Between Jericho and the Dead Sea, Israeli settlers rejoice after the government granted their outpost retroactive approval. An hour's drive north, others are beaten by officers evicting an unsanctioned settler vineyard.
Since the 1967 war, Israel has established around 140 settlements on land Palestinians see as the core of a future state. Besides the authorised settlements, groups of settlers have built scores of outposts without government permission.
Palestinian officials have denounced the move as a provocation and called on world powers to back up verbal condemnation with action against Israel. Israel disputes the illegality of the settlements and cites Biblical and historical ties to the West Bank, which it calls by its Biblical name - Judea and Samaria.
While the leaders of the pro-settler parties Religious Zionism and Jewish Power celebrated the authorisation of the outposts, the vineyard's uprooting on Wednesday exposed cracks in the government.
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