Israeli security forces on Wednesday evacuated the Givat Or Meir outpost, located in the Binyamin region of Samaria, and arrested some two dozen people who tried to prevent the demolition.
According to the IDF Civil Administration, Givat Or Meir—established last year near Ofra—is built on privately owned Palestinian land. Authorities have repeatedly evacuated the community, most recently in February.
The HaKol HaYehudi news site reported on Wednesday that large numbers of Israel Police officers and Civil Administration inspectors showed up with bulldozers and destroyed Givat Or Meir‘s access road.
Close to 30 Israeli teenagers, including at least five girls, were detained by police as they tried to block the forces from carrying out their orders. Police used a large tour bus to remove the detainees.
The demolition, which began on Wednesday morning, lasted more than four hours.
Activist Elisha Yered, who founded the nearby Sde Yonatan outpost, on X cited sources in the area as saying that there was “great fear” that additional outposts were slated for destruction.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich aims to legalize 68 outposts in Judea and Samaria and has instructed various ministries to prepare to provide them with public services, his office announced last week.
The coalition deal between Smotrich’s Religious Zionism Party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud calls for the legalization of these “young settlements” and providing them with electricity and water.
Smotrich has also instructed ministries to plan to establish educational institutions in the outposts, construct roads leading to them and open state-funded clinics therein.
