The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Wednesday prevented Palestinian participants in a peaceful march from reaching the hills in northern Nablus where the illegal settlement of Homesh was once situated.
Burqa town mayor Jihad Salah said that dozens of local residents participated in a march organized by his municipality towards the hills of al-Qubaibat area where the settlement of Homesh was once there before its evacuation and demolition in 2005.
Salah explained that Israeli forces blocked the main way leading to the abandoned site of the settlement and barred them from continuing their march which provoked the participants to engage in a verbal altercation with the soldiers.
He added that he showed the soldiers officials documents from the Israeli high court of justice and the Israeli army commandership that allow them to enter the area any time.
This was the third time the IOF prevented the local residents from going to the area in recent weeks.
Two weeks ago the IOF banned the municipality from holding an activity intended to plant trees in the same area.
The Israeli occupation regime had evacuated and dismantled Homesh in 2005 but local residents from Burqa town managed some years later to obtain a verdict from the Israeli high court proving their ownership of the land in al-Qubaibat area — the same location of the evacuated settlement.
