JENIN (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers set up new mobile caravans, on Wednesday, on Palestinian-owned agricultural lands between the Yaabad town and Zabda village, south of the northern occupied West Bank district of Jenin.
The mayor of Yaabad, Samer Abu Bakr, said in a statement that Israeli settlers set up caravans under the heavy protection of Israeli forces on agricultural lands, of which hundreds of dunams have been seized by Israeli authorities.
Abu Bakr said that Israeli forces also began to set up polls with security cameras on Palestinian lands located along the main road between the Jenin and Tulkarem districts, near the illegal Israeli settlements of Hermesh and Mabu Dutan.
It is noteworthy that in August 2018, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that if Israeli settlers built a settlement on private Palestinian land with “good intentions” then it should not be removed. Therefore, allowing more Palestinian lands to be seized by Israeli settlers as they see fit.
Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Member, said that the court’s ruling provides the Israeli settlers with further motivation “to steal the private property of Palestinian landowners throughout occupied Palestine without any curbs or accountability.”
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.