Israeli settlers’ bulldozers razed more Palestinian lands in Deir Ballut town in Salfit province to the north of the West Bank to pave the way for settlement expansion.
The PIC reporter quoted local farmers as saying that bulldozers belonging to the Israeli illegal settlement of Leshem razed Palestinian agricultural lands located near the local homes in the town.
The bulldozing operations led to a severe lack of land for local farmers and distorted the beautiful landscape the sources added.
The Leshem settlement was constructed in 2013 on Palestinian lands from the nearby Kafr al-Dik and Deir Ballut villages.
At the time three major architectural sites in the area were damaged by its construction.
Some 12 thousand dunums were confiscated from the Kafr al-Dik village out of the original 20 thousand dunums.
Leshem is located within the expansive Ariel settlement bloc as it cuts deep into the northern West Bank south of Nablus.
The construction of settlements and the transfer of the occupying power’s population into occupied lands is strictly forbidden under international law and critics have likened the situation to “colonialism” and “apartheid.”
