Several Palestinian civilians suffered breathing difficulties on Friday during clashes with the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) who attacked a march protesting against Israeli settlement activity in Beit Dajan village east of Nablus.
Local sources said that dozens of IOF soldiers accompanied by a military bulldozer stormed the village and quelled the participants in the march. IOF fired stun grenades and teargas canisters.
IOF soldiers stationed at Beit Furik military checkpoint hindered the movement of citizens and prevented them from reaching Beit Dajan according to the sources.
The Jewish settlers re-erected tents and sheep yards in the lands of Beit Dajan and started to level land and construct a road to the northeast of the village.
Settlers recently established an agricultural settlement outpost on the lands of the town.
Palestinian activists monitoring settlement activity said that settlers extended water lines to supply the new outpost with water from the Alon Moriah settlement near the village. Furthermore they built a road of several kilometers which led to the confiscation of hundreds of dunums of Palestinian lands.
Abd al-Rahman Hanini head of Beit Dajan village council had previously warned that these Israeli activities are not coincidental. “There is a real annexation of thousands of dunums belonging to the town to the existing settlements or that might be established in the coming period” he added.
Hanani pointed out that Beit Dajan had previously lost thousands of dunums of agricultural land in the Jordan Valley and in the nearby mountains of the Hamra settlement which had stolen the town’s lands since 1969.
He stated that the total land area of Beit Dajan is approximately 44100 dunums and at least half of the town’s area had been confiscated. “This is extremely dangerous and indicates that hundreds of dunums more will be confiscated” he said.
