Military bulldozers started expanding settlements surrounding several villagers, east of the northern west Bank city of Nablus, bulldozed farmlands near Alon Moreh settlement and a hill, 1km away from the settlement.
Military bulldozers started expanding settlements surrounding several villagers, east of the northern west Bank city of Nablus, bulldozed farmlands near Alon Moreh settlement and a hill which is 1 km away from the settlement.
Resident Ayman Zamil from Dir al-Hatab village said that the bulldozers started to uproot the fields in far areas three weeks ago, and that the residents did not notice the bulldozers when they started uprooting the fields.
The army apparently bulldozes the fields during evening hours, in an attempt to avoid being noticed by the residents.
Zamil added that the residents did not receive any annexation orders of their lands, and that the army annexed so far 100 Dunams.
The residents were not allowed to enter the orchards which the army is attempting to annex since the beginning of al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000; in spite all efforts through the District Coordination Office, settlers and soldiers always barred any entry to the lands.
The residents fear that Israeli government intends to house more settlers in the area following the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.    ÂÂ
Also, soldiers uprooted farmlands, and installed monitoring towers near Itamar settlement adjacent to Awarta and Beit Forik, east of Nablus.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli government decided 18 months ago to expand Itamar settlement, and make it 10 times bigger that its current size.
Last month, the Civil Administration Office, which belongs to the Israeli army, decided to annex 1606 Dunams which belong to residents of Dir al-Hatab; army claims that the lands will be used for military purposes and ‘security needs’.
The annexed lands belong to Mustafa Slaeem Mohammad, Suleiman Yousef Amran, Mohammad Hasabn Awwad, Ali Abdullah Awwad, Mustafa Shihada Abdul-Rahman, and Miflih Faleh Abu Hassan.
