A group of settlers called the Young Settlements Forum launched Jan. 4 a hunger strike outside the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The activists are calling on Netanyahu to abandon his latest rapprochement with Israeli-Arab legislator Mansour Abbas and to legalize West Bank outposts before the March 23 elections. Head of the Young Settlement Forum Eliyahu Atia explained that he and three others from the group plan to start a hunger strike. He expressed his hopes that the number of people embarking on the strike will grow over the coming days.
The Young Settlement Forum, together with the Yesha Council, the settlement’s umbrella organization, and the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus, erected a protest tent outside Netanyahu’s office Dec. 29, shortly after publications over a deal between the prime minister and Knesset member Abbas. Reportedly, the prime minister agreed to legalize three unrecognized Bedouin villages in the south of Israel, in exchange for Abbas’ support of Netanyahu ahead of the March elections. Reports also claimed that Netanyahu agreed to cancel government plans for legalizing some 70 West Bank settlement outposts in the coming weeks, legalizing instead only three of them.