Jerusalem: Jewish settlers have agreed to leave a recently-built unauthorised outpost in the West Bank by the end of the week, Israeli officials said.
A statement issued on Wednesday by Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz confirmed that the settlers agreed to leave voluntarily the Eviatar outpost, reports Xinhua news agency.
The settlers also issued a statement, in which they confirmed to have agreed to a deal to leave the outpost by the weekend.
Under the deal agreed between the settlers and the Defence and Interior Ministeries, the homes in the outpost will not be destroyed, according to Gantz’s statement.
The area will be announced a closed military zone and a land survey will be conducted in which the settlers said they will prove the outpost was not built on private Palestinian lands.
If that would be confirmed, a Yeshiva, or a Jewish seminary, would be built there and later the settlers could begin procedures to authorize the outpost too.
Some 50 Jewish families arrived in Eviatar in May and rapidly built huts and caravans.
Eviatar is located near the Palestinian city of Nablus in the West Bank.
There are dozens of unauthorised outposts and some 130 Israeli-authorised settlements scattered around the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and where the Palestinians wish to establish their future state.
Under international law, all Israeli settlements are illegal.
However, Israel holds that the settlements are legal.
Outposts are settlements built without official permits from the Israeli authorities and are deemed illegal also under Israeli law.