BETHLEHEM, Friday, June 24, 2022 (WAFA) – Israeli colonizers Friday dawn hoisted the flag of Israel atop a mosque in Kisan village, east of Bethlehem city, according to local sources.
Ahmad Ghazal said that a group of colonizers sneaked their way into the southern West Bank village, vandalized the main entrance of a local mosque, and attempted to break inside, but could not do so.
The vandals, Ghazal added, ascended to the mosque roof, and hoisted a flag of Israel.
Located 11 kilometers to the south of Bethlehem city, Kisan has a population of some 600 and occupies a total area of 133,330 dunams.
Under the Oslo Accords, an agreement made 25 years ago that was supposed to last just five years toward a self-governing country alongside Israel, the Palestinian Authority was given limited control over a tiny pocket of land occupying 112 dunams, accounting for less than 1 percent of the village’s total area. Israel maintains control over 108,952, classified as Area C, accounting for 81.7 percent. The remaining part of 24,266 dunams, accounting for 18 percent, is classified as a nature reserve.
Israel has established three colonial settlements, namely Ma‘ale Amos and Mizpe Shalem besides to the settlement outpost of Ibei Hanahal on lands confiscated from the village. It has confiscated further land for the construction of settler-only by-pass road no. 901 and road no. 3698, which extends for 16.1 kilometers on the village land.
Israel has constructed a section of the apartheid wall, confiscating, and isolating some 87,344 dunams of fertile land, accounting for 65.5 percent of the village total area, for colonial settlement activities and pushing the villagers into a crowded enclave, a ghetto, surrounded by walls, colonies, and military installations.
