NABLUS, June 21, 2017 (WAFA) – Israeli bulldozers on Wednesday embarked on razing lands belonging to Palestinians in order to make way for a new settlement to south to Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, local sources said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlements activities in northern West Bank, told WAFA that more than nine Israeli bulldozers embarked on razing lands that belong to Palestinians from the villages of Jaloud, Qaryout, Sawyeh, Lubban and Senjel. The lands had earlier the year been seized and turned into state lands by the Israeli authorities.

Daghlas said the razing of the said lands comes following an Israeli governmental decision last March to seize around  977 dunums of land to build a new settlement.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem argued in a report in December 2016 that, “Under the guise of “temporary military occupation”, Israel treats the occupied territories as its own: grabbing land, exploiting natural resources, and establishing permanent settlements.”

The group added, “Palestinian residents are being increasingly dispossessed of their lands, roots and livelihood, to be replaced by Israeli control either by direct official action or by the settlers acting as its envoys.”

"The state helps settlers operate as a mechanism for dispossession in Palestinian space -- settlers serving as a means purportedly not under state control, and settlers also use serious violence against Palestinian residents,” the group explained.

K.T/M.N