Middle East Monitor / March 30, 2022
Extremist Jewish settlers set up a new settlement outpost on Tuesday near the Bedouin community in Al-Muarrajat area between the occupied West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho, Wafa news agency has reported.
According to the Director of Al-Baydar Origination for the Defence of Bedouin Rights, Hassan Malehat, the Jewish settlers took building materials and a water tank to the location. Protected by Israeli occupation soldiers, he explained, the settlers built a housing unit on the land owned by the local Bedouin community.
Malehat pointed out that extremist settlers backed by the Israeli occupation forces frequently work to restrict the movements of Palestinians in the area and block access for shepherds trying to get their flocks to the fields.
There are over 700,000 Jewish settlers living in colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, noted Wafa. All settlements are illegal under international law. So-called settlement “outposts” are even illegal under Israeli law.
Jewish settler violence has been on the rise since last year, and the Israeli government does little to stop it or punish those responsible. Experts believe that the rise of unpunished settler violence is one of the reasons behind the ongoing series of deadly attacks in Israel.
