Hundreds of Israeli Jewish settlers have attacked the village of Kherbat Al-Deir in the occupied Jordan Valley, part of the occupied West Bank. Israel has imposed an effective blockade on the Jordan Valley for the past two weeks.
“Kherbat Al-Deir has been subject to almost daily settler attacks for more than a month,” explained local Palestinian activist Fares Fuqaha. “The settlers, so far, have taken control of five springs in the area used by farmers for irrigation purposes.”
During the past two years, the settlers have taken control of a number of water springs in the area and set up entertainment parks for settlers. Palestinians are prevented from accessing the water sources.
Attacks by armed settlers are increasing. Settlers chased Palestinian shepherds in Al-Sakout area, for example, and threatened to kill them if they did not stop grazing their sheep in the area. Earlier today, illegal settlers uprooted dozens of vine and olive saplings, damaged other crops and destroyed a water irrigation network in Husan village to the west of Bethlehem.
READ: Israel settlers burn Palestinian house in West Bank
The director of Husan Village Council, Rami Hamamreh, told WAFA news agency that the settlers also ruined eggplants, tomatoes and peppers. The water network that they destroyed, he pointed out, was used to irrigate local farms, which are subject to frequent attacks by Jewish settlers.
In the city of Nablus, meanwhile, Israeli settlers set a Palestinian house on fire yesterday.
Settler violence is backed by the Israeli occupation army, whose soldiers protect the settlers. The extreme far-right coalition government does nothing to stop such attacks.
All of Israel’s settlements and settlers in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem are illegal under international law.
Montather Rassoul