Binyamin Regional Council
The riot started when Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli civilians near the village of Sinjil in southern Samaria.
“Around half a million residents live in this area, so after 50 years, this is a long-overdue step,” said Energy Minister Eli Cohen.
Most Judea and Samaria residents are role models for developing the Land of Israel and meaningful service in the military, Netanyahu stressed.
Soldiers allegedly opened fire at the rioters, hitting a 14-year-old Israeli teenager in the arm.
“Five Israeli suspects were arrested and transferred to the Israel Police for further processing,” the IDF said.
Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya was blocked “because it had been used by suspects who carried out numerous stone-throwing and Molotov cocktail attacks,” the IDF said.
“We are changing the face of the settlement enterprise not just as a slogan, but through real action,” the Cabinet minister said.
The move, which will nearly double the size of Eli, comes two years after Hamas terrorists first targeted the community’s gas station, murdering four.
Within 24 hours, a cemetery was established for his Jewish farming outpost, founded two years ago.
Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz cited a growing sense that terrorists in Arab villages are “becoming emboldened.”
Last year, the IDF constructed a security fence surrounding the new road that bypasses the central Samaria terrorist hotspot of Huwara.
“You represent God’s presence and His choice in this land,” the U.S. envoy told Israeli pioneers in Samaria.
