Israeli military raids occupied West Bank as settler attacks continue
Israeli forces have stormed the town of Duma, south of Nablus, in preparation for home demolitions, our colleagues have reported.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency said the Israeli military also blocked roads in Tulkarem and its camp, as well as the Nur Shams camp. Residents of 58 buildings in Tulkarem camp received immediate demolition orders on Wednesday and were forced to leave their homes.
Several attacks by Israeli settlers were also reported across the West Bank. Residents in the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, told Al Jazeera that Palestinian farmers and shepherds were attacked in the Marj Sa’i plain.
Settlers also vandalised Palestinian agricultural land east of Yatta, south of Hebron.
Palestinian farmers brace for Israel’s settlement expansion plan
Abbas Milhem, executive director of the Palestinian Farmers’ Union, says the international community must respond to Israel’s plan to establish nearly two dozen new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Ramallah, Milhem said the Israeli settlement push would hit Palestinian farmers particularly hard.
“This is the first wave of settlement expansion … and this will bring a big burden to Palestinian farms who are already suffering and [struggling] to get access to their farmland,” said Milhem, who explained that Israel has restricted access to Palestinian lands for decades.
Palestinian farmers also have faced a wave of “increased settler violence”, he said, including harassment and fatal attacks.
“And those settlers are supported and financed by their government … All this will make farming and farmers’ existence in the West Bank very challenging,” said Milhem, adding that supporting Palestinian farmers is a form of resistance to the Israeli occupation and settler attacks.
