Israel's attorney general Avichai Mandelblit has approved the illegal settler outpost of Evyatar mere hours before retiring from public life Mandelblit had served for six years as Israel's chief legal adviser and attorney general before concluding his job at the end of January Hours before leaving his post, Mandelblit on Tuesday authorised a deal between the Israeli government and Shomron Regional Council, a settler organisation, to legalise the outpost, created on the land of the Palestinian village of Beita the Minister of Defence Benny Gantz would have the final approval over the matter Following relentless Palestinian protests against the land grab by settlers to create Evyatar, Israel in July struck a deal with settler leaders that would see the outpost turned into a religious school and a military base for the Israeli army The deal also said that Israeli forces will keep about 50 caravan settler houses that were installed last May on Palestinian land belonging to the residents of Beita and that settlers would "return" to the land when Israeli authorities designate it as "state-owned" Mandelblit's decision to okay settlers' return to Evyatar and make it legal prompted criticism from Israeli politicians over the fear of hurting ties with western allies Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid warned of harming ties with US President Joe Biden's administration Lapid has sent a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett saying that senior US officials have warned Israel of the consequences of moving ahead with the legalisation of the outpost the head of the Labor party and the minister of transportation said that "the plan for Evyatar badly harms relations with our closest allies and Israel's strategic interests Promoting [it] is playing politics at the expense of national security and the future of our country." a prominent settler leader and the head of Shomron Regional Council lambasted Lapid's statement as "cynical and pathetic" "Zionism must not die out in 2022," Dagan said "The Land of Israel will be built and the Zionist people will defeat your cynicism," he added The Israeli anti-occupation group B'Tselem said in a statement that Mandelblit's decision had "approved the establishment of a new settlement in the heart of the West Bank on land stolen from Palestinians" comes at a time when "Israel cries out that it does not maintain an apartheid regime." On Tuesday, Amnesty International released a report that labelled Israel as an apartheid state becoming the latest organisation to join a cadre of human rights groups that have used the term to describe its discriminatory treatment of Palestinians Other Israeli politicians also warned of going ahead with legalising Evyatar tweeted that he is opposed to the plan that "will lead to a wave of opposition to Israel in the world precisely at a time when we need international support in dealing with the Iranian threat." In May last year, amid the political and media focus on the Israeli war on Gaza and the violent crackdown on Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers moved to Mount Sabih located on the southern outskirts of Beita Within days, settlers installed mobile houses, built roads and raised an Israeli flag over the settlement. Since then Beita villagers have protested the presence of the illegal settlement, with Israeli soldiers killing and injuring a number of Beita residents Israel illegally occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has since exponentially expanded settlements on occupied lands a vital electoral base for Israeli politicians Copyright © 2014 - 2025. Middle East Eye Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters Middle East Eye          ISSN 2634-2456                      This Saturday against Nàstic de Tarragona (7.00pm CEST kick off live on Barça TV+ all over the world) Ronald Koeman gets the chance to make his second debut as a blaugrana The Dutchman's first ever appearance representing FC Barcelona came 31 years ago...as a player The game took place on 1 August 1989 in a preseason friendly in his home country of Holland against lower league side Buitenpost Barça ran out 15-1 winners that and Koeman helped himself to a memorable hat-trick: two goals from outside the box and a penalty Barça's new signing almost missed the game as administrative problems saw his transfer from PSV Eindhoven only ratified on the day of his debut with Koeman thankfully able to make his first appearance under the orders of the great Johan Cruyff 1st of August is the 25th anniversary of Ronald Koeman’s debut for FC Barcelona Ronald Koeman will always be present in the minds of Barcelona fans thanks to the goal he scored which won FC Barcelona’s first ever European Cup it was said at the time that he might join before the end of the 1988/89 season and be freed from some of the important commitments with PSV Eindhoven But it was not to be and coach Johan Cruyff would have to wait until the start of the 1989/90 season to be able to have ‘Tintín’ in his team Koeman made his Barça debut on August 1 in a preseason tour match with his new team against amateur side VV Buitenpost He couldn’t have had a more placid start when you consider the huge difference in class between the two sides and looking at the final score: 1-15 and showed from the very beginning his authority in his dialogue with his teammates The other Barça goals were scored by Laudrup (3) the six thousand spectators that filled the Buitenpost gound applauded Koeman’s two goals as if he’d scored for the home team The great expectations as far as Koeman was concerned were fully confirmed with the passage of time Koeman was a key player in defence for the Dream Team that fabulous outfit from the first half of the nineties his powerful shots and his infallibility in free kicks and penalties