RAMALLAH, Friday, February 26, 2021 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today cracked down on an anti-settlement rally in Deir Jarir village, east of Ramallah city, according to local sources.

They confirmed that a large Israeli military force violently dispersed the rally called for to protest the construction of a new Israeli colonial settlement on large tracts of land in the area of Jabal Sharafeh, which belongs to the villagers of Deir Jarir.

The soldiers opened fire towards the protesters, causing a number to suffer from the effects of tear gas inhalation.

They hindered the work of WAFA’s media crew, inspecting their ID cards and intercepting their vehicle.

Approximately two months ago, settlers set up a tent and a water tank and embarked on razing Palestinian land in the area as a prelude for the construction of the new colonial outpost.

There are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in Jewish-only colonial settlements across the West Bank in violation of international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention which expressly bans the relocation of the occupying nation's civilian population to the land of the occupied.

Israel occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights following the 1967 war, and has since built hundreds of illegal Jewish-only settlements throughout the occupied territories.

Israel’s nation-state law states that building and strengthening the settlements is a “national interest.”

K.F.