After Israel’s settlement expansion has devoured the bulk of Qaryut town in southern Nablus especially in Area C of the occupied West Bank settlers’ eyes are now directed at Area B in order to steal the remaining tracts of land from this settlement-afflicted town.
What has exposed Israel’s settlement expansionism in Area B is the attempt of the municipal council of Qaryut to build an agricultural road leading to the Palestinian area of Batisha in the west of the town and near the illegal settlement of Eli.
Just immediately after the town’s municipal council embarked on carrying out the road project dozens of Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian workmen and physically assaulted them and later Israeli soldiers intervened and forced the workers to stop building the road and leave the area with their equipment.
Less than a week later the road workers returned to the area to resume their work but Israeli forces stormed the site and forced them again to leave at gunpoint.
The area of Batisha in Qaryut contains vast tracts of land that are planted with olive trees and it is considered the only remaining agricultural area which Qaryut residents can reach almost freely because it is located in Area B which is under the Palestinian civil jurisdiction according to the classifications stipulated by Oslo Accords.
Qaryut is located about 26 kilometers to the south of Nablus and its total area is approximately 20000 dunums of land of which 14000 dunums are located within Area C according to Oslo Accords. However the residents of Qaryut are allowed to build only on 360 dunums of land.
It is one of the Palestinian towns and villages that are systematically targeted by the Israeli occupation state and Jewish settlers. Thousands of dunums of its land have been seized to build and expand illegal settlements.
Israeli settlements encircle Qaryut from all sides and they keep encroaching into further territory eliminating any possibility for the native population to expand their residential and agricultural areas.
The settlements built on grabbed land in the town are Eli established in 1984 and Shvut Rachel 1995 and Shiloh 1979. There are also the outposts of Hioval Givat Ariel Kida and Adei Ad.
These settlements and outposts devoured 65 percent of the total area of Qaryut (about 14000 dunums of land).
Such systematic settlement expansion and activity in Qaryut and its nearby areas are aimed at forcing the native population to migrate in order to connect the three settlements in the town with each other and make them one huge settlement bloc extending from Ariel settlement to the Jordan Valley in the east.
