- [Narrator] This road

near the Palestinian village of Farkha and the West Bank

didn't exist a few months ago.

It popped up in just three days after October 7th.

It's one of 15 roads

and five illegal encampments known as outposts

that The Wall Street Journal found are being rapidly built

all over the West Bank since October 7th.

The Journal found these roads

are often being built in just a few days,

partially with money from the Israeli government.

According to videos,

The Journal verified and local witnesses,

much of this work is being done

with unmarked construction vehicles,

often under armed guard.

(patrons speaking in foreign language)

In 1967, a small segment of Israelis

began establishing communities

known as settlements in the West Bank

after its military occupied the area

at the end of the Six Day War.

Settlements are illegal under international law,

but legal under Israeli law.

Over the years, some members of the movement

began creating new small encampments known as outposts,

which are illegal under both Israeli and international law.

Now, researchers say since October 7th, the pace of outpost

and illegal road construction is surging.

- [Dror] Take a look at this.

This is a new outpost. A few weeks old.

Take a look here on the left hand side,

you can see the roads which are being carved.

New roads, new outposts.

You can see them all over,

but you need to know where to look for them.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Israeli researcher and activist, Dror Etkes,

has combed the West Bank tracking illegal road

and outpost expansion since 2002.

- Roads are connecting outpost with settlements,

are connecting outpost with outposts.

They're connecting outposts with agricultural area,

and they are also important borders,

which every Palestinian understand that he cannot cross.

Geographic dominance.

This is exactly what these, all settlements,

outpost, roads are all about.

This is what it's all about.

- [Narrator] Many settlers say roads are built

to avoid confrontations with Palestinians.

And these Israeli governments says,

if they see illegal construction, they take action

though they declined to review The Journal's findings.

(somber music) (birds chirping)

According to The Journal's analysis, the area near Farkha,

a Palestinian town of around 1,800 people,

has seen the biggest uptick in illegal roads

and outposts since October 7th.

In the West Bank, building roads legally

is usually a multi-year process.

Farkha Mayor, Mustafa Hammad, says the road near his town

appeared in just a matter of days.

(Mustafa speaking in foreign language)

He says, whoever is responsible for the road

is using the war in Gaza as cover.

(Mustafa speaking in foreign language)

This road near Farkha,

is near this outpost,

which is close to one of the largest settlements

in the West Bank, Ariel.

A road connecting them would extend

the borders of these neighboring settlements and outposts,

and effectively cut off Palestinian access

to much of the town's water supply and olive groves.

(Mustafa speaking in foreign language)

And new roads could lead to new confrontations.

- [Dror] Take a look on the right hand side.

You see this valley here?

Three months ago,

a Palestinian was killed right here in the harvest.

Everything was filmed. (gun fires)

- [Narrator] On October 28th, Bilal Saleh,

a Palestinian farmer was shot

and killed while harvesting olives.

His family and eyewitnesses say

he was unarmed and murdered by a settler.

The alleged shooter claims it was self-defense.

He was arrested and released,

and the IDF says they're investigating.

Violence is also being used

to clear the way for roads like this.

This used to be the Bedouin village of Wadi al-Seeq.

The Bedouins didn't have legal rights to the land,

but they had lived here for years until five days

after October 7th.

(Abu speaking in foreign language)

Footage shared with The Journal

by local activists shows settlers driving out the community.

(Abu speaking in foreign language)

Abu Bashar is a community leader

and shepherd from Wadi al-Seeq,

now living on the outskirts of the village.

(Abu speaking in foreign language)

The IDF said, they're still investigating the incident,

but confirmed that soldiers were involved

and said the commander was relieved of his duty.

Over the next weeks,

the village was erased,

and then the road was built.

Satellite images show it leads to this farming outpost.

The outpost belongs to a settler leader

named Naria Ben-Pazi, who has received grazing permits,

agricultural grants, and security funding

for farming in this area from the Israeli government.

We visited the Ben-Pazi outpost

and we could see what appeared to be

two small living quarters, a guard post,

and a shelter for animals.

We tried to speak to Ben-Pazi or anyone at the outpost.

(journalists and Ben-Pazi speaking in foreign language)

A few miles North,

a settler responsible for overseeing

security on Ben-Pazi's outpost did speak to us.

(Avichai speaking in foreign language)

Avichai Suissa is the leader of an organization

that provides armed protection

to farming outposts in the area.

Part of their funding to guard these illegal outposts

also comes directly

from the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture.

(Avichai speaking in foreign language)

(sheep bleating) (hands clapping)

For the past decade,

the number of outpost sea guards has been growing.

Suissa and many settlers like him,

were once considered fringe.

But over the past decade,

with the increasing influence of the far right,

settlers have become a small but vocal part

of the Israeli government.

Pro-settlement politicians like Itamar Ben-Gvir,

who had previously been considered extremists

by the Israeli government, have become cabinet ministers.

(Avichai speaking in foreign language)

Once these farming outposts are built up,

roads again become important for connecting them

to established settlements.

According to court documents,

that's why this road was built.

It connects an established settlement, Immanuel,

to an outpost called Alonei Shilo.

- The first part of it had been built,

had been carved illegally by settlers in 2014.

Miraculously, something happened there,

which very, very, very seldom happens, you know.

They had been caught by the state administration.

They were actually trialed, and they had been convicted.

- [Narrator] Construction was stopped for years.

Documents from the old court case show,

the work was done by employees of a company called Amana

that received millions of dollars a year

for development from local settlement governments.

But satellite images show it was restarted

and finished after October 7th.

It's unclear who was responsible.

Amana denies involvement.

- If there's no force which is willing to enforce the law,

and the system sees you as an enemy

and your property as a target, who's going to help you?

Who's going to help you?

- [Narrator] Mayor Hammad says,

for him and his village, there is little recourse left.

(Mustafa speaking in foreign language)

(audience cheering)

In January, thousands of Israelis, mostly settlers,

gathered for a conference in Jerusalem,

led by Ben-Gvir and other Israeli government ministers.

Their new ambition, settlements in Gaza.

(Ben-Gvir speaking in foreign language)

(audience cheering)

(Israelis chanting)

(somber music)