Israel to illegally confiscate land from Palestinian villager in occupied Nablus

Israeli forces have begun levelling land in a village in the occupied West Bank in preparation to expand a nearby illegal settlement.

Israeli forces armed with machinery invaded the Palestinian village of Einabous, south of the occupied city of Nablus on Tuesday, and began to raze lands owned by a Palestinian civilian to expand the illegal settlement of Yitzhar, which is notorious for being the largest settlement in the area.

Ghassan Daghlas, Palestinian Authority official who monitors Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, said the land was owned by Hashim Mustafa Al’an.

The village of Einabous has been targeted by settlers for arson attacks for some months pending to the expansion, according to Bethlehem based Ma’an News Agency.

In May, Israel announced its plan to confiscate 1,500 square meter of land from Palestinians in the village of Huwwara, to the south of Nablus.

At the time, Daghlas said the Israeli army announced to take over the land to supplement the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar.

In February last year, the Israeli Knesset passed a controversial law that would legalise the annexation of land privately-owned by Palestinians to benefit Israeli settlement enterprise in the occupied territories.

51 years of illegal occupation

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967, committing various crimes against Palestinian civilians.

More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in constructions considered illegal under international law.

Along with stealing land, occupying Israeli forces and settlers routinely torment Palestinians.

The corpse of a man from Nablus was recently held for three months before he was allowed to be lay to rest in July.

Mohammed Abdulkarim Marshoud a 30-year-old father of four died after a settler shot him in the head in April at the illegal settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. 

The settler who killed him alleged that he was about to be attacked by Marshoud with a screwdriver. Initially the Israeli army said he was about to attack the settler with a knife, but later retracted the statement.

After his death, Marshoud’s family told The New Arab that they were not informed when Israel would hand over his corpse for burial.

The Israeli police held the corpse for more than three months before returning it to the family for a burial at his hometown in Balata refugee camp in Nablus.