Haaretz newspaper on Saturday reported that Israeli settlers of Efrat settlement last week established a new outpost on a nearby hill in protest at the killing of an Israeli settler at Gush Etzion junction earlier that week.
The hill which the settlers call “Givat Eitam” is known for its strategic importance.
Israel in the past tried to boost settlement construction on the hill but it backtracked because any construction project in the area would separate Bethlehem from Palestinian villages in the south.
Israeli settlers rallying in the new outpost affirmed that Efrat council had sent them. They even raised the council’s flag there.
As far as is known Israel’s Civil Administration does not intend to evacuate the outpost immediately in light of previous requests by Efrat council to allow settlement construction on Givat Eitam.
The new outpost is not the first of its kind. An outpost was built there in 2013 but it was evacuated two years later.
