The plan, initiated by Ministers Israel Katz, Orit Strock, and Bezalel Smotrich, which has remained under the radar until now, is designed to address the growing threat of infiltrations and weapons smuggling from the eastern border while combining military and settlement approaches as a comprehensive response to all security challenges. The plan was first discussed at the Israel Hayom Security Conference, in partnership with the HaShomer HaChadash organization.

Defense Minister Israel Katz, during a tour of the eastern border, said that the security fence construction he has led on the Israel-Jordan border is a critical strategic step against Iranian attempts to turn the eastern border into another terror front. "I see a direct connection between thwarting terror infrastructure in refugee camps in Judea and Samaria and building this fence. This is a strategic move that will strengthen national security and our hold in the Jordan Valley, ensuring Israel's sovereignty for years to come – and will be a blow to Iran's attempts to turn the eastern border into a terror front," Katz said.

The plan is divided into two parts – a five-year comprehensive section preceded by a pilot program to be completed by the end of this year. The pilot will initiate the establishment of Nahal settlement outposts, pre-military academies, service year programs, Tzabar groups, Ofek programs, hesder yeshivas, and higher yeshivas for the ultra-Orthodox community.

Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Strock will oversee the civilian component, with her ministry coordinating the allocation of academies, yeshivas, service frameworks, and settlement groups to create a continuous settlement presence along the border. This will work alongside the establishment of agricultural farms similar to initiatives in Judea and Samaria through grazing permits, each managing an average of about 4,000 dunams (988 acres) of grazing areas and cultivation fields in settlement regions and border areas. The ministry will also establish student villages using portable structures alongside these farms and academies.

Among the innovative aspects of the plan, ultra-Orthodox yeshivas combining religious studies with border protection will be established in a new model. As part of this ambitious initiative designed to address decades of gaps in Israel's approach to its porous eastern border, existing border communities will be reinforced through "interim housing" intended for new residents who participate in local rapid response teams and their families.

The interim housing and land will be made available to families for a transition period until permanent settlement. This program will prioritize families of reserve soldiers. In parallel, the defense minister will direct the IDF to examine the possibility of reestablishing Nahal outposts.

A special ministerial team will lead implementation and oversight of the decision, headed by the prime minister alongside the defense minister, finance minister, settlement and national missions minister, diaspora minister, interior minister, and agriculture and food security minister. They will be supported by a professional team of relevant ministry directors-general.

Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Strock said, "The understanding that where there is settlement there is security, and vice versa, is one of the main lessons of the October 7 massacre. Therefore, the sobering reality regarding the need to strengthen Israel's eastern border must be practically expressed through settlement reinforcement, both demographically and geographically."

"Settlements, academies, and agricultural farms – all these will be part of our eastern security backbone. I am pleased that this joint initiative, mine and the defense minister's, is moving forward. I thank him for the excellent cooperation, along with the finance minister and the prime minister's military secretary. Together we will make every effort for implementation to be quick and efficient, bringing blessing to the region and the entire State of Israel."

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, "The decision approved by the Cabinet to strengthen Israel's eastern border is a historic decision and a first-rate Zionist mission. I am proud to be among the leaders of this initiative and to fund it already in the coming year with 50 million shekels ($14.1 million). This is a strategic step to strengthen sovereignty, security, and our hold in the Land of Israel. The eastern border is Israel's longest border, and today's Cabinet decision is a welcomed historic conceptual change that will tighten border security and strengthen Zionism, agriculture, and the entire State of Israel."

During Monday's discussion, the funding was increased to 80 million shekels ($22.56 million) to be transferred to the Settlement and National Missions Ministry.

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In a forceful statement, President Joe Biden has called on Israel to hold accountable those responsible for the death of an American citizen in the West Bank.

Last week, gunfire erupted at the demonstration Turkish-American citizen Aysenur Eygi was attending. She sustained a fatal head wound and died at the scene. Reports indicate Eygi had traveled to the region as part of a volunteer effort with a human rights organization supporting Palestinian farmers in the West Bank.

America is the head of the snake!"
"We will continue the struggle. To Al-Quds we are going, martyrs by the millions!
This morning, Palestinians and solidarity activists gathered in Beita, #Nablus, to mourn Aysenur Eygi, a Turkish-American activist who was martyred by an IOF pic.twitter.com/KOHKVmkbgF

— Uncensored News (@Uncensorednewsw) September 10, 2024

"I am outraged and deeply saddened by the death of Aysenur Eygi," the White House statement declared. "Aysenur was a recent US college graduate. She was also an activist whose idealism led her to travel to the West Bank to peacefully protest the expansion of settlements."

The President continued, "Israel has acknowledged its responsibility for Aysenur's death, and a preliminary investigation has indicated that it was the result of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation. The US government has had full access to Israel's preliminary investigation, so that we can have confidence in the result."

I asked @SecBlinken about the killing of American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank.

He called it a "horrific loss" and says America remains concerned about settler violence in the West Bank.

On Tuesday, Israel said it was "highly likely" that the IDF killed the… pic.twitter.com/TZAPJanDXu

— Yalda Hakim (@SkyYaldaHakim) September 11, 2024

Biden emphasized, "There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again. The violence in the West Bank has been going on for too long. Violent extremist Israeli settlers are uprooting Palestinians from their homes.  Palestinian terrorists are sending car bombs to kill civilians. I will continue to support policies that hold all extremists – Israelis and Palestinians alike – accountable for stoking violence and serving as obstacles to peace."

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Palestinian eyewitnesses said a group of Israeli settlers vandalized dozens of cars in the town of al-Bireh near Ramallah on Tuesday.

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A number of witnesses told an Associated Press photographer that settlers entered al-Bireh and damaged dozens of parked vehicles.

Cars and walls were reportedly spray-painted with Stars of David and Hebrew slogans including the phrase "Price Tag," a term used by extremists. There were no reports of injuries.

The IDF confirmed its forces had entered al-Bireh to investigate the incident. Video footage from Palestinian broadcaster Al-Quds TV showed scuffles breaking out between Palestinians and troops, who used tear gas to disperse residents and journalists.

The vandalism comes amid an uptick in settler violence. In October, four Palestinian olive harvesters were lightly injured after being attacked by some 30 settlers who hurled stones and sprayed pepper spray at the workers.

In September, dozens of Israeli settlers ambushed a Bedouin village in the southern West Bank, smashing cars and houses. The attack left several injured, including a Palestinian toddler who was hospitalized with head injuries.

Last month, Israeli authorities approved 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank. Israel also agreed to build 1,300 housing units for Palestinians residing in areas of the West Bank fully governed by Israel.

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Israel said on Tuesday the United States is effectively lifting a ban on US funding of Israeli scientific research projects conducted in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights.

There was no immediate Palestinian comment on the move, announced a week before the fast-approaching US presidential election Nov. 3, in which opinion polls show incumbent President Donald Trump trailing Democrat Joe Biden.

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Past scientific accords with the US government stipulated that Israeli research projects receiving US grants could not be carried out in areas that came under Israeli administration in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Trump administration last year effectively backed Israel's right to build Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria by abandoning a long-held US position that they were "inconsistent with international law."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman will sign amended scientific cooperation agreements at a "special ceremony" in Judea and Samaria on Wednesday, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

The revised agreements "will expand scientific cooperation between Israel and the United States to Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights," the Israeli statement said.

Under the Trump administration peace plan announced in January, Israel would retain control of most of its communities in Judea and Samaria.

In May, Trump recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. He has also challenged recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moved the US Embassy to the holy city.

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According to a statement from the Israel Police Spokesperson's Unit, the forces were in the area to help the IDF's Civil Administration demolish three wooden structures that had been erected illegally at the outpost Shevach Haaretz.

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One policeman was lightly wounded by a rock and others sustained light wounds when they were hit by bottles of paint.

The rioters also slashed the tired of the Border Police vehicles. The forces employed riot dispersal tactics, and additional security personnel were scrambled to the scene.

The police noted that the demolition was completed.

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Netanyahu spoke following an incident overnight Saturday in which IDF forces operating near the settlement of Yitzhar in Samaria were forced to fire warning shots when a group of approximately 30 "hilltop youth" who live in and around the settlement began throwing rocks at the troops, injuring one lightly.

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"I am asking that we stand by IDF soldiers and commanders, who work day and night to protect the security of all citizens of Israel, without exception," Netanyahu said.

"I absolutely condemn any attack on IDF soldiers. There will be no tolerance toward lawbreakers who raise a hand against our soldiers," the prime minister concluded.

According to a message from the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, the rioters also slashed the tires of the IDF vehicles the soldiers were using.

The wounded soldiers were treated at the scene and then evacuated, but did not need to be hospitalized.

"The soldiers responded [to the violence] with crowd dispersal measures and fired warning shots, in accordance with protocol, and the riot was broken up. The IDF condemns any violent physical or verbal attack on those who serve, and takes incidents like this extremely seriously," the IDF statement read.

The incident came on the heels of a clash between IDF forces and Yitzhar settlers on Friday, when troops arrested a local man whom they suspected of intentionally blocking an IDF vehicle with his car.

The Yitzhar administrative council issued a statement calling the incident "serious" and described it as a "group of teens provoking Golani soldiers who arrived at the Kumi Uri hill, slashed tires, and threw rocks."

According to the statement, the Yitzhar council has laid down "clear rules of conduct as guidelines for the presence of teens in Yitzhar and on the [surrounding] hills. We are investing considerable time and resources to help develop the hilltops, while providing the youths with a sympathetic ear.

"We demand that these youths leave Yitzhar until further notice [and] are revoking any acceptance of their presence here," the statement read.

Politicians on both the Left and the Right also issued responses criticizing the settlers' violent behavior.

Transportation Minister and leader of the National Union party Bezalel Smotrich said, "I am joining the clear statement issued by the residents of Yitzhar condemning the serious incident by a small, violent group that is not representative [of the community]. Those responsible must be caught and punished to the full extent of the law. IDF soldiers and security forces are our brothers and sons, and as always, the settlements embrace them and condemn any violence against them."

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said he "trusted that law enforcement officials would use every method at their disposal to handle the incident. As a former chief of staff and IDF commander for decades, I am sending a message to all the soldiers and officers who protest us, even on holiday eves, in the north, the south, Judea and Samaria and everywhere else in Israel – the people of Israel support you and embrace you. We will not ignore any attack on IDF soldiers."

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The promise was made Monday morning in his interview for the "Good Morning Israel" show on Army radio.

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Monday's pledge goes further than what the prime minister has said during his visit to Hebron on September 4, when he vowed that Jews would never be driven out of the city.

This vow apparently fell short of what Netanyahu's right-wing allies expected, while also sparking anger among Palestinians.

Hebron, site of the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the forefathers and foremothers – Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah – are believed to be buried, is a major holy site for the Abrahamic religions. The cave is also the burial site of Adam and Eve according to Jewish tradition and of Joseph according to Muslim tradition.

Until 1929, Jewish and Arab communities lived side by side in Hebron, but Arab opposition to rising Jewish immigration to the area, fueled by rumors of threats to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, culminated in a massacre of 67 Jews in the city. As a result, the surviving Jewish community was moved out of the city by the British government.

After the Six-Day War of 1967, however, Jews started to come back to Hebron, making the divided city one of the icons of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In 1994, Hebron was again the site of a massacre when Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish resident of Kiryat Arba, opened fire on Muslim worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs, killing 29 and wounding 125.

Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS.

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Shortly thereafter, the Jewish residents of Hebron were told that the market would be rented to the Jewish community in Hebron and used for family residences. That promise has yet to be fulfilled. Now, 13 years later, a legal opinion has been issued – on paper, at least – that allows the Jews to return to their own land. Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has to make a decision that most of the MKs in the outgoing government coalition support, but he is still hesitant.

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There are two other figures in the story of the Hebron market land. The first, who is doing everything he can to return Jews to their land, is Rabbi Amram Yifrach (the grandfather of the late Eyal Yifrach, one of the three teens kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists in 2014).

Yifrach currently serves as head of the board of directors of the Sephardi community's Magen Avot organization, which inherited a large part of the Sephardi Jewish property in Hebron, including the market area. Yifrach succeeded Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and granted the Jewish population of Hebron the legal authority to hold onto the market area and settle Jewish residents there.

"90 years after the slaughter and five years after the murder of my grandson and his friends, there is no reason not to right a historical wrong and return the people of Israel to their borders and close the circle," Yifrach told Israel Hayom last week.

Yifrach, who joined the movement to renew the Jewish population in Kiryat Arba 52 years ago, would be happy if one of the homes that were to be built in the market would be named after his grandson, who often visited him in Kiryat Arba and even studied at Shavei Hebron Yeshiva, near the market. He is calling on Netanyahu to stop dawdling: "Now is the time to act. Later, it could be too late."

Unlike Yifrach, Hebron Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh is doing everything in his power to keep Jews from returning to their land. Abu Sneineh was convicted of murdering six yeshiva students in a terrorist attack at Beit Hadassah in 1980. Abu Sneineh was released in a prisoner exchange deal after serving only two years behind bars. In his mayoral election campaign, he bragged about the murder.

Abu Sneineh and the Palestinian Authority are openly working together to "strangle" the Jewish community in Hebron by building hundreds of housing units around the small Jewish neighborhoods and offering benefits to Arab residents who move there. The mayor is even waging a bitter battle over a construction permit that was issued two years ago to build the Hezekiah neighborhood. By filing appeal after appeal, he has so far managed to block the construction of the 31 apartments planned for the area. The land for the new neighborhood, which is slated to be named after Rabbi Chaim Hezekiah Medini, author of the halachic encyclopedia "Sdei Chemed," who lived and studied there, was purchased by the fifth Chabad rebbe some 120 years ago. The plot lies next to Beit Romano, which is home to the Shavei Hebron Yeshiva.

The Likud, the Yamina list (formerly the New Right), and Shas are pressing Netanyahu to make a decision about the construction before the Sept. 17 election. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has promised to help, and Likud ministers Zeev Elkin, Yariv Levin, Moshe Kahlon, and Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar are all busy with the issue. In Yamina, Ayelet Shaked is leading the fight for construction. As justice minister, Shaked made a herculean effort to end the ongoing construction freeze that the Hebron Jewish community has suffered under for about 20 years.

But Netanyahu is hesitant. In January 1997, the first Netanyahu government adopted the Hebron Protocol, which put 80% of the city under full Palestinian control. At the same time, Netanyahu made a commitment under the same agreement "to work to protect all the conditions and requirements needed to ensure the existence, security, and solidity of the Hebron Jewish community." But moments before the Trump administration's "deal of the century" is due to be announced, it doesn't look like Netanyahu will do anything without prior agreement from the Americans – which he hasn't yet received.

The turning point under Begin

To understand all the twists and turns of the story of the Hebron market, one should look back at the earlier chapters. In 1929, 67 Hebron Jews were murdered, and many others wounded. Those who remained of the ancient Jewish community were expelled from the city and left behind a considerable property. That property was transferred to a new Jordanian legal entity: "The Executor for Property of the Zionist Enemy," which rented it to Arabs in Hebron. The 4.5 dunams of the market, which used to be part of the ancient Jewish quarter, were rented by the Jordanians to the Hebron Municipality, which built the market there.

No political leadership in Israel ever volunteered to expand the Hebron Jewish quarter or even began refurbishing it after the Six-Day War. In contrast to what the government did in the Old City of Jerusalem, where it returned Jewish property to its original owners, the rules were different in Hebron. Levi Eshkol's government effectively put a freeze on the existing situation in the city and transferred the stolen Jewish property that was entrusted to the Jordanians to an Israeli trustee who represented the military government, who then continued to rent Jewish property to Arabs.

Nearly everything that has happened since that point has involved terrorism: immediately after six yeshiva students were murdered at Beit Hadassah in 1980, the government of then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin decided to renew the Hebron Jewish community and decided that the stolen Jewish property would be used to develop the city's Jewish community.

Bit by bit, and almost always through a struggle, tiny areas of Jewish settlement were established on the Jewish land where the original residents had been murdered and expelled in 1929. First, the Avraham Avinu Synagogue – whose ruins had been used as a goat pen and public toilet – was rebuilt. Then Jewish residents moved into Beit Hadassah, and later the ancient Jewish quarter of the city was reestablished in three stages.

The next steps were Beit Romano and Beit Schneerson, which were followed by the home at Tel Rumeida. The Beit Hachum and Yehuda apartment complex was built in 1988, after the murder of two residents there three years earlier, as was the sixth building – which was erected in 1999 and named after the six victims of the Beit Hadassah terrorist attack.

Today, the Jewish population of Hebron comprises some 80 families (about 700 people), and 300 more yeshiva students. Hundreds of more families, some of which are the second and third generations of the founding renewed Jewish community, are on a waiting list for housing there. A battle is being waged on two fronts: to implement the building permits for the Hezekiah neighborhood and the market.

The Palestinians were defended

The Arab renters were evicted from the market in 1994, shortly after Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Muslim worshippers in the Cave of the Patriarchs. The IDF made the decision to do so, fearing retaliatory terrorist attacks on Jews in the area of the nearby Avraham Avinu Synagogue. The IDF Civil Administration informed renters that it did not intend to renew their leases. The market was moved, and the evacuated merchants moved into the new space and made their living there. But since then, requests by the Jews of Hebron for the market plot to be returned to them and allow Jews to live there have been denied.

The reality changed following yet another murder. In March 2001, a Palestinian sniper shot and killed the infant Shalhevet Pass, who was in her stroller near the front door of her family's home in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. The event shocked the Israeli public because the terrorist had chosen a 10-month-old baby as his target. In response, residents of the Jewish community seized apartments in the empty market area and called the neighborhood Mitzpe Shalhevet. The Civil Administration immediately responded and issued an eviction order. The Jews decided not to comply. They also appealed to the Civil Administration, effectively launching the legal stage of the battle for the Hebron market. Those residents also scored a victory: an appeals committee in the Civil Administration decided that although the families had taken over the property without a permit, the trustee should rent it to them.

Later, the Hebron settlers saw another win, when the legal counsel for Judea and Samaria wrote an opinion which recommended that the market should be rented to the Jewish community rather than to the Hebron Municipality. The government even informed the High Court of Justice and the city of Hebron of that decision. At the same time, the IDF signed an eviction agreement with the Jews of Hebron, in which the political leadership was involved.

The Jewish residents were promised that the market would be rented to them again within a short while, but then consulting attorney general Mike Blass rejected the legal opinion of the Judea and Samaria attorney general. Blass decided that the city of Hebron's "protected residency" in the market was still in effect, and therefore it could not be rented to the Jewish community.

The legal system adopted Blass' stance, which for the settlers was like waving a red flag. In 2007, the Jews of Hebron tried to enter the market again. They were removed by force, and then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued orders to smash the buildings to make them uninhabitable.

After that, the ruins of the market stood silent until Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit approved a new legal opinion authored by a legal adviser to the Defense Ministry, Itai Ofir. That opinion, which allows Jewish-owned land to be returned to its rightful owners, is on Netanyahu's desk. The prime minister is the one who needs to give Yossi Segal, the executor for the Hebron property, the green light to inform the city of Hebron that its "residency" in the Hebron market is over, and that in accordance with the law the government is willing to allow it to occupy the ground floor of the market if it agrees to clear out and rebuild the areas that surround the wreckage of the old structures.

The people of Hebron are waiting for Netanyahu's decision, and possibly for Trump's.

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