Israeli occupation forces abducted Palestinian farmer on Wednesday evening in the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, after detaining him and his family for several hours on their farmland in the Wadi Seif area.
Eyewitnesses stated that the invasion of Beit Fajjar followed multiple attacks by a group of illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers.
They added that soldiers stormed the area, threatened the family, and ordered them not to return, before abducting the farmer, Mohammad Mahmoud Taqatqa.
The targeted farmland spans approximately 200 dunams and is cultivated with grapevines. It is owned by the Taqatqa family and serves as a primary source of livelihood.
Furthermore, the army invaded the town of Jannatah, east of Bethlehem, deploying stun grenades and toxic gas toward commercial establishments to forcibly shut them down.
In a related development, Israeli occupation authorities intensified colonialist activities in the village of Wadi Rahhal, also south of Bethlehem.
A member of the local council confirmed that new mobile housing units were installed in the Khallet an-Nahla area, intended to expand an existing illegal pastoral outpost.
The area is considered an agricultural lifeline for village residents, particularly for seasonal vegetable cultivation. Colonizers released their livestock into the fields, resulting in the complete destruction of crops.
These lands represent the sole source of income for many farming families in the village. Local leaders warned of the continuing policy of land seizure and displacement through systematic settler violence and military pressure.
Such actions are part of a broader wave of colonialist expansion in the southern West Bank, where Israeli occupation authorities seek to impose new realities on the ground, restrict Palestinian farmers’ movement, and obstruct efforts to rehabilitate their agricultural lands.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
