Arab outpost at E1
Arab outpost at E1Arutz Sheva

The IDF was able to foil on Saturday yet another attempt by Palestinian Authority Arabs to set up an illegal outpost in Judea and Samaria.

Some 30 PA Arabs had arrived at the community of Havat Maon, near Hevron, on Friday night, trying to establish an outpost. IDF soldiers, who were deployed in the area ahead of time, were able to evacuate the illegal outpost quickly.

PA-based reports said the incident ended without violence, but some of the Arabs were detained for questioning.

This is the third attempt by Arabs to establish illegal communities in the region. Last Saturday, about 200 Arabs set up an illegal outpost near the village of Burin, not far from Shechem, in Samaria.

They had put up a tent when the IDF arrived on the scene and dispersed them. The Arabs attacked the IDF force with rocks, and the soldiers responded with riot dispersal gear. No one was reported hurt.

Several weeks ago an outpost was established near the PA Arab village of Beit Iksa, located between the Ramot and Mevasseret Zion neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

The Arabs said that the reason for the outpost is the fact that Beit Iksa is set to be entirely encircled by Israel's border fence, cutting it off from Jerusalem.

Israeli authorities ordered the confiscation of 124 acres of the village's land three weeks ago, and do not permit any new building in the town, they claimed.

The Civil Administration later issued eviction orders for the illegal outpost and it was demolished without incident the following morning.

That outpost, which the Arabs had named Al-Karamah, was set up a week after Arab activists set up an illegal outpost in the E1 area, which connects Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, and that was just recently opened to construction for Israelis.

The Arabs in the outpost were evacuated by security forces the following night. After the Supreme Court cancelled a temporary injunction which had prevented Israel from taking down the tents that were in the outpost, security forces demolished the tents as well.