Israel re-establishes closed West Bank settlement, defying growing international protests

A new generation of Israeli settlers has returned to the settlement of Kadim, in the occupied West Bank, two decades after it was closed by a previous Israeli government.

Thirty "pioneer families" had arrived in the settlement on Thursday from Tel Aviv, according to the regional settlers' council, riding a wave of Jewish nationalism driven by Israel's current government.

They came in small groups, some under military escort, blue and white Israeli flags fluttering from their cars as they passed Palestinian villages and farmlands. Some dragged trailers loaded with bedding, furniture and building material.

Israel's government has overturned a 20-year ban on Jewish settlements around Jenin. Palestinian residents are watching the new push on settlement expansion here with fear.

All Israeli settlements and settler outposts are illegal under international law. Outposts are also illegal under Israeli law, though are often supported by state services and funding.

"21 years after the crime of expulsion from northern Samaria, we have completed the correction […] and have returned to the settlement of Kadim," said Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at the opening ceremony, using the Biblical word for the northern West Bank.

Israel opens up bids for highly sensitive West Bank settlement project

Israeli West Bank settler tells BBC attacks on Palestinians are justified as revenge