Settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh create new outpost

Published today 13:32 Nablus – Ma'an -

Caravan homes, water tanks and tents were installed by illegal Israeli settlers on lands belonging to the Palestinian  village of Dair Al-Hatab on Thursday, in what Palestinians said appeared to be an attempt to create an outpost of  the illegal Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh.

Head of the Dair Al-Hatab village council, Abdul Karim Hussain, said the outpost was set up in the early hours of the morning about 500 meters northeast of the village.

Israeli military and Civil Administration representatives said they were unaware of settler activity in the region but would look into reports.

Hussain said there were dozens of settlers seen on the site, and speculated that the move was an attempt to gain access to a spring on the outskirts of the village.

The local leader said the takeover of the land followed the beating of a second village council member who was tending agricultural lands last week in the area where the outpost was erected.

Hussain said the local council contacted Palestinian officials about the new outpost, noting villagers were scared to approach the area.

Dair Al-Hatab has a population of 2,400, and is located east of Nablus, it is flanked by the illegal Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh to the north, and its neighboring village of Salim to the south. Further south of Salim is an Israeli military guard tower, a series of roadblocks and trench preventing villagers from accessing points otu the south. The population center has one road leading in and out.

Illegal Israeli Settlers Try To Take Over Land Slated For New Palestinian Town

Thursday April 01, 2010 02:24 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Early Wednesday morning, near the central West Bank town of Bir Zeit, a group of illegal Israeli settlers attempted to take over buildings and land that has been designated by the Palestinian Authority for the construction of Rawabi, the first centrally-planned Palestinian town.

Around 60 settlers associated with the group “Youth for the Land of Israel” hung Israeli flags on Palestinian-owned buildings and conducted a Jewish prayer service.

Meir Bertler, one of the settlers involved in the invasion, told the Israeli paper Yedioth Ahranoth, "We want to create a Jewish territorial sequence from Ofra to Ateret, and we know that the Palestinians plan to create a similar building sequence.”

Israeli settlers have established hundreds of settlements on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank, mostly in the last 18 years, following the Oslo Agreement which forbade such expansion. Over 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements deemed illegal by the United Nations and the Fourth Geneva Convention, as they are constructed on illegally-seized Palestinian land in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Although US President Barack Obama called on the Israeli government to implement a 4-month settlement freeze, actions such as the one taken by the 'Youth for the Land of Israel' Wednesday morning continue on a daily basis, and illegal Israeli settlers continue the construction of new developments on stolen Palestinian land.