Israeli military bulldozers demolished on Wednesday at dawn an illegal settlement outpost installed by fundamentalist settlers near Qasra village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Eyewitnesses reported dozens of army vehicles and two buses loaded with soldiers surrounded the outpost shortly after midnight before removing the settlers and demolishing a house, several tents, and a number of hothouses illegally installed by the settlers on privately owned Palestinian lands.
Israeli sources reported that several military units were deployed in the area and around it fearing retaliation by settlers, especially from the Yitzhar nearby settlement.
Ghassan Douglas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, described the removal of the outpost as a positive step adding that settlers of the outpost in question conducted several attacks against the Palestinians and their lands in recent days.
The latest and most recent attack carried out by the settlers included uprooting dozens of Palestinian olive trees that belong to residents of Qasra village.
Abdul-Nasser Al Qaryouti, head of the Qaryout village council, told the Maan News Agency that the settlers have stepped-up their attacks against the village and repeatedly hurled stones at vehicles near the entrance of the village.
