JORDAN VALLEY, Wednesday, April 26, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers raided today water springs in al- Deir area in the northern Jordan Valley in what observers saw was a step to take them over as part of a broader plan to seize all water springs in the Jordan Valley, according to local activists.

Aref Daraghmeh, a human rights activist, said that hundreds of Israeli settlers gathered near the water springs heeding a call from the so-called Settlements Council, expressing concern that this step intends to eventually take over the springs.

Another activist, Fares Fuqaha, said settlers have been showing up at al-Deir spring, east of the village of Ein al-Bayda, almost daily for more than a month.

He said the settlers seized five water springs in that area since the beginning of March, noting that the local Palestinian residents were using these springs to irrigate their crops but that since that time, they have not been able to use them as in the past.

Israeli settlers have escalated their targeting of water springs in the northern Jordan Valley by turning them into parks and preventing Palestinians from using them.

Meanwhile, settlers chased Palestinian herders off the al-Sakot pastures in the northern Jordan Valley and threatened to kill them if they keep herding in that area, according to Daraghmeh.

Settlers are trying to take over the Sakot pastures by setting up a cowshed and farm in that area in order to prevent the Palestinian herders from using the pastures.

Y.S./M.K.