Israeli Press
Settler youths build Galilee camp on land near Majd al-Krum
Graphic: Times of Palestine
Original Reporting
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Young settlers from West Bank settlements have set up a residential camp on land within the jurisdiction of Majd al-Krum, an Arab town in the Galilee, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Sunday, prompting a weekend protest by dozens of local residents and a police deployment over fears of clashes.
What Haaretz found#
The land belongs to the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), which had leased it out for grazing, Haaretz reported. The young settlers pitched large tents and brought in refrigerators, gas canisters, stoves, furniture and an Israeli flag — but Haaretz noted no livestock was visible at the site, calling the stated grazing purpose into question.
A local resident told Haaretz: "They think they'll do here what they do in the West Bank. This won't pass in silence."
Dozens of Majd al-Krum residents went to the site over the weekend to protest, and police units were sent in on fears the standoff would turn into a physical confrontation, according to the report.
A West Bank practice, inside Israel's borders#
Haaretz did not report a resolution or a decision by police or the Jewish National Fund on the camp's future. The episode places a West Bank settlement practice — using a grazing lease to establish a fixed encampment on disputed land — inside Israel's internationally recognized borders, on land adjoining a Palestinian citizen community that has fought its own decades-long battles over land classification and building rights in the Galilee.
