HEBRON, September 4, 2014 – (WAFA) – Israeli forces closed Thursday agricultural roads in Idhna and confiscated water pipes from al-Baq‘a located respectively to the west and east of Hebron, according to municipal sources and witnesses.

Israeli forces closed several agricultural roads in al-Bas springs, al-Khirbi al-Bayda, Khirbet al-Ras, and Khalet Mhareb Road opposite to the section of the Segregation and Annexation Wall to the west of Idhna.

The closure of these roads, the linking point between Idhna and the Palestinian agricultural lands in these areas, has resulted in denying Palestinian farmers access into their land.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops confiscated water pipes from Palestinian agricultural lands in Al-Baq‘a to the east of the city.

Troops, accompanied by officers from the so-called Israeli Civil Administration and Israeli water company ‘Mekorot’, raided the area and confiscated water pipes used by a local Palestinian farmer to irrigate turnip seeds in his 4-dunam-sized land.

Israeli forces frequently target Palestinian farmers in al-Baq‘a area, confiscating their irrigation systems and handing them orders prohibiting them from farming their land. Settlers have also frequently sabotaged land and crops in the areas, burning down water tanks and pipes. These Israeli practices are meant to dispossess Palestinians and displace them from the area in order to expand the nearby illegal Israeli settlements of Kiryat Arba and Kharsina.

K.F./T.R.