'Palestinians re-erect outpost northwest of J'lem'

Palestinian media reports activists returned to demolished encampment in E1; IDF: Encampment was not re-erected.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Palestinian activists erect tents in E1 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian activists erect tents in E1 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian media reported that dozens of Palestinian activists re-erected tents at an outpost northwest of Jerusalem on Friday.
The outpost, dubbed Bab al-Karamah (Dignity), was first erected a week earlier in the area between Beit Iksa and Lifta in protest against Israeli settlement construction plans in the area.
The IDF dismantled the outpost and evacuated all the activists from the encampment on Monday.
The IDF spokesman denied on Friday evening that the outpost had been re-erected, and said only 40 activists gathered in the area, but they later dispersed.
“The idea of building this village extension is to protect [Palestinian] legally owned lands and for it to be the second such village built to protect from growing efforts at transforming Arab Jerusalem,” said Kamal Hababa, who heads the Beit Iksa village council.
This is the second such outpost erected by Palestinians in the past few weeks. The first, encampment, Bab al- Shams – built on an undeveloped area in the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement, known as E1 – was demolished two weeks ago.
The activists had been targeting E1 to protest Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s November 30 decision to advance plans to build 3,500 Jewish homes on the site.