Deal Struck to Evacuate New West Bank Outpost

A new illegally constructed settlement outpost built in the northern West Bank will be evacuated by the 53 Jewish families and assorted youth who are living there by Friday afternoon, under a compromise reached with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny. Under the agreement, the state will work to legalize control of the land and then establish a yeshiva with dormitories on the site.

The Evyatar outpost was established after the May 2  drive-by shooting attack at Tapuah junction which claimed the life of Yehuda Guetta. 19, a student at the nearby Itamar Yeshiva.

The land on which Evyatar is built is currently identified as survey land, and could be reclassified as state land after an investigation to determine that it is no privately owned.

Palestinian residents of the villages of Beita and Yatma, which flank the outpost, say the land belongs to them.

The Samaria Regional Council has submitted a master plan to build 100 homes at the outpost, currently populated with caravans and temporary shelters, and make it a neighborhood of the nearby Kfar Tapuah settlement.