Settler plants seedling
צילום: בנצי אפשטיין
Settlers sow seeds for outpost growth
Right-wing organization implements forestry project to expand West Bank outposts; Peace Now says ‘settlers planting seeds for next intifada’
Settlers and right-wing activists began planting about 15,000 fruit seedlings around the illegal outposts in the West Bank this week as part of a forestry project.
The project was being implemented by “Hassidei Meir”, an organization established in memory of Meir Kahane, leader of the extreme right-wing Kach movement.
The purpose of planting the seedlings was to “tighten the grip on land in Israel”, according to Bentsi Gupstein, a member of the organization.
Sowing seeds (Photo: Bentsi Epstein)
“Our goal is to expand the outposts as much as possible and to provide livelihood options for residents,” Gupstein said.
“We want to seize as much territory as possible in order to make it difficult to evict residents of the outposts, and so that the Arabs won’t be able to take over them,” he added.
"The settlers are planting the seeds of the next intifada," said Peace Now Director General Yariv Oppenheimer.
“The defense minister should prevent the settlers from illegally taking over more territory and deal with the matter severely," Oppenheimer added.
The seedlings were purchased using funds donated by Israeli and international supporters of the outposts.
