Israeli settlers march to West Bank outpost as Jerusalem tension spikes

Thousands of Israelis are marching Monday from the West Bank the Tapuach junction toward wildcat Eviatar outpost following clashes early Monday afternoon between Palestinian residents of the nearby Beita village and Israeli security forces.

Ahead of the march, Palestinians threw stones at the Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas grenades. The Red Crescent said two people were injured by rubber bullets. 

The large rally is expected to convene at Evitar in the afternoon, with the participation of several government ministers and coalition Knesset members. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are leading the march on foot.

Most settlements in the occupied West Bank, up until the mid-1990s, were established with the approval of the Israeli government. Since then, most new settlements such as Eviatar have been built often on private Palestinian lands in what Israel calls ''illegal outposts.'' The Beita residents demonstrating on Monday said that Eviatar was constructed on their private lands. 

In preparation for the march, police said it will block throughout the day highway 505, which connects the West Bank Nablus area to the Jordan Valley. Thirteen border police companies are assisting regional police forces in keeping order, with 14 more border police companies on standby in case of security problems. Organizers of the event said they are expecting 140 buses to transport participants to the event. The path of the march has been leveled to enable families with strollers to participate.

The illegal Eviatar outpost was erected on May 2021 and then evacuated by security forces three months later. Since then, Israelis and Palestinians are both prohibited from entering the site. The government had pledged to study the legal situation of the site and search for ways to regularize it. The coalition agreement signed between the Likud and the Religious Zionism party includes a promise by the ruling party to legalize the outpost.

The march toward Eviatar is taking place on the backdrop of several recent attacks, including a deadly attack last Friday where two young Israeli sisters were killed in a shooting/ramming incident in the Jordan Valley, and another deadly attack Friday evening where an Italian tourist was rammed to death in Tel Aviv. 

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported Monday morning that a 15-year-old boy was killed during an Israeli military raid in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho.

Tensions reached a peak this month on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif compound when police raided last Tuesday Al-Aqsa Mosque after hundreds of worshipers barricaded themselves there. Footage of police cracking down on the barricaded worshipers with stun grenades inside Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, generated angry reactions across the Arab world, the European Union and France.

After the Al-Aqsa clashes, salvos of rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. Six rockets were fired at Israel from Syrian territory over the weekend. Israeli security agencies are estimating that the rockers launched from Lebanon were fired by Hamas Palestinian factions, not Hezbollah.

Muslim worshipers barricaded themselves again Saturday overnight at Al-Aqsa Mosque, but police decided not to enter the building so as not to stoke clashes. Jewish visitors were allowed to visit the compound on Sunday and Monday. Israeli authorities said that 2,265 non-Muslims had visited the site during the Passover holiday (which ends Wednesday night), marking a 43% increase in the rate of Jewish visits compared with last year — 1,224 Jews ascended Temple Mount on Monday only.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must now decide whether to close the Mount to non-Muslim visitors during the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan when Muslim worshipers traditionally spend the nights at the mosque. Israel Police supports preventing Jews from entering during that period, but Israel's far-right Ben-Gvir threatened that such a move would be a ''serious error.''