NABLUS, March 11, 2026 (WAFA) – Colonists established a new colonial outpost on Mount Ebal, north of Nablus, early Wednesday morning, in cooperation with the Samaria Regional Council and the colonial movement Amana. The outpost is located near the site the Israeli occupation claims is the biblical altar attributed to Joshua bin Nun.
According to colonists groups, students from an agricultural religious school were brought to the site in a move aimed at establishing a permanent colonists presence. Rabbi Eliakim Levon, head of the Samaria Regional Council, was also present, highlighting the ideological and religious nature of the colonial initiative.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission stated that this move is part of the accelerated expansion of the colonial project in the West Bank and falls under the colonists' "One Million Colonists in Samaria" plan, which aims to double the number of colonists in the northern West Bank by establishing new colonial outposts and expanding existing ones. This move also coincides with the decision made by the Israeli cabinet on May 29, 2025, to establish 22 new colonial outposts in the West Bank, including the one on Mount Ebal.
The Commission believes that the colonists' actions last night represent an attempt to begin implementing the government's decision on the ground unofficially, by establishing initial colonial outposts and bringing colonists to the site, paving the way for its later transformation into a colonial recognized by the occupation authorities. This is a recurring pattern in colonial expansion mechanisms, where colonial outposts are established by colonists before being "legalized" and granted infrastructure and government services.
The site on Mount Ebal is particularly sensitive due to its geographical location overlooking the city of Nablus and several surrounding Palestinian villages. Furthermore, the occupation is attempting to exploit religious and biblical narratives to justify its control over the site and transform it into a colonial and tourist attraction, thereby strengthening the colonial presence in the area and consolidating Israeli control over vast areas of surrounding land.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission indicated regarding this event that what happened on Mount Ebal represents a clear example of the colonial expansion mechanism adopted by the occupation government, where colonists are pushed to establish colonial facts on the ground in an unofficial manner in implementation of government decisions in a new form that is added to the forms of functional exchange between the two sides, in addition to the state of covering up under the guise of war and regional tension in order to impose as many facts as possible. The Commission confirmed that the establishment of the colonial site comes within the framework of the actual implementation of the recent cabinet decision to establish new colonial sites, and an additional attempt to tighten control over the vicinity of the city of Nablus and confiscate more Palestinian lands for the benefit of the colonial project.
K.T
