SALFIT, April 3, 2011 (WAFA) – Settlers from (Etz Efraim) settlement Sunday escalated settlements’ construction and land razing around the settlement, in Baat abo rezeiq area, in Mas-ha, a town west of Salfit city, north of Nablus.

Coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlement in Salfit, Nasfat Khuffash ,told WAFA that  Israeli ‘Peace Now’ sources monitored construction  of settlements in the West Bank which aims to build 62 new settlements’ units, in ‘Etz efraim’ settlement; of which six have been already built and four are under construction.

These constructions threaten hundreds of dunums located between ‘Etz Efraim’ settlement and the new razed land which are all behind the Separation Wall, he added.

 ‘Etz  Efraim’ settlement was established in 1981. It is located between Ariel and Rosh HaAyin settlements, within the settlements’ regional grouping which includes ‘Elqana’ settlement,  ‘Sha’are Tikva’ settlement located at an elevation of 200 meters north-east of ‘Rosh HaAyin’ and east the green line near ‘Elkana’ in north-western West Bank, and ‘Ornit’ settlement.

Settlers of these settlements had razed Palestinian land for the expansion of settlements after the establishment of the Separation Wall ; which has isolated thousands of dunums of Masha, Al Sawyeh villages, in west Salfit, Beit Amin, Azun Sanniriya and Atma villages, south of Qalqilya.

W.S./F.R.