The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) suppressed on Friday an anti-settlement event in Beit Dajan village east of Nablus. Several Palestinians were wounded including a journalist.
Local sources said that a settler had taken control of the area and prevented citizens from accessing their lands at gunpoint. For its part the IOF prevented citizens from plowing their lands in the village and stopped agricultural tractors from operating in the area.
The sources pointed out that despite the occupation barriers citizens were able to reach part of their lands and began to sow it with wheat and barley.
IOF fired live and rubber bullets stun grenades and tear gas canisters at the citizens. Several Palestinians suffered breathing difficulty.
The area witnessed military reinforcements from the IOF soldiers and settlers which attacked a number of citizens including the journalist Muhammad Abu Thabet. At least one citizen was wounded by the occupation’s rubber-coated metal bullets.
Dozens of citizens performed Friday prayer on the lands threatened with confiscation.
The event of plowing the lands comes in response to the settlement plans against the area. Settlers recently established an agricultural settlement outpost on the lands of the town which consisted of five caravans and a sheep pen.
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.
The northeastern region of Beit Dajan village witnesses weekly anti-settlement activities. The participants raise Palestinian flags amid chants calling for the occupation to leave and the removal of the settlement outpost that was established on their land.
