Hard to imagine that an isolated hilltop where mothers wheeled baby carriages and teenagers learned macramé and studied religious texts would impact the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But the settlement movement’s 53-year history is measured by the small victories that move the bar forward by centimeters and not kilometers.
The events of the last two months on the Evyatar hilltop – which were overshadowed by the May Gaza war, Jerusalem unrest and Jewish-Arab riots – mark one such turning point.
In rapid succession, 53 families and scores of teens moved onto the hilltop. Then they struck a deal to leave, in exchange for a pledge by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that he would move to legalize a community there. In the interim, an army base will be placed there and then a yeshiva.
Here are nine ways the Evyatar outpost and comprise impact the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
1. Underscores status quo myth
The idea that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can remain in some form of deep freeze otherwise known as the "status-quo" is a myth that persists among the Right and the Left, from Jerusalem to Washington.
US President Joe Biden's decision not to pursue a peace process relies on that concept.
The current coalition of Right, Center and Left parties is built on the premise that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is on the back-burner for the moment, and thus it would not have to worry about the its deep political divide on this topic.
Out of all the arena in which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is played out, the West Bank bank is often viewed as the most static.
The creation of the Evyatar outpost is a reminder, for those that are paying attention, that there is no such thing as the status quo on this issue.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an ocean of ever-changing tides, with deep undertows, that continuously shift the contours of the physical map and the political debate.
2. Outposts back on the map
The presumed prohibition on the creation of West Bank settlements that followed the 1993 Oslo Accords, gave way to the age of the outposts.
Although most settlements were built first and legalized later, the outposts were constructed in a time when such authorization no longer seemed likely. It was a back door method of continuing to expand Israel's holding in Area C of the West Bank, also known as Judea and Samaria.
The bulk of the outposts, some 100, were constructed from the early 1990s and until 2005, with boosts of support from the settler regional and local councils.
In many cases government ministries provided funding and initial nods of support.
After the 2005 Gaza withdrawal and the loss of 21 settlements there, as well as four in northern Samaria the focus of the Yesha Council was on maintaining existing settlements rather than building new ones.
Attempts to build new ones were grass roots affairs, that security forces quick demolished.
The tide turned back to the outposts under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who began to legalize existing ones as new neighborhoods and allowed for the creation of at least 11 others as new communities and over 21 as farms with the focus on territory rather than construction, according to the left-wing group Peace Now.
Most of the construction received little publicity. The Evyatar outpost was a reminder of the revival and significance of outpost construction.
3. Victory after loses
The settlement movement and the Israeli Right has suffered a number of significant defeats in the last two decades, despite it continued growth and expansion.
The Right and the Yesha Council failed to halt the destruction of 21 settlements in Gaza and four in northern Samaria during the 2005 Disengagement.
Petitions to the High Court of Justice led to high profile demolitions of outpost homes in Amona, Migron, the Ulpana and Netiv Haavot.
All annexation initiatives to impose sovereignty on some or all of the West Bank settlements were suspended and have no hope of revival in the current political and diplomatic landscape.
The Knesset has never approved legislation to legalize West Bank outposts en mass, nor has it approved any bills to rebuild the four demolished settlements in Samaria.
The High Court of Justice nullified as unconstitutional a Knesset bill to retroactively legalize some 4,000 settler homes mostly in settlements, built on private Palestinian property. The committee to advance the legalization of West Bank outposts disbanded due to lack of support from Netanyahu. a campaign to sway the government to issue a statement of intent to legalize the outposts failed.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's promise to advance the legalization of the newly built outpost, might seem like a small achievement, but it is also a victory after a long string of losses and opens the door to the possibility of future victories.
4. Settler activism takes front seat
From its inception the settlement movement was a grassroots initiative that generated eventual government action and policy.
Take for example the action of Rabbi Moshe Levinger in 1968 when he moved into the Park Hotel in Hebron and refused to leave until he secured an agreement for the creation of the Kiryat Arba settlement, The return of Jews to Hebron followed the grass roots acton of Levinger's wife, Miriam, who led a group of women into Beit Hadassah.
During the 12-years Netanyahu and his right-wing governments were in office the focus was on how to leverage that power for large scale advancements for the settlement movement, with grassroots activism taking a back row seat. This was particularly true during the last four years when former US President Donald Trump was in office
With the inability of the new Bennett led government to make legislative changes, creative grassroots activism such as the one that led to the Evyatar initiative will now take front seat in setting the agenda.
What is particularly striking about the Evyatar initiative is that it was not led by the Yesha Council, but rather by the Nahala Movement and by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.
This will inspire not just the Nahala movement but other grassroots group to become a driving force alongside the Yesha Council.
5. Evyatar copy cats to follow
The Evyatar success it likely to generate other similar initiatives and become a paradigm for the creation of additional legalized settler communities.
In the future settlers will look to move a large number of people onto a hilltop quickly, so that it would be difficult and costly to remove them.
They will bank on the fact that the same criteria, including fear of inflaming the West Bank that led Bennett to compromise and agree to advance the legalization of Evyatar, would motivate him again.
6. Settler West Bank footprint expands
Evyatar is located in an isolated area of the West Bank, off of Route 505, which connects the Samaria Region with the Jordan Valley.
The placement of an army base there and the potential of a legal settler community expands Israel's foothold in Area C of the West Bank.
This is particularly significant, because the area is outside the settlement blocs and is likely to be part of a Palestinian state in any final status agreement according to almost any scenario.
The Evyatar hilltop was chosen specifically by settlers to break Palestinian territorial contiguity in that area, specifically between the villages of Beita and Yatma.
7. The Palestinian burning tire strategy
Palestinian protests against settlement activity have often turned violent when they involve clashes with security forces.
When it came to Evyatar, Palestinians literally attempted to smoke the settlers out, by burning a large number of tires near the outpost making it difficult for residents there to breath.
It's a strategy which settlers fear Palestinians will now duplicate in other areas of the West Bank.
8. Bennett in charge of Palestinian conflict
During the last government, it was Defense Minister Benny Gantz who appeared to be in charge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He appears able to thwart Netanyahu's moves from annexation to outpost authorization.
Even in the last days of the Netanyahu government, Gantz spoke of the need to evacuate Evyatar. Gantz insisted that he and not Netanyahu was in charge of the West Bank, including decisions on Evyatar.
The moment he served under Bennett, however his tune changed and he spoke fo the need to compromise.
With the Evyatar resolution that gave everyone something, Bennett showed that he is in the driver seat and that he, and not Gantz will be calling the shots here.
The Evyatar deal also provided a blue print for how Bennett might handle similar issues in the future, with everyone getting a little bit of something, but no one getting everything they wanted.
The Left could argue that the outpost was evacuated. The Right received an army base at a strategic point and the promise of a future authorization.
It's the kind of deal that Netanyahu often promoted, where there was an immediate payoff, while the most significant and contentious actions were put off until some future date, in hopes of more opportune political or diplomatic horizon.
9. Bennett can stand up to Biden
Netanyahu often liked to portray himself as the only diplomat who could stand up to a US president and warned that others including Bennett would cave.
This is particularly significant because US President Joe Biden is opposed to any settlement activity and his administration has already clarified that it is opposed to any settlement activity including the construction and authorization outposts.
Bennett moved forward anyway with a pledge to legalize Evyatar, even though he is due to visit Washington soon and this issue will likely be one of the tension points in the visit.
It’s the start of a likely blueprint, in which Bennett and Biden, like past prime ministers and presidents, agree that the bounds between the two countries remain strong despite some key, critical notes of dissonance.