Israel evacuates West Bank outpost amid new settlement binge

Israeli forces uprooted this West Bank outpost on Wednesday, removing residents and hundreds of their supporters in sometimes violent clashes as they dismantled a community that has become a symbol of Jewish settler defiance.

The evacuation, which followed years of legal battles, came amid a flurry of bold new settlement moves by Israel's government, which has been buoyed by the election of President Donald Trump.

Israel: humbled Netanyahu places hopes in Trump

The Israeli government's furious reaction to the U.N. Security Council's adoption of a resolution opposing Jewish settlements in occupied territory underscores its fundamental and bitter dispute with the international community about the future of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that there is nothing wrong with his controversial policy of building Jewish towns in occupied areas that the Palestinians, with overwhelming world support, claim for their state. But Friday's U.N. rebuke was a stark reminder that the rest of the world considers it a crime. The embattled leader is now placing his hopes in the incoming administration of Donald Trump, which is shaping up as the first major player to embrace Israel's nationalist right and its West Bank settlements.