Israel has retroactively legalized three Jewish-only settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank while delaying the scheduled evacuation of a fourth. The move could mark a further extremist shift for the Israeli government, which has long insisted on its right to expand settlements considered illegal under international law, but vowed to crack down on ad hoc settlement outposts that have not received government authorization. Sharif Yassin, a Palestinian resident in the West Bank whose land was seized to build the Beit El settlement, said Israel is attempting to legalize theft.

Sharif Yassin: “We own this land. Netanyahu will not give it to us for free, after being at the Israeli courts and getting verdicts that it is ours and it belonged to our fathers and grandfathers. We used to plant in it before they kicked us out. I used to plant in this land myself.”

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland offered mild criticism of the new Israeli settlement grab, saying: “We don’t think this is helpful to the process, and we don’t accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity.”