Israeli troops forcibly dispersed, on Friday afternoon, dozens of Palestinian Muslim worshipers, while performing the Friday sermon on Palestinian-owned land in the Aseera Al-Shamaliya village, north of Nablus city, in northern West Bank.
Local Palestinian media sources and witnesses said that the piece of land, on which dozens of locals wanted to perform the Friday prayer and sermon, has recently been threatened by illegal Israeli colonists.
The sources added that last week, several armed colonialist settlers, placed two mobile caravans on the hilltop of Ebal mountain in the area number 37 of Aseera Al-Sahamaliya village, known as the Khalat Aldaliya neighborhood.
According to the sources, dozens of the villagers set their Friday prayer on the land, threatened by illegal colonists.
Witnesses noted that as soon as the local worshipers began their Friday sermon, Israeli troops opened fire with rubber-coated steel rounds and tear-gas canisters, towards the crowd, causing many of them to suffocate and disrupting the prayer.
Noteworthy, a number of illegal Israeli colonies have been erected on Palestinian-owned lands in the Nablus city.
Recently, armed colonist settlers have carried out a series of provocative actions, including placement of mobile caravans, and breaking into Palestinian-owned farm lands, under the full protection of Israeli soldiers.
Such measures by illegal settlers, come at a time when the Israeli government has declared its intentions to annex at least 30 percent of the West Bank region.
This week, Israel seemingly delayed the expropriation, given international pressure and Washington’s discussions with Tel-Aviv over such a highly-controversial plans.
According to United Nations Security Council resolution of 1967, the West Bank is an occupied Palestinian territory, which Israel occupied in June, 1967, and later filled with internationally-dubbed illegal settlement blocks.
Currently, there are around 200 of such Israeli colonial settlements, inhabited by more than 600,000 illegal Israeli colonists, across the West Bank.
