“Israeli” Settlers Establish First Ultra-Orthodox Illegal WB Outpost

By Staff, Agencies

A group of ultra-Orthodox settlers announced on Tuesday that they have established an illegal settlement outpost in the southern West Bank, close to the Haredi settlement of “Metzad”.

This is the first outpost to be established by ultra-Orthodox settlers.

There are currently 15 families in residence at the outpost and they have erected at least 15 structures at the site, including a synagogue, yeshiva, and settling units.

Moshe Rotman, one of the outpost’s founders and organizers, said the structures were built late Sunday night and within two and a half hours.

Electricity is provided by a generator and Rotman says there is already running water at the outpost.

The settlers of “Derech Emunah” are mostly from “Metzad”, which lies within the boundaries of the “Gush Etzion Regional Council”, but others come from al-Quds [Jerusalem] and the “Israeli” settlements around it.

Rotman listed several reasons why they had decided to establish the new outpost.

“The establishment of 'Derech Emunah' is designed to increase awareness within the ultra-Orthodox community of the religious commandment of settling the land, as well as showing that the ‘housing’ crisis in the community can be resolved through settlement construction in ‘Judea and Samaria’ [West Bank],” Rotman said.

Rotman described the potential for increasing numbers of ultra-Orthodox families to move to the occupied West Bank settlements as a “dormant volcano”.

The two largest West Bank settlements, are both ultra-Orthodox cities – “Modiin Illit” with some 82,000 settlers, followed by “Beitar Illit” with 63,000 settlers. The next largest settlements are “Ma’ale Adumim” and “Ariel” with 38,0 Rotman also said the new outpost was built in protest of what he described as selective enforcement by the regime against illegal construction in the territory.