BETHLEHEM, Monday, July 20, 2020 (WAFA) – Israel today seized 700 donums of agriculutral land in the vicinity of Jabal al-Fureidis, located to the east of Bethlehem city, according to a local source.

Director off the Anti-Wall and Settlement Commission in Bethlehem Hasan Breijeh said that Israel issued military orders seizing 700 dunams surrounding Jabal al-Fureidis, also known as Herodium, which Israel has appropriated as an Israeli national park.

Israeli forces already fenced the area with barbed wire and installed an iron gate four days ago in favor of the appropriated national park.

The seized land belongs to the al-Wahsh, al-‘Asaker and al-Mas‘da families.

Meanwhile, Israeli bulldozers razed lands belonging to the Bethlehem-district village of Kisan for the seventh day in a row in favor of expanding the illegal colonial settlement of Ibei Hanahal, built on the village's lands.

A number of caravans have been installed near the village as well.

Israel has been using archeology as a key tool in reinforcing its bogus territorial claims to historic Palestine, including “Judea and Samaria”, the Jewish nationalist name used to refer to the occupied West Bank, and give them a veneer of historical and religious legitimacy.

There are almost 834,000 Israeli settlers living in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

K.T/ K.F.