Israeli army works to legalize settlement farms and turn them into a security arm

The Israeli army is working to legalize settlement farms in the West Bank and turn them into an official security arm, according to a report in Israel Hayom. Central Command chief Aviv Blau held talks with legal officials to legalize the outposts and turn them into settlements, claiming they constitute a security asset on the eastern border.

The Israeli army is working to legalize settlement farms in the occupied West Bank and turn them into an official security arm, according to a report in Israel Hayom on Wednesday. Central Command chief Aviv Blau held talks with officials in the government's legal advisory department to legalize these settlement outposts and turn them into settlements. The army aims to "regulate land use" by settlers and legalize the buildings they have erected there. The army claims that the settlement farms constitute a "security asset" due to their location in remote areas and their ability to monitor suspicious activities along the eastern border, and that their deployment in the southern Hebron Hills helped in thwarting operations. The article notes that the settlement farms were established as outposts on Palestinian lands, and through settler attacks they took over areas that had been used by Palestinian Bedouin communities for grazing and agriculture, and the settlers, with army assistance, expelled Palestinians from them. Reports from Israeli human rights organizations indicate that settlers and the army have expelled dozens of Palestinian communities in this manner.