UPDATE - Israel approves new plan to seize 9 acres of land in northern West Bank

UPDATES WITH ILLEGAL SETTLER ATTACKS

By Aysar Alais, Ikram Kouachi, Betul Yilmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - Israel on Sunday approved a new settlement plan to seize 35 dunams (9 acres) of land from the Palestinian village of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, a local official said.

Munif Nazzal, who monitors settlement building at the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, told the official news agency Wafa the plan envisions the construction of 58 new settler units at the Mitzpe Yeshai settlement, which is built on the village’s land.

The UN affirms that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law and undermine the possibility of implementing a two-state solution.

In early September, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced plans to annex 82% of the occupied West Bank.

Such a move would effectively end the prospect of realizing the two-state solution endorsed by UN resolutions.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israeli forces and illegal settlers have carried out more than 38,000 attacks across the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023.

The violence has resulted in the displacement of 33 Bedouin communities and the establishment of 114 new illegal settler outposts.

The commission further reported that 767 fires were deliberately set on Palestinian homes and lands, while over 1,000 demolitions destroyed nearly 3,700 structures, including homes and agricultural facilities.

Separately, illegal Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the central West Bank, in assaults that typically escalate with the start of the olive harvest season, local sources said.

Residents told Anadolu that illegal Israeli settlers cut down fruit-bearing trees in two Ramallah villages in the central West Bank.

Israeli settlers also prevented Palestinians from harvesting olive trees in western Ramallah, and destroyed water tanks and stole property from a local farm in another village in the area.

In Qalqilya, settlers destroyed 50 olive trees in the northern West Bank, Palestinian sources said.

A group of illegal settlers also raided a house in Ramallah’s Sinjil town, stealing property and solar panels, according to the Al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights.

In Jenin in the northern West Bank, illegal settlers forced Palestinian farmers to leave their lands, citing their location close to a settlement road, local sources said.

Illegal settlers also stormed a Bedouin community in Jericho, causing fear among the residents, the rights group said.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Israeli forces have imposed more than 900 permanent and temporary checkpoints across the West Bank, restricting movement across the occupied territory.

According to official Palestinian figures, at least 1,048 Palestinians have been killed and around 10,300 injured since October 2023.

Israel has occupied Palestinian territories, as well as land in Syria and Lebanon, for decades and continues to reject withdrawal and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on pre-1967 borders.