Two other outposts - near Adei Ad in the Shilo area and outside Kokhav HaShachar in the western Jordan Valley - were also demolished today. No violence was reported.
The three outposts were among the 21 built over the Chanukah holiday by idealistic youths all over Judea and Samaria. The Beit El outpost was named Givat HaOr - Hill of the Light - and consisted of a number of temporary structures. Youths, mainly from Beit El, worked together in rotation to build up the site. Despite strong cold winds and heavy rains, barely a night went by without several of them sleeping there.
The lone youth at the site early this afternoon was allowed to rush and gather his belongings, and was then taken to a nearby police station for interrogation. He was released after an hour and a half. All the equipment and private property at the site was confiscated by the police, and the tents and structures were destroyed.
Beit El Mayor Moshe Rosenbaum said, "Beit El and the entire settlement enterprise are very angry at the government, and especially the Acting Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Public Security Minister, for having given this order to the police and army to raze to the ground this important Jewish stronghold on the southern entrance to Beit El... This is another blundering step of this government, which does not fight the Hamas takeover of increasingly large areas of Judea and Samaria, but on the other hand, strikes out at areas in which Jews have returned to settle our land after 2,000 years of exile. We [the municipality] will help this area and others; this is our land, and we have no other... Today is a sad day, when the army, which is supposed to be used to fight our enemies, is used against the Jewish settlement enterprise."
This was the second time that Givat HaOr was destroyed by the security forces. On the previous occasion, several weeks ago, valuable equipment was confiscated and not returned. Youths involved with building Givat HaOr implied afterwards that the security forces may be forced to demolish it yet again.
Another of the outposts that were built up over the Chanukah holiday was destroyed last week. It was located outside Dolev in central Binyamin. All of the others are visited once or twice a week by groups of youth who conduct activities there, while in five of them - no longer including Givat HaOr - there is a permanent presence.
Yesha Rabbis Council spokesman Rabbi Yossi Artziel told Arutz-7, "What happened today is very grave, as every outpost is the basis for the expansion of a Jewish community - and we believe, after all, that the Land belongs to the Jewish People."
The three outposts were among the 21 built over the Chanukah holiday by idealistic youths all over Judea and Samaria. The Beit El outpost was named Givat HaOr - Hill of the Light - and consisted of a number of temporary structures. Youths, mainly from Beit El, worked together in rotation to build up the site. Despite strong cold winds and heavy rains, barely a night went by without several of them sleeping there.
The lone youth at the site early this afternoon was allowed to rush and gather his belongings, and was then taken to a nearby police station for interrogation. He was released after an hour and a half. All the equipment and private property at the site was confiscated by the police, and the tents and structures were destroyed.
Beit El Mayor Moshe Rosenbaum said, "Beit El and the entire settlement enterprise are very angry at the government, and especially the Acting Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Public Security Minister, for having given this order to the police and army to raze to the ground this important Jewish stronghold on the southern entrance to Beit El... This is another blundering step of this government, which does not fight the Hamas takeover of increasingly large areas of Judea and Samaria, but on the other hand, strikes out at areas in which Jews have returned to settle our land after 2,000 years of exile. We [the municipality] will help this area and others; this is our land, and we have no other... Today is a sad day, when the army, which is supposed to be used to fight our enemies, is used against the Jewish settlement enterprise."
This was the second time that Givat HaOr was destroyed by the security forces. On the previous occasion, several weeks ago, valuable equipment was confiscated and not returned. Youths involved with building Givat HaOr implied afterwards that the security forces may be forced to demolish it yet again.
Another of the outposts that were built up over the Chanukah holiday was destroyed last week. It was located outside Dolev in central Binyamin. All of the others are visited once or twice a week by groups of youth who conduct activities there, while in five of them - no longer including Givat HaOr - there is a permanent presence.
Yesha Rabbis Council spokesman Rabbi Yossi Artziel told Arutz-7, "What happened today is very grave, as every outpost is the basis for the expansion of a Jewish community - and we believe, after all, that the Land belongs to the Jewish People."