Israeli officials reveal ‘most threatened’ West Bank settlements

An Israeli parliamentary committee has named four West Bank settlements considered “the most threatened” and “in immediate need of defense measures.”

According to a report by Ynetnews, a Monday meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Subcommittee named Elon Moreh, Otniel, Karmei Tzur, and Neguhot as the settlements most in need of additional funding for protection.

All four settlements lie deep in the West Bank; Otniel, Karmei Tzur, and Neguhot near Hebron, while Elon Moreh is north of Nablus.

The Israeli newspaper described the four colonies as “at the centre of the past year’s wave of terrorism attacks.”

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, and have been described by human rights groups as at the heart of an inherently discriminatory system.

The Knesset meeting was attended by a number of senior Israeli military and security officials.

Home Front Command Settlement Security Branch Head Lieutenant Colonel Or Ohayon told the committee: “over the past year, the Security Ministry allotted us NIS 9 million to invest in technological measures, which is enough to cover (the needs of) three settlements.”

She added: “In 2016, we managed to increase this budget by 25 per cent, which is good, but still not enough.”