RAMALLAH, February 4, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to legalize a settlement outpost near the city of Nablus, to the north of the occupied West Bank, in response to the killing of one of its settlers last month.

Netanyahu said during the weekly cabinet meeting that the government will legalize the illegal Israeli outpost of “Havat Gilad” in order to “allow the continuing of a normal life there.”

This came in the aftermath of the killing of a settler last month in a drive-by shooting near Nablus.

Israeli forces since then have carried out wide-scale search-and-arrest operations in several areas of the West Bank, especially in the district of Jenin, in an apparently continuing search for Ahmad Nasr Jarrar, who Israel believes was behind the deadly attack against the settler.

The anti-settlement Peace Now group said that, ‘It would be a grave mistake to officially recognize Havat Gilad, as it would further undermine the possibility of reaching a two-state agreement.

“Israel would have to evacuate the outpost in any foreseeable two-state solution scenario, which, together with the other settlements and outposts it will have to evacuate, would require tremendous political will on Israel’s part.”

The group noted that, ‘In the event that such a move for Havat Gilad is approved, the Government of Israel will be crossing another red line by legitimating land theft on a much larger scale than in previous cases.”

“The legalization of the outpost would signal that the government does not intend to advance a final peace agreement, but rather only to extend Israel’s hold on the West Bank and to prevent the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state alongside an Israel with secure, internationally recognized borders,” said the Peace Now group.

K.T./T.R.