commander of the Israeli army in the West Bank, claims that the majority of settlers are law-abiding Israeli citizens but admits that the presence of outposts increases the likelihood of violence.
Whenever you put outposts illegally in the area, it brings tensions with the Palestinians… living in the same area,” according to him.
Moshe Sharvit, who Ayesha claims threatened her at gunpoint, was among the radical settlers sanctioned by the UK. In March, the US authorities sanctioned him and the station he established fewer than 800 metres (0.5 miles) from Ayesha’s home. His outpost has been described as a “base from which he perpetrates violence against Palestinians”.
“He’s made our life hell,” adds Ayesha, who lives with her kid near Nablus.
Outposts do not have official Israeli planning clearance, but settlements, which are larger, generally urban, Jewish enclaves erected throughout the West Bank, are lawful under Israeli law.
Both are regarded as illegal under international law, which prohibits the movement of civilians into occupied territories. However, many residents of the West Bank say that, as Jews, they have a religious and historical connection to the area.
In a landmark ruling issued in July, the United Nations’ top court stated that Israel should halt all new settlement development and expel all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Israel denounced the opinion as “fundamentally wrong” and biased.
Even though outposts lack legal standing, there is little evidence that the Israeli government has attempted to limit their fast growth.
The new evidence demonstrates how two organisations with close ties to the Israeli government donated money and land for the establishment of new outposts in the West Bank.
One is the World Zionist Organisation (WZO), an international organisation created over a century ago and essential in the foundation of Israel. It has a Settlement Division, which manages vast sections of land held by Israel since 1967. Israeli public monies wholly sponsor the division and refer to itself as an “arm of the Israeli state”.
The Settlement Division has frequently given land for outposts. The WZO prohibits the construction of any structures and states in the contracts that the area should only be used for grazing or farming; nonetheless, satellite imagery shows that unauthorised outposts were established on it on at least four occasions.
One of these agreements was signed by Zvi Bar Yosef in 2018. He, like Moshe Sharvit, was sanctioned by the UK and US earlier this year for assault and harassment of Palestinians.
We contacted the WZO to enquire whether it was aware that various tracts of land designated for grazing and agriculture were being exploited to construct illegal outposts. It didn’t respond. We also posed queries to Zvi Bar Yosef but have not received a response.
Another major settler organisation, Amana, loaned hundreds of thousands of shekels to assist in creating outposts.
In one case, the charity loaned NIS 1,000,000 ($270,000/£205,000) to a settler to develop greenhouses on an outpost that is illegal under Israeli legislation.
Amana was created in 1978 and has collaborated with the Israeli government to construct settlements throughout the West Bank ever since.
However, there has been increasing evidence recently that Amana supports outposts.
An activist uploaded an audio of Amana’s CEO Ze’ev Hever saying, “In the last three years… one operation we have expanded is the herding farm [outposts].”
“Today, the area [they control] is almost twice the size of built settlements.”
The Canadian government named Amana in a series of sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for “violent and destabilising actions against Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank” this year. The sanctions did not mention outposts.
The Israeli government also tends to retrospectively legalise outposts, essentially turning them into settlements. Last year, for example, the government began the process of legalising at least ten outposts while granting full legal status to at least six more.
Moshe Sharvit, the settler Ayesha Shtayyeh claims evicted her from her home, held an open day at his outpost in February. A local cameraman captured the event on video. Speaking openly, he demonstrated how effective outposts can be in capturing land.
“The biggest regret when we [settlers] built settlements was that we got stuck within the fences and couldn’t expand,” he explained to the audience. “The farm is significant, but the surrounding area is the most important thing for us.”
He claimed to presently control around 7,000 dunams (7 square kilometres) of land, more prominent than several significant urban areas in the West Bank with thousands of people.
“Unlock your financial potential with free Webull shares in the UK.”
According to Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, some settlers who establish and live on outposts prioritise gaining control over huge areas, frequently at the expense of Palestinian populations.
“Settlers who live on the hilltop [outposts] see themselves as ‘protecting lands’, and their daily job is to kick out Palestinians from the area,” adds the woman.
Ayesha claims that Moshe Sharvit launched a campaign of harassment and intimidation virtually as soon as he established his outpost in late 2021.
When her husband, Nabil, grazed his goats in meadows he had used for decades, Sharvit would arrive in an all-terrain vehicle and chase the animals away with young settlers, he said.
“I responded that we’d leave if the government, police, or judge tells us to,” according to Nabil.
“He told me: ‘I’m the government, and I’m the judge, and I’m the police.'”
