In this March 5, 2018 photo, a man places an Israeli flag at the site where new caravans belonging to Israeli settler families are being set up near the settlement of Kiryat Arba in the occupied West Bank on the outskirts of Hebron. Israel has withdrawn from a race against Germany and Belgium for two seats on the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)
JERUSALEM – Jewish settlers agreed to leave a recently-built unauthorized outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by the end of the week, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.
A statement issued by the Israeli defense minister confirmed that the settlers agreed to leave voluntarily the Eviatar outpost. The settlers also issued a statement, in which they say they have agreed to a deal to leave the outpost by the weekend.
Under the deal, agreed between the settlers and the defense ministry and the interior ministry, the homes in the outpost will not be destroyed, according to the defense ministry
Under the deal, agreed between the settlers and the defense ministry and the interior ministry, the homes in the outpost will not be destroyed, according to the defense ministry.
ALSO READ: Palestine calls for global sanctions against Israel
The area will be announced a closed military zone. A land survey will be conducted in which the settlers said they will prove the outpost was not built on private Palestinian lands. If that would be confirmed, a Yeshiva, or a Jewish seminary, would be built there and later the settlers could begin procedures to authorize the outpost too.
Some 50 Jewish families arrived in Eviatar in May and rapidly built huts and caravans.
Eviatar is located near the Palestinian city of Nablus in the West Bank.
There are dozens of unauthorized outposts and some 130 Israeli-authorized settlements scattered around the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and where the Palestinians wish to establish their future state.
READ MORE: UN rights chief: Israeli strikes on Gaza may be war crimes
Under international law, all Israeli settlements are illegal. However, Israel holds that the settlements are legal.
Outposts are settlements built without official permits from the Israeli authorities and are deemed illegal also under Israeli law.