The BBC visited the Havat Gilad outpost in the occupied West Bank and interviewed Yehuda Shimon, a lawyer for an organisation that represents Israelis arrested for violence against Palestinians, who said last weekend's settler attacks were justified as revenge for the killing of the outpost's security guard. Shimon said "one Jewish life, it's 10 million [Palestinians]," and defended settlers' claims to the land by saying "God chose us". The interview followed a confrontation in the village of Tal in which an Israeli security guard was killed and in which four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier also died; the original cause of that incident is disputed. Havat Gilad is an unauthorised outpost established more than 20 years ago; international law deems Israeli settlements and unauthorised outposts in the West Bank illegal. Peace Now says much of Havat Gilad sits on land recognised by Israel as privately owned by Palestinians, and that the government has designated nearby state land to enable settler construction. Reporters saw newly burned buildings at the outpost entrance; Israeli media reported police treating that fire as accidental. The BBC noted these extreme views are rejected by many Israelis but are important context as settlements expand and violence against Palestinians increases.
