Daijiworld Media Network - Ramallah
Ramallah, Aug 17: Israeli settlers have erected tents in an area near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank in an apparent attempt to establish a new illegal settlement outpost, while a separate group of settlers has continued a week-long siege of Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra.
Settlers pitched tents in the Wadi Zeytun area near Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah, on Sunday, according to reports. A separate group also began establishing another outpost in the village of Burqa on the same day.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that if the new outposts are established, the number of settlement outposts surrounding Umm Safa and Burqa would rise to six.
According to reports, settlers have seized around 4,700 of Umm Safa's 4,800 dunams of land and approximately 10,000 of Burqa's 12,000 dunams.
Meanwhile, an Israeli settler siege of three Palestinian families in the Ras al-Ain area of Qusra, south of Nablus, has entered its second week. Around 15 Palestinians, including two children, remain confined to their homes.
Israeli soldiers reportedly rotated their positions and erected a tent in front of the residents' homes after spending the previous two days dismantling a tent that settlers had attempted to establish in the area. Municipal crews later restored electricity and water connections to the besieged families.
In separate incidents on Sunday, settlers reportedly attacked a Palestinian home in Beit Imrin, north of Nablus, and detained people inside. Israeli forces later arrived and arrested nine people from the house before withdrawing.
Israeli soldiers also reportedly prevented Palestinian Red Crescent teams from reaching the area and confiscated the keys of ambulances and medical-relief vehicles.
Further attacks were reported in the Nab'a al-Kaabneh community near Taybeh and in Turmus Aya, both in the Ramallah district. In Hebron's al-Jaabari neighbourhood, Palestinians were injured in settler attacks, with some reportedly wounded by gunfire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The Palestinian Prisoner's Society said Israeli forces had intensified arrests in towns where illegal settler outposts had been established, particularly targeting residents who confront settler attacks.
UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese described the settler violence and siege of Palestinian homes as part of what she called Israel's decades-long system of "impunity".
Speaking on Sunday, Albanese said Israel had no right to conduct military incursions into Palestinian territory and was instead obligated to protect civilians from military action.
She alleged that Israeli authorities appeared to be collaborating with settlers rather than restraining them.
“Israel has outsourced coercion to the settlers and is using them to advance ethnic cleansing,” Albanese said, describing the situation as a crime and calling for settlers involved in violence to be investigated and prosecuted.
Albanese said that while Israel's alleged end goal may be "ethnic cleansing", it was using what she described as war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide to continue the Nakba, referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948.
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, described the situation in the West Bank as "extremely dangerous".
He claimed settler groups were carrying out an average of 30 attacks a day and were spearheading a campaign aimed at seizing Palestinian land and displacing residents.
Barghouti said the alleged objective was "annexation and displacement" and called for increased Arab and international pressure on Washington to halt Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Israeli attacks and settler violence in the West Bank have intensified since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, according to Wafa.
Around 750,000 Israeli settlers are estimated to live in 156 settlements and 360 outposts across the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
The United Nations considers Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal under international law.