Israeli settlers build new illegal outpost near West Bank village where soldiers assaulted, detained CNN crew

Dozens of Israeli settlers returned to the West Bank village of Tayasir on Wednesday to build a new illegal settler outpost on its outskirts, days after a separate one was dismantled following a CNN report covering its establishment.Local residents and eyewitnesses told CNN settlers arrived in the morning with a flock of sheep loaded onto the back of an army vehicle. Videos sent to CNN show Israeli soldiers and military jeeps providing protection to the settlers as they erect new tents.An Israeli attorney representing a Palestinian Bedouin community that was displaced in the area also confirmed the military’s presence"The outpost was accompanied by military vehicles,« Dr. Netta Amar-Shiff told CNN. „It was built with the direct support and guard of the military."The Israel Defense Forces denied that their soldiers helped in establishing the outpost. «IDF soldiers arrived at the scene only after the outpost had already been set up, in order to conduct an initial inquiry, and then left the area,» the Israeli military said in a statement to CNN. «The outpost was established illegally and is currently under review."Five days earlier, settlers stormed the village of Tayasir, beating multiple residents and establishing an illegal outpost in the village. CNN witnessed Israeli troops standing idly by the new outpost before detaining multiple Palestinians and the CNN crew instead.Tayasir residents said Israeli forces dismantled the outpost the next day, but that it was erected again by settlers in another location in the village. On Wednesday, they moved it to a third location on the outskirts of Tayasir, in the village of Al-Aqabah.The distinction in location is significant. The entire West Bank is under Israeli military occupation, but the Oslo Accords divided the land into three administrative zones.The first outposts were in what is known as Area A; areas under Palestinian civil and security control. The latest outpost is now located in Area C, which is under Israeli civil and security control, although the outpost remains illegal under both Israeli and international law.In February, the Israeli government advanced the registration of Area C — about 60% of the territory — as state land, in a move that Palestinians have decried as «de facto annexation."At the time, far-right Finance Minister Bezalael Smotrich said the land registry would continue «the settlement and governance revolution across all parts of our land.»

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