Settlers say they’ll rebuild Oz Zion outpost

Construction materials set to arrive in coming days after Border Police clashed with and evacuated youths over the weekend.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Demolished structure in Oz Zion outpost 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Demolished structure in Oz Zion outpost 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Settlers plan to rebuild the West Bank Oz Zion outpost that security forces demolished in a pre-dawn raid on Sunday, according to former Kedumim local council head Daniella Weiss.
Construction material is due to arrive there on Monday, according to Weiss.
Border Police also forcibly evicted some 20 teens and young adults who remained at the outpost, in spite of a deal reached on Friday afternoon specifying that all those in Oz Zion would evacuate the site.
Border Police and the IDF had planned to evacuate Oz Zion on Friday right before the start of Shabbat.
Several hundred religious male high-school students had gathered there to spend Shabbat under the auspices of Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior and Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu. Weiss was also involved in organizing the event.
With the help of Likud MK Ze’ev Elkin, a deal was reached right before Shabbat by which the teens were allowed to remain with the understanding that they would voluntarily leave, as planned, on Saturday night.
Most of them kept to the terms of the deal. But a small group remained, and Border Police evacuated them early Sunday morning.
According to Weiss, there is a steady group of teens and young adults who man the outpost, as well as a family who lives there.
The outpost is located off Route 60, at the T-junction next to the Givat Assaf outpost and the Beit El settlement in the Binyamin region of the West Bank.