BETHLEHEM, July 8, 2025 (WAFA) – Israeli occupying forces on Tuesday took over a tract of Palestinian-owned land in al-Khader town, south of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to a researcher.

Hassan Breijah, a researcher on Israeli wall and colonists, said that the occupation forces seized six dunums of Palestinian-owned land in the Ein al-Qassis area, west of the town, to make room for the expansion of the nearby colonial outpost of Sde Boaz, established on approximately 100 dunums of Palestinian-owned cultivated land.

He expressed his concerns that the takeover of this plot of land serves as a harbinger for the large-scale takeover of land, an upsurge of attacks by Israeli colonists, and the deprivation of Palestinian farmers of access to their lands.

Colonists’ violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Colonists’ violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, and attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

Approximately 1 million Israeli colonists are living in colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law.

K.F.