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April 25, 2012

Israel Legalizes West Bank Settlement Outposts 
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Israel has retroactively legalized three Jewish-only settlement outposts
in the occupied West Bank while delaying the scheduled evacuation of a
fourth. The move could mark a further extremist shift for the Israeli
government, which has long insisted on its right to expand settlements
considered illegal under international law, but vowed to crack down on
ad-hoc settlement outposts that have not received government
authorization. Sharif Yassin, a Palestinian resident in the West Bank
whose land was seized to build the Beit El settlement, said Israel is
attempting to legalize theft.

Sharif Yassin: "We own this land. Netanyahu will not give it to us for
free. After being at the Israeli courts and getting verdicts that it is
ours and it belonged to our fathers and grandfathers. We used to plant
it before they kicked us out. I used to plant in this land myself."

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland offered
mild criticism of the new Israeli settlement grab, saying: "We don’t
think this is helpful to the process and we don’t accept the
legitimacy of continued settlement activity."

 

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