Arabs build illegal town near Shiloh, unchecked by Israeli government

A handful of Israeli lawmakers called for a halt to illegal Arab construction in Samaria.

By World Israel News Staff

Following requests from residents concerned about illegal Arab construction in the Gush Shiloh region in Samaria, Transportation Minister and Security Cabinet member MK Bezalel Smotrich visited the area on Sunday.

Locals report feeling threatened by the Arab town recently built in close proximity to Amichai, a Jewish village established in 2018 for families displaced from Amona, which the government evacuated by force.

“I discovered heavy construction is underway to establish a Palestinian town, which is absolutely forbidden to be built in the Shiloh area,” Smotrich said, according to Arutz 7. “We ignore too much Palestinian construction and it must stop here.”

Smotrich added that Israel’s prime minister must call for an immediate halt to illegal construction, which he hopes “will be the first step in de facto imposition of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”

Local residents said that Israeli forces have evaluated the situation, confirming that there are security concerns with the newly built Arab town. However, thus far, no action has been taken.

David Rubin, former mayor of Shiloh and founder of the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, an organization that helps Israeli youth traumatized by terror, explained to World Israel News that the area in question is part of the Shiloh block of communities, known as Gush Shiloh. It is a large, continuous block of land in the heart of Samaria.

“Illegal Arab building is trying to encroach on the Shiloh township,” Rubin said. “The so-called Palestinians build uncontrollably in Judea and Samaria – Israel’s biblical heartland – in order to illegally create a new reality and new bases for terror attacks. This is totally unacceptable and it must be stopped.”

Yisrael Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, added, “For years the council has been trying to settle the communities of the Shiloh area, and now a Palestinian city is being established which threatens the process of regulation that the state is leading and nothing is being done to stop it. I call on the Israeli government to immediately stop this threat and continue to regulate the settlements in Judea and Samaria,” reported Arutz 7.