Evyatar

Evyatar (Hebrew: אביתר, romanized: Evyatar or Eviatar) is an Israeli outpost in the West Bank located in a Palestinian rural area on Mount Sabih, in lands of the Palestinian town of Beita, south of Nablus. The settlement was first built in May 2013, and was named after Israeli settler Evyatar Borovsky who was murdered in a Palestinian attack at Tapuach (or Zaatra) Junction on 30 April 2013. Evyatar was founded by the Nachala Movement, which promotes similar settlements across the West Bank. The outpost has been destroyed several times by Israeli officials soon after its establishment in 2013, and again in 2016 and 2018. The current incarnation, established in May 2021, includes "about 50 permanent structures, a playground, a synagogue, a religious study hall, a grocery store, a power grid and fully-paved roads," according to a B'Tselem description. The settlement was evacuated but not destroyed in June 2021. It was the site of major settler protests in February and April 2023, and fully reoccupied in June 2023. It has been described as "the most famous outpost established in recent years." The building of the outpost, and the subsequent legal process intended to make it permanent, sparked regular Palestinian protests; as of May 2022, 8 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers during the protests. According to Nathaniel Berman, Evyatar is "emblematic of the process whereby settlers are able to seize land with the express purpose of disrupting Palestinian life and are able to secure state ratification of their actions. This is a regime which lends fodder to some of the worst charges laid against Israel in recent years, including apartheid." According to Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, "The government has committed to the Avitar plan. The correct Zionist answer to the terrible attacks is construction, construction, construction....