Israeli Outposts In Samaria And Why

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     

Israel has IDF troops in southern Lebanon because Israel maintains troops in southern Lebanon to establish a security buffer zone, dismantle Hezbollah's underground infrastructure and weapon caches, and prevent the group from launching cross-border attacks that threaten tens of thousands of displaced residents in northern Israel.

Residents of northern Israel have experienced one massive, prolonged wave of displacement rather than multiple repeated evacuation orders. Following the outbreak of cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah on October 8, 2023, the Israeli government officially evacuated roughly 60,000 to 80,000 residents from communities near the Lebanese border.

Duration: Most families remained displaced for over a year due to continuous rocket, missile, and drone fire. 

 Return Process: Following a ceasefire agreement in late 2024, a gradual and phased return began, though heavy infrastructure damage and lingering security concerns meant that some residents remained away or chose not to return permanently.

Defense Minister Katz visited IDF troops in southern Lebanon 

yesterday and said that, “the IDF is here to stay in the security zones 

in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. I instructed the IDF to take all 

necessary steps to  prepare for a long-term presence in 

the area.” 

He  did NOT say "permanent" presence.

In addressing another spot of contention, there was 

an Israeli Outpost established near Palestinian homes in the village 

of Qusra in another part of land, Samaria, home of our original 

ancestors led here by Moses. Qusra is a Palestinian 

village located in Samaria (the West Bank (Samaria), about 

16.3 kilometers southeast of Nablus (Shechem in bible)  

Bordered by towns like Duma and Jalud, the village has been a focal 

point of recent friction and 

international attention following unauthorized settler outpost activity 

and subsequent military enforcement in the area.  It sits in the 

Samaria/Nablus region of Samaria (the West Bank).

 Security forces arrived 

overnight to evacuate the outpost.

Outposts: They often start small with a few tents, caravans, or modular homes on hilltops, sometimes expanding over time into more permanent infrastructure. 

Retroactive Legalization: Some outposts have historically received retroactive approval and official recognition from the Israeli government over time.

In Israeli law, outposts are distinguished from settlements authorized by the Israeli government. This distinction between illegal outposts and "legal" settlements is not endorsed by international law, which considers both a violation of the norms, governing belligerent occupations, applicable to the Israeli-occupied Judea-Samaria.  Israel took control of the region commonly known as the West Bank and officially referred to by Israeli authorities as the Judea and Samaria Area  ever since  1967 during the Six-Day War.  

Soldiers often set up outposts in safe or strategic places. Over time, these military camps have grown into permanent towns and cities because people move there to trade, farm, and live safely.

Security forces arrived overnight to evacuate the 

outpost established near Palestinian homes in the village of 

Qusra in northern Samaria, which had left several 

Palestinian families trapped in their homes for 4 days. 

The failure to evacuate the outpost sooner sparked 

outrage in the 

international community and even led to a statement in which 

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described those 

who established the outpost as “Israeli terrorists” and called 

on the state to “remove them” from the site. One of the 

besieged homes is owned by an American citizen who lives in 

Ohio. 

             Settlements Are Another Group of Homes

AI defines it thusly:  An Israeli settlement is a civilian 

community built by Israeli citizens on land captured by Israel 

during the 1967 Six-Day War, primarily located in the West 

Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as previously in the Gaza 

Strip and the Golan Heights.  But to Israelis:  

State Land: Built on land designated or declared as state land rather than recognized private Palestinian property. Government Authorization: Officially approved and established through a government resolution with proper building permits. 

Authorized vs. Outposts: Communities that lack formal government approval are classified as "outposts," which are technically unauthorized under Israeli law, though some have later been retroactively legalized. Municipal Status:Range from small rural farming villages to large urban suburbs and fully incorporated cities like Modi'in Illit and Ma'ale Adumim.

Israeli settlers stand outside houses after the reopening of the settlement of Ganim in Samaria on August 13, 2026. (ILIA YEFIMOVICH/AFP)

The Ganim settlement was destroyed and evacuated in 2005 under Prime 

Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral Israel's 2005 disengagement plan. The plan 

aimed to reduce friction with Palestinians, lessen security burdens, and separate 

populations in northern Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

Map highlighting Area C where the access is closed and restricted to Palestinians. 

Darker areas are Israeli settlements and military posts within Area C.  Ganim is kosher;  fit and proper in C.  

Twenty-one years after the evacuation of settlements in 

northern Samaria, and following a Cabinet decision to 

legalize dozens of settlements, families from the Ganim 

community moved back to the site Thursday and 

reestablished the settlement. 

Dozens of caravans were placed 

there to house the families and a branch of the Bnei David 

educational institutions was established at the site. Alongside 

the return to Ganim and the resettlement of Homesh and Sa. 

Some two dozen prefabricated homes installed, with construction ongoing; IDF carries out demolitions of nearby Palestinian stores and blocks roads to adjacent villages.

“Twenty-one years after the terrible sin of the expulsion from [Gaza’s] Gush Katif and northern Samaria, we are finally erasing the disgrace of the expulsion from northern Samaria,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, using the biblical name for the northern West Bank.

The northern Samaria settlement of Ganim is located in Area C of the Oslo Accords. Under the interim agreements, all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are designated as being within Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control.  They have the right to be there.  

Israel has a population of about 10.12 million people, a total land area of roughly 20,770 to 21,640 square kilometers (8,000 to 8,350 square miles), and water makes up roughly 2% to 2.7% of its total area, with severe water scarcity prompting advanced desalination technology.

The next national public holiday in Israel is Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), which begins at sundown on Friday, September 11, 2026, and is officially observed on Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, 2026.  The Outposts want to be ready for it.  

Resource:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/families-move-into-rebuilt-west-bank-settlement-of-ganim-21-years-after-evacuation/

-Nur, the Kadim settlement is also expected to be reestablished soon, a move that would complete the reversal of the disengagement from northern Samaria.

The Promised Land and The Outposts

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

  1920 and Israel/Judah-renamed Palestine by Romans: 120,466 sq. km. or 46,512.1826 sq. miles which included  Judea and Samaria as it had always been.  Samaria was the northern section and Judea the southern.  Israel's total surface was 17,500 sq miles  of which 45% was in Transjordan. 

 The cattle-keeping tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh lived in Transjordan.  King David conquered the whole Transjordan including the rich copper mines of the Arabah.  under the weak successors of Solomon, this area was lost or only held temporarily.  Western Ammon was held for a time by a Jewish family, the TOBIADS.                                            

The extent of the Promised land reached the Pelusium arm of the Nile Delta, the Gulf of Elath, and the Euphrates opposite Aleppo in the East: It included most of Syria and altogether covered 58,000 sq miles.  This entire area was occupied by the Israelites under David and Solomon.                       

                     Israel, now only 8,550 sq. miles in size.  

Israel's Border Police forces evacuated and demolished an illegal outpost near Shilo in Samaria (the West Bank).  A group of 20 masked people arrived at a nearby hill and began throwing stones at the Border Police, damaging a patrol vehicle. 

                                             

Evacuation of Beit Dror outpost, July 27, 2021

(photo credit: CHANA IVGI)

"Masked demonstrators arrive at Geulat Zion and begin throwing stones at Border Police, damaging patrol car; evacuation takes place amid uptick in violence between settlers and Palestinians."                                      

The Border Police then continued to another nearby illegal outpost, Ramat Migron, where five people were arrested during clashes with police and four patrol cars were damaged. The evacuation comes amid continued violence between settlers and Palestinian in the West Bank.

Those that dare to live in their previous homeland are usually orthodox Jews who have great respect and awe of the land, so intricately woven into Judaism.  Israel has dared to allow living space under different PMs.  This is the land most dearly loved in our religion and it's hard to deny Jews to live there when they are a stone's throw away from it.  

                                                

By 135 CE, a Jewish General, Bar Kokhba,  had held Jerusalem for the past 3 years, taking it from the Romans who had taken it from the Jews in 70 CE by burning down the Temple with the city.  Palestine was the name the Romans gave to the land to get even with the Jews for retaking the land as it is giving praise to the Philistines, the worst enemy the Jews had fought.                            

The Jews had held the land ever since Joshua b: c. 1350 BCE of the tribe of Ephraim and the 601,730  Israelites had entered it and helped to create an empire.  That was an empire for 1,420 years that had been of the Israelites before the greedy Roman conquerors. The USA is only 245 years old.  Israel was 5 1/2 times older than the USA.  Can you imagine what the USA will be like in the year 3441?  

It wasn't just a country to the Judeans, who lived in the southern end of Israel.  It had religious underpinnings.  The Israelites were led there by G-d, and told to live there and that it was to be their home.  The Temple had been a very important part of their religious beliefs.    

The Israeli-occupied territories refers to the land won back by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. It was a terrible 6 days when all the surrounding Arab armies attacked Israel, and a miracle happened.  Israel won.  After attacking Israel from 1947 to 1949, and again in 1956 and losing, this was the Arab chance of retribution.  It didn't work.   It was a hard win for Israel.  776 soldiers died and 5,293 were injured, a far more serious war than previous ones.  The started with Syria, Egypt and Soviet Union spreading rumors of concentrations of Israeli forces on the Syrian frontier, still believed by some.  They ignored on the spot reports by the UN that no such concentration existed.  The Arabs tried so hard to bait the Jews into starting the war even while they were all lined up on the border.                                               

The 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors shocked the world and resulted in an Israeli victory that created the boundaries of the modern Middle East.

The war started when Egypt spread rumor for concentrating the bulk of the Egyptian army in Sinai-90,000 men and 900 tanks.  Egypt then closed the Straits of Tiran to all destined for Israel, AND CALLED FOR WAR.  Led by Egypt, the Arab States formed a war pact against Israel.  Jordan, Iraq, Syria had their armies along the border with Israel.  They made public speeches saying their intention was to destroy Israel.             

Israel Defense Forces Former Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz salutes Yom Kippur War of 1973 casualties at an official annual memorial service for fallen soldiers.

 It also sometimes refers to areas of Southern Lebanon where Israeli military was present to support local Lebanese militias during the civil war and after it. Originally, the sole governance of the territories were as the Jordanian-annexed Judea-Samaria, land first promised to the Jews and won back in the 1967 war, the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip (given to Palestinians in the name of peace that has never come) , the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula (given back to Egypt in the name of peace), and the Syrian Golan Heights.            

Israel Signs Second Disengagement Agreement With Egypt

If you want to know about occupied territories, ask the Jews how they suffered under the Syrian Greek  Occupation during the days of Judah the Maccabee, and then again by the Roman Occupation, equally as bad.  Nobody has suffered more than the Jews from 'OCCUPATION."  The Jewish morality is the Golden Rule, not to do to others that which they find repugnant to themselves, clarified by Hillel born in Babylonia of 1st century BCE before Jesus was born.  

The first use of the term 'territories occupied' was in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 following the Six-Day War in 1967, which called for "the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East" to be achieved by "the application of both the following principles: ... 

1.Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict ... Israel withdrew from Gaza completely and look what it got them; rockets landing into Israel.  Ask Ashkelon's hospital how they like it; having to go to the basement to operate.  

2.Termination of all claims or states of belligerency" and respect for the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries.  The Palestinians, followers of Arafat's Fatah and Hamas terrorists certainly haven't been following that rule, and are still firing rockets into Israel.  Syria and Lebanon are now being taking over by Iran and Russia is also involved there with plenty of Russians in the population.  

In addition to the territories won by Israel following the Six-Day War, Israel also controlled portions of Southern Lebanon following the 1982 Lebanon War, and maintained a military presence there until withdrawing in 2000.

What are Israeli outposts?  In Israeli law, an outpost (Hebrew: מאחז‎, Ma'ahaz lit. "a handhold") is an unauthorized or illegal Israeli settlement within Judea and Samaria ( the West Bank), constructed without the required authorization from the Israeli government in contravention of Israeli statutes regulating planning and construction. 

In Israeli law, outposts are distinguished from settlements authorized by the Israeli government. This distinction between illegal outposts and "legal" settlements is not endorsed by international law, which considers both a violation of the norms, governing belligerent occupations, applicable to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.  

They started as military outposts.  In theory, military outposts are temporary occupations for military strategic purposes, not for the settlement of civilians. In the Israeli held areas in Judea and Samaria, this were typically Nahal settlements, and they became a principal way to start civilian settlements.           

Outposts were originally Nahal villages established by the Israel Defence forces.  Nahal is a corps which combines military training with farm work;  its members become farmers when their service ends.  The villages are, in substance, military points, like those held by any other unit of the Israel Defence forces. 

There are villages that were made up of  civilians established in areas which Israel hopes may be assigned to the jurisdiction by peace treaties.  Israel has declared again and again that, in peace talks, everything will be negotiable.  

There are communities established in areas where the political future is not covered by Israel's positions.  The assumption has been that they may even go to Arab sovereignty under a treaty of peace.

                                              

Israelis dismantle structure in illegal outpost.  

So while everyone else is breaking previous plans for peace, Israel's law is after those religious folks living in Judea and Samaria's countryside illegally.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_outpost

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_casualties_of_war

facts about Israel, Division of Information, ministry for foreign affairs, jerusalem