Mairav Zonszein, co-author of this op-ed, was UPZ Executive Director from 2004-2006.

Hilltop 26 is the name of an illegal settlement outpost atop a tranquil, windswept hill just outside Kiryat Arba, in the southern West Bank. From its top, one can see the red roofs of the Jewish settlement to the south and, in the distance, the outskirts of the holy city of Hebron. Over the past two months, adolescent settlers from Kiryat Arba have built a structure atop Hilltop 26 that they use as a clubhouse for eating, studying and hanging out. Although Hilltop 26 was dismantled in 1999, it has been consistently inhabited by settlers, whose ultimate aim is for it to be incorporated into the settlement of Kiryat Arba. Despite being classified by the Israeli government as an “illegal outpost,” Hilltop 26 is actively protected by the Israel Defense Forces.

In this time of heightened discussion regarding Israeli settlement expansion, a topic that figured prominently in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Barack Obama earlier this week, the conversation often centers on the challenge of removing settlers from settlements and outposts. This focus is misleading. Instead, attention should be drawn to how the IDF is both actively and passively involved in the creation and maintenance of outposts throughout the territories, as the body implementing decisions on the ground. Ta’ayush, the Arab-Jewish partnership group based in Jerusalem, has been documenting the expansion of illegal outposts throughout the southern West Bank.

Read More: HAARETZ - Birth of a Settlement