Settlers move into eight homes on Jericho's border after secret purchase

Dozens of settlers moved into eight homes on the edge of Jericho on Wednesday after the properties were secretly purchased in coordination with the Binyamin Regional Council, the Nachala settlement movement announced together with the council.

The homes stand in the village of Ein Diouk al-Tahta, just meters from the Palestinian Authority-controlled city. Jericho itself lies in Area A of the West Bank, but the properties are technically in Area C, which is under Israeli military and civil control.

Peace Now, an advocacy group promoting a two-state solution, alleged that around 30 settlers arrived at noon on Wednesday to take control of the homes, and noted unverified reports of violence. The organization warned that the new outpost creates security challenges for Palestinian residents of the city, who it said have already been targeted by settlers from nearby outposts. On Thursday morning, the Palestinian Authority's WAFA news agency reported that settlers attacked Palestinians in Deir al-Dik al-Tahta, west of Jericho, wounding three people after spraying them with pepper spray and beating them.

"Establishing a settlement inside Jericho poses a security threat and constitutes a geopolitical disaster that must not be allowed to happen," Peace Now said in a statement, arguing that a caretaker government without a public mandate has no authority to impose such far-reaching realities on the ground. The group said the IDF "must, therefore, evacuate the new settlement in Jericho immediately."

The outpost also drew condemnation from the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian National Council head Rouhi Fattouh denounced what he described as Israeli citizens' "seizure" of the eight properties, saying the move amounted to terrorism and would push the region and the world "towards more conflicts and violence." Nachala rejected that characterization, maintaining that it legally purchased the properties. Palestinian law treats the sale or lease of land to Israeli Jews as an act of treason, which can carry the death penalty.

In 2019, a Nablus court sentenced a Palestinian man to five years in prison for attempting to sell land to Israeli Jews. In 2018, a Qalqilya court sentenced two Palestinian men to 15 years of hard labor for their involvement in a network seeking to transfer West Bank land to Israeli Jews.

Nachala founder Daniella Weiss said: "These homes in Jericho mark the end of the Oslo Accords that caused so many casualties. We are now.. opening a new era." Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Strock called the move "the continuation of the process of repairing the damage caused by Oslo," adding: "The next step is returning to Gaza."

Binyamin Regional Council head and Yesha Council chairman Israel Ganz said: "Thirty-two years after 'Gaza and Jericho first,' we proudly say: We have returned to Jericho!" Jericho was the first city handed over to the Palestinian Authority in May 1994, following the signing of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement.

A representative of Combatants for Peace, an NGO promoting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, told The Jerusalem Post the development was "particularly disturbing," alleging that the IDF escorted the settlers into the homes. The representative said the timing was especially jarring during the olive harvest season, when Israeli authorities prevent roughly 100,000 Palestinian families who depend on the crop from reaching their lands.

The IDF, however, confirmed in a statement to the Post that entry into the homes was carried out without prior coordination with the military and "without permission." "The acquisition process and the security implications derived from it are now being clarified by the relevant parties," the military said.