The Gush Emunim established a new settlement in the West Bank over the weekend, directly overlooking the Arab village of Nahalin.
Nahalin, which lies southwest of Bethlehem, was the scene of a pre-dawn raid by Israeli security forces on April 13, in which five Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded.
But a Gush Emunim spokesman denied any provocation was intended by its decision to locate the settlement away from its original site, several miles west of Nahalin, to within view of the village.
A spokesman for the militant settlers group said the reasons were “purely technical.”
The new settlement, called Tsoref, was authorized under last year’s unity coalition agreement. It will be formally dedicated Wednesday.
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