Settlers from the West Bank have erected an outpost on state land within the jurisdiction of the Arab town of Majd al-Krum in northern Israel, the local council said Friday, warning of the “dangerous political context” as the government seeks to boost Jewish presence in the Galilee.

The Jewish National Fund, a Zionist organization that owns a large share of Israel’s land, confirmed to the Haaretz newspaper that it had leased the field solely for livestock herding, “not for the establishment of a farm to house youths.”

But footage from the area on Sunday showed the youths, clad in holiday white for Rosh Hashanah, had pitched tents, brought furniture and hung up lights.

Some 10 youths could be seen conducting a holiday prayer and eating a meal on a fold-out table, as police acted to disperse a protest by locals and politicians from the Arab-majority communist party Hadash.

Haaretz reported that there was no livestock in sight, and that one of the youths was previously filmed telling a Majd al-Krum representative that “as of now, there are no goats.”

In a joint statement Friday with Majd al-Krum’s popular committee — a type of local civic commission that operates in some Arab towns — the local council said the encampment “can’t be treated as a merely temporary presence or agricultural activity.”

“It imposes a new reality on the ground and harms the property rights of Majd al-Krum residents,” the statement said.

According to the statement, locals own “a large share of the land” in the........

© The Times of Israel