Israel re-establishes closed West Bank settlement, defying growing international protests — SkimNews
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- Kadim settlement welcomed 30 "pioneer families" from Tel Aviv on Thursday — 21 years after being evacuated under Israel's 2005 Disengagement Plan and is the last of four 2005-evacuated settlements to reopen, after Ganim, Sanur and Homesh.
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich addressed the opening ceremony alongside Israel's Justice Minister and Knesset Speaker, using the Biblical term "northern Samaria"; settlers' council chief Yossi Dagan vowed settlers would also return to Gaza.
- Israel's government has approved more than 100 new West Bank settlements since taking power in late 2022, including 19 in the northern West Bank around Jenin; one new settlement, Emek Dotan, formally opened last Sunday with nearly two dozen families.
- Peace Now's Hagit Ofran said the rapid Jenin-area construction is part of a government race to expand settlements before October Israeli elections, framing the pace as a pre-election push.
- Israel's military is building an outpost in Jabriyat on seized land beside Jenin Refugee Camp — the first Israeli military base on land under full Palestinian Authority control since the 1993 Oslo Accords — after the IDF occupied the camp in 2025.
- Palestinian residents described a climate of fear, with teacher Samer Jaber reporting settlers filming his family and shining floodlights through windows at 2–3 AM; a café and dozens of Palestinian shops along the road from Kadim have been demolished by the Israeli army in recent weeks.
Why it matters: Kadim's reopening closes a 21-year loop on the 2005 Disengagement Plan while the Israeli government has approved more than 100 new settlements since late 2022 and is building its first military base on full Palestinian Authority land since the 1993 Oslo Accords. With October elections approaching and Palestinian businesses already being demolished to make way, the pace signals an entrenched shift in the Jenin area rather than a temporary surge — and one the international community has so far failed to halt.
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