RAMALLAH, November 5, 2026 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has condemned the Israeli occupation authorities’ demolition of the Palestinian Bedouin community of Bir al-Maskub, located within the area targeted by the E1 colonial settlement plan east of occupied Jerusalem.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the ministry said Israeli forces had demolished approximately half of the community’s structures, including four residential clusters, resulting in the displacement of residents. The forces also distributed demolition notices targeting all remaining structures, placing the entire community at risk of further demolitions and forced displacement.
The ministry warned that the demolitions in Bir al-Maskub mark a dangerous shift from the planning and administrative stages to the actual implementation of the E1 colonial settlement plan on occupied Palestinian land, including Jerusalem. It said the move could signal an expansion of demolition operations targeting other Palestinian Bedouin communities across the area.
It added that Israel's current caretaker government is accelerating the implementation of the E1 plan, taking advantage of the country's transitional period to impose illegal facts on the ground. Such measures, the ministry said, seek to fragment the occupied West Bank, separate occupied Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, and undermine the prospects of establishing a geographically contiguous and viable Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The ministry stressed that these measures constitute serious violations of international law, international humanitarian law and relevant international resolutions. It said they also contradict international positions opposing settlement expansion, annexation and forced displacement, undermine the two-state solution, and obstruct efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region.
The ministry called on the international community and the US administration to assume their legal and political responsibilities and take immediate action to halt the demolitions and prevent further targeting of Palestinian Bedouin communities in the E1 area.
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