Illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers established a new colonial outpost at dawn on Wednesday on Mount Ebal north of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, with direct involvement from the so‑called “Samaria Regional Council” and the colonialist organization “Amana.”
Colonial groups said students from a religious agricultural school were brought to the location in an effort to establish a permanent colonial presence. The arrival of Eliakim Levanon, the chief rabbi of the “Samaria” settlements, highlighted the ideological and religious motivations driving the initiative.
The Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission stated that the move is part of the accelerating expansion of the Israeli colonial project in the West Bank, particularly under the “One Million Settlers in Samaria” plan, which seeks to double the number of colonizers in the northern West Bank by creating new outposts and expanding existing colonies.
The Commission added that the new outpost directly aligns with a decision issued by the Israeli occupation’s cabinet on May 29, 2025, approving the establishment of 22 new colonial sites across the West Bank, including one on Mount Ebal.
According to the Commission, the colonizers’ actions overnight reflect an attempt to begin implementing the government’s decision informally by setting up initial outposts, bringing settlers to the site, and preparing the ground for later recognition as an official colony.
This approach mirrors a long‑standing pattern in which outposts are first erected illegally and later “legalized” by the occupation authorities, who subsequently provide infrastructure and services.
Mount Ebal holds particular sensitivity due to its strategic position overlooking Nablus and several surrounding Palestinian villages.
The Israeli occupation has increasingly used religious narratives to justify control over the area and transform it into a colonial and tourist attraction, reinforcing Israeli presence and tightening control over large areas of nearby land.
The Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission said the events on Mount Ebal illustrate the functional division between the Israeli government and the colonizers, who establish facts on the ground under the cover of war and regional tension.
The Commission stressed that the new outpost represents a direct implementation of the cabinet’s recent decision and another attempt to consolidate Israeli control over the Nablus area while seizing additional Palestinian land for the colonial project.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
