World
Bennett calls to dismantle illegal settlement outposts, draws right-wing leaders’ ire
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett drew backlash from the right on Monday after telling an interviewer that hundreds of unauthorized settlement outposts set up in the West Bank are illegal and should be dismantled.
“As I see it, legal construction in Area C, on state land and not on Palestinians’ private land… that’s excellent. Construction that isn’t legal, or is in Area C, or is on private land, is not legitimate,” the opposition figure told the Kan public broadcaster.
Asked whether this was a matter of interpretation — whether, as the interviewer put it, “Yair Golan will say it’s illegal, Smotrich says it is legal — Bennett responded: “No. There’s law.”
“What isn’t legal won’t be allowed,” he said. When asked if this meant he would forcibly evacuate the outposts, Bennett responded: “Of course. What isn’t legal, certainly.”
Bennett, whose Together party is currently polling a few seats behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud with some four months remaining before elections must be held, is a longtime supporter of Israeli West Bank settlements and is the former director of the Yesha Council, an umbrella body for the settlements.
“What’s on state land, and is done in a legal manner, I give it my blessing. I’m in favor of legal settlement in Area C,” he maintained.
According to the Oslo II Accords, signed in 1995 by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank is divided into three areas, A, B and C. While Area C is under full Israeli control, Area B is under Palestinian civilian control and Israeli security control, and Area A is under full Palestinian control.
“In my vision, ultimately Area C will be part of the State of Israel, Areas A and B will be part of a Palestinian autonomy,” Bennett told Kan.
On Tuesday, speaking at a Jewish News Syndicate conference in Jerusalem, Bennett again sought to balance his right-wing bona fides with an opposition to extremism.
“I’m a right-wing guy, I’m not changing my opinions. But I’m not a schmuck,” he said, using a Yiddish pejorative for the English-speaking audience.
“There a huge difference: Being right-wing means you stand on our national interests — you don’t give up land, you don’t allow a Palestinian state to be formed, you stand strong. But it doesn’t mean you’re an idiot,” he said.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the far-right Religious Zionism party and has some authority over the West Bank, responded on X to Bennett’s statements in the Kan interview.
“Over the weekend and in recent days, I said that I know that if they – Heaven forbid – rise to power, the Eisenkot government will clear the new settlements and the farms that we’ve established in Judea and Samaria,” he wrote.
The post, which used biblical terminology for the West Bank, referred to Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot. The ex-general and former defense minister’s party recently passed Bennett’s in polls and tied with Likud.
“Today, Bennett – a future minister in an Eisenkot government – said it out loud: He will clear the farming outposts. And not just that, Bennett also said he’ll establish ‘Palestinian autonomy’ – in other words, a terror state in the heart of the country!” Smotrich wrote.
“An Eisenkot government will establish a Palestinian terror state and destroy the new settlements and agricultural outposts. We must not allow them to set up the next government,” he declared.
On Tuesday, Smotrich again responded to the Kan interview, referencing Eisenkot as well as left-wing Democrats party chief Yair Golan with the commentary: “Bennett confirms: In a government led by Eisenkot and Defense Minister Yair Golan, a Palestinian autonomy will be established that will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Smotrich reiterated: “Listen to Bennett: Yair Golan and Eisenkot will establish a Palestinian state.”
Bennett has long advocated “a Palestinian autonomy on steroids,” while vehemently opposing the establishment of a full state.
Yisrael Gantz, who heads the Binyamin Regional Council in the West Bank as well as the Yesha Council umbrella group, said late Monday: “Naftali Bennett declared this evening the establishment of a terror state minutes from his home in Ra’anana.”
“We are already facing an army of 50,000 armed soldiers of the Palestinian Authority – a corrupt, terror-supporting entity that is led by Iran,” he asserted, apparently referring to the PA’s internal security forces, who number about 30,000 according to a 2023 estimate; it was not immediately clear on what basis Gantz was implicating Iran.
“After the [October 7] massacre in the Gaza border area, only someone who ignores reality can propose giving that army strategic territory in the heart of the country. It’s national suicide and a danger to the lives of millions of Israelis.”
The establishment of illegal farming outposts in the West Bank, which usually involve the grazing of sheep, goats, or cattle across large areas of land, has in recent years become a tactic widely used by settler activists, in coordination with regional settlement councils and individual settlements, with the explicit goal of exerting control over large swaths of West Bank land.
The outposts are frequently established on what is defined as state land — land that is not privately owned — in order to stave off immediate removal by the security services. But even those outposts are built without cabinet authorization, meaning they are illegal under Israeli law.
The establishment of the farming outposts is frequently accompanied by violence from their residents against local Palestinian civilians, and has resulted in the depopulation of numerous rural Palestinian villages in recent years.
