A group of armed Israeli settlers destroyed on Monday Palestinian owned lands in northern West Bank while the military kidnapped four farmers how tired to stop the attack.

Settlers came on Monday midday to lands owned by farmers from the villages of Jit and Amateen, both located near Nablus city and set it on fire, witnesses reported.

When farmers tried to stop the settlers attack and stop the fire from destroying their lands, Israeli troops guarding the settlers attacked the farmers and detained four of them.

Despite the outcry raised by Palestinian and international human rights organizations, the Israeli military announced this weekend it plans to go ahead with 55 home demolitions in Nablus — a city deep inside the West Bank which is supposed to be under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

The homes in question are located in the Sawiya district in the city of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, an area with few Israeli settlements — although Israeli settlers have announced plans to expand the settlements located there.

“The Israeli decision constitutes a serious turning point in the development of Israeli attacks on Palestinian human rights,” said the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in a statement released on Friday. The group said that it is concerned that these 55 demolitions will set a precedent for further demolitions in areas that are supposed to be under Palestinian control.

Israeli forces have recently stepped up the rate of home demolitions, mainly in the East Jerusalem area, with the stated aim of creating “facts on the ground” that will be difficult to turn back if peace negotiations begin between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli home demolitions of Palestinian homes have been condemned on multiple occasions by the United Nations, as such demolitions are grave violations of international law. Home demolitions nearly always accompany Israeli construction and expansion of settlement colonies on the areas where the demolitions take place.

http://international.daralhayat.com/internationalarticle/58316

International observers in the Hebron area have reported that Israeli settlers living in violation of international law in the South Hebron Hills, in the southern West Bank, have constructed five new caravan trailers in an attempt to further expand the Ma’on settlement.

The international observers, with the Christian Peacemaker Teams stationed in the Hebron area, say that they noticed the new caravan trailers several days ago. They added that on Friday, Israeli settlers were spotted on a hillside even further outside the existing settlement, beginning preparatory work of clearing land to construct more caravans there.

This settlement expansion, which is ignored by the Israeli government charged with preventing it, comes at a time when the international community is calling for a freeze on new building in settlements and the disbanding of settlement outposts.

Over the past three months, internationals have also observed settlers constructing numerous new buildings in the nearby illegal Israeli outposts of Havat Ma’on (Hill 833) and Avigail.

According to the Christian Peacemaker Teams, since its establishment in 1981, Ma’on settlement has been a source of violence towards local Palestinians. The agricultural orchards of Ma’on are cultivated on private land belonging to a family from the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani. By 1997, ongoing settler violence forced the Palestinian inhabitants of three nearby villages (Sarura, Humra and Kharoubeh) to abandon their homes.

The original outpost of Havat Ma’on was established in July 1999, but was dismantled in September of that year by the Israeli military. The following year, the outpost was re-established on a nearby hilltop, Hill 833, and has remained and grown since then. Avigail outpost was established in 2001.

Settlers from Ma’on and Havat Ma’on attack and harass Palestinian children from Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed traveling to and from school in At Tuwani. In 2004, following two attacks on internationals accompanying the children, the Israeli Knesset Committee for Children’s Rights affirmed the need for a military escort for the school children. The escort continues five years later. Settlers from Avigail and Havat Ma’on outposts also regularly attack Palestinian shepherds grazing their sheep.

Israeli settlers living in the Hebron area have the highest rates of violence against the indigenous Palestinian population of any Israeli settlers in the West Bank. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are constructed on land seized from the indigenous population by ongoing military force, and are thus considered illegal under international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory.

Palestinian Minister of State, Maher Ghneim, slammed a decision by the Israeli High Court to prepare a schedule for demolishing dozens of Palestinian structures in Al Sawiya and Yitma villages, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

The number of structures in question is nearly 260. The settlers stated that the Bedouins, using the structures, are not indigenous to the area and that they came from different parts of the West Bank.

The decision came after an appeal was filed by a fundamental settler group against the Palestinians living in that area, especially after Israel decided to raze some illegal structures installed by the settlers on Palestinian lands.

The courts’ position disregards the fact that the Palestinians, the Arabs, the Bedouins are the natives of the country, and that they were the ones who were forced out of their homes and lands before and during the establishment of Israel on their homeland. The settlers said that the Palestinians are in the midst of constructing a home and a school in addition to some paths leading to their village.

The Palestinian structures in question are mud brick homes and small wooden huts, all built on what Israel claims to be ‘state owned lands’ within the boundaries of the illegal settlements of Kfar Adumim and Ma’aleh Adumim.

Ghneim said that the real danger in this decision is that it is considered the first step in dealing with thousands of Palestinian homes built in Area C, which is under Israeli control and not under the ‘control’ of the Palestinian Authority.

He added that the decision is part of a “racist Israeli settlement expansion policy”.

The minister further stated that Israel is challenging the International Community, the Quartet Committee and even the U.S. administration.

He said that Israel is ongoing with its illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem, an issue which is considered the main obstacle that hinders the peace process.

Ghneim also said that settler organizations, encouraged by their government, are violating all related international resolutions, especially after Israel decided to construct 2500 homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied territories, in addition to the construction of 430 homes in Pisgat Zeev illegal settlement.

For the 31st time, Israeli Authorities demolished huts and removed tents used by the residents of the unrecognized Tawil Abu Jarwal Arab village in the Negev.

The villages said that Israel authorities are ongoing with their violations against the Bedouins and Arab villagers in the Negev, while the village head, Ibrahim Al Maliky, denounced the violation and stated that it is part of an ongoing Israeli policy against the Arabs.

He added that Israel did not even delay its attack at least until the Holy Muslim Month of Ramadan while the villagers are fasting.

Al Maliky further stated that the Israeli authorities are not granting construction permits for the residents while at the same time the construction of Jewish settlements and malls is ongoing. He added that the authorities must reach a solution and hold talks with the villagers.

The villagers said that they will not leave their lands, and will install tents and live in them.

In direct violation of international law, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved permits on Sunday and Monday to build 455 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.

The new housing, which was ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will be built in six settlements. The settlements in question include Har Gilo (on the outskirts of Bethlehem), Modi’in Illit (built on the land of the village of Bil’in) and Ariel (deep in the West Bank south of Nablus).

Israel says it intends to keep each of these settlements in any eventual peace agreement with the Palestinians.

They permits are first ones issued since Netanyahu took office in March. Later this week, Netanyahu is expected to announce a partial reduction in the construction of illegal Israeli settlements.

Israeli settlers uprooted 50 olive trees near the Palestinian village of Al-Maghayir, north of the city of Ramallah on Monday afternoon, according to Israeli radio.

Israel’s military believes the attack was a preemptive response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to reduce construction in West Bank settlements.

Netanyahu is expected to announce some curbs on settlement expansion later this week. On Monday, his government approved the construction of 500 new homes in the settlements, which are illegal under international law.

Last Thursday 150 olive trees were found uprooted in the same village, which lies near the unauthorized settler outpost of Nofe Yarden.

On Friday, clashes were reported in the area, when, according to settlers, Palestinians stormed the outpost and set fire to a mobile home. No one was reported injured.

A few Israeli protesters from the group ‘Peace Now’ were the only visible opposition to a gathering of hundreds of extreme right wing Israeli settlers, government ministers and Knesset (Parliament) members who carried out a groundbreaking ceremony Monday, under the protection and with the full support of the Israeli police, of a planned new settlement called Mevaseret Adumim.

The group included many prominent politicians and members of the current Israeli government administration, who said that they would continue construction and expansion of settlements on Palestinian land despite any negotiated agreement, international law, or US pressure.

Some of those who attended the ceremony were Ministers Daniel Hershkowitz (Habayit Hayehudi) and Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu), as well as Knesset Members Danny Danon (Likud), Zeev Elkin (Likud) and Uri Orbach (Habayit Hayehudi). Those who led the ceremony promised that the groundbreaking was just a beginning, and that the settlement they plan to construct on the land will “soon become a reality”.

In fact, the Israeli government has invested some 200 million NIS ($50 million USD) into infrastructure and planning of the settlement in question as part of the so-called ‘E1 corridor’, beginning in 1999. This corridor would encircle East Jerusalem with Israeli settlements, thereby displacing the nearly 500,000 Palestinian residents and excluding them from the city of their birth.

Monday’s ceremony came at the same time as an announcement by the Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, that 500 new units would be allowed to be constructed before the implementation of a six-month ‘hold’ on settlement construction meant to please the US government. The planning, design, and infrastructure development for new settlements would continue throughout the six-month long hold.