Israeli settlers are advancing plans to expand the illegal settlement of Rahalim east of Salfit in the central occupied West Bank at the expense of tens of dunums of private Palestinian agricultural land local sources said.
Eyewitnesses reported that dozens of Israeli settlers have recently leveled agricultural land in Yasuf and Iskaka towns east of Salfit for new settlement units.
According to Palestinian figures roughly 640000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government’s approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s settlements in the West Bank are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention according to the UN which forbids states from transferring their citizens to occupied land as well as a presumptive war crime under the 1998 Statute of Rome that set up the International Criminal Court.
