Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports recognizing illegal farming outposts in the West Bank, some of which are home to extremist settlers who have been carrying out attacks on neighboring Palestinians, the Ynet news site reported Wednesday.

The prime minister also called for educational measures to reduce violence perpetrated by so-called hilltop youth, according to a document obtained by the Ynet news site, which summarized a high-level security discussion last month on addressing settler violence.

The discussion by the forum, which was said to include Defense Minister Israel Katz and the chief of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, came as settler violence spiked across the West Bank.

Ynet reported that a section of the document titled “Prime Minister’s Summary” called the illegal farms “a positive response that is necessary in order to safeguard Area C,” the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, and said they “act as a response to Palestinian activity in the area.”

Settler leaders claim that Palestinians are illegally expanding their villages in Area C, while Palestinians note that Israel grants building permits in the territory almost exclusively to Israeli........

© The Times of Israel