TEL AVIV, February 7, 2010 (WAFA)- The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) is rebuilding a military position on a base it evacuated in April 2006 east of Beit Sahour near Jerusalem. Israeli sources said that they are only building a guard tower, Haaretz Israeli Daily reported, today.

The building of the military position follows intensive pressure by settlers from Gush Etzion to gain approval for the establishment of a Jewish city on the site of the abandoned military camp and its environs, Haaret added, such a development would link up the neighborhood of Har Homa in Jerusalem and Gush Etzion in the West Bank.

Last Friday, settlers held a ceremony at the site, where they learned that the army intended to build a watchtower on the site. According to a report by settler radio station Arutz Sheva on Sunday, Colonel Eran Makub, who is charged with securing the area, announced that the IOF intends to 'rebuild an IOF position at Shadma.'

The IOF spokesman denied yesterday that there is any connection between the decision to set up a military position on the abandoned base and the efforts of the settlers.

'In accordance with an evaluation of the situation carried out by Central Command, it was decided to establish a guard post near the village of Beit Sahour, in order to ensure the security and order in the area. The claim that the decision to place this position at this site did not stem from only professional considerations is false,' the IOF spokesman wrote to Haaretz.

The army spokesman also says that the building of a military position will not harm existing Palestinian structures in the area.

Prior to 1967, the site was the location of a Jordanian military camp, which one of the locals at Beit Sahour says was smaller and was used as a logistics base.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the IOF appropriated several hundred dunams of private land and declared them a closed military zone. During that time the owners of the land were not permitted access to their property.