DayofPal- Colonial Israeli settlers set up on Sunday a new illegal outpost on the lands of Khader town, located south of Bethlehem in the West Bank.
According to local sources, an Israeli settler erected two tents and installed water tanks on private property in the Shaab Al-Ajl area, west of Khader, with the intention of creating a pastoral settlement outpost.
The establishment of this new outpost aligns with a broader escalation of settlement activities in Khader area and the Bethlehem governorate.
This surge includes the appropriation of significant tracts of land for a settlement in the Makhrour area of Battir, alongside the expansion of existing outposts.
The model of pastoral or agricultural settlement is increasingly prevalent, as the Israeli government bolsters and arms settler militias to launch attacks on Palestinians in Bedouin communities and villages.
Such actions aim to displace Palestinian residents after destroying their homes and agricultural properties. Thousands of dunams of grazing land and water sources have been confiscated, with settlements being established on these lands under the guise of creating space for the grazing of settlers’ livestock.
New data published by the Palestinian Center for Israeli Studies reveals that Israeli settlers are seizing over 300,000 dunams, approximately 10% of the West Bank’s total area, which exceeds the cumulative land controlled by all Israeli settlements since 1967.
The Israeli organization “Peace Now” estimates that around 500 people reside in illegal outposts, while another 25,000 live in larger settlements.
It points out that these illegal outposts often receive implicit support from the Israeli government before being “retroactively legalized.”
On July 19, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and the settlements established there are illegal, stating that Israel must end its presence in these lands as soon as possible. This was the strongest ruling to date regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, during the 1967 war—areas that are part of historic Palestine and on which Palestinians seek to establish their state. Since then, Israel has built and increasingly expanded settlements in the West Bank.
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