Israeli occupation forces began bulldozing Palestinian-owned land early Monday in the village of al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank’s northern part, as part of ongoing efforts to construct a colonial road network serving illegal Israeli colonies.
Israeli bulldozers razed large swaths of farmland in the northern area of the village known as Wadi Yasuf.
The area has been subjected to repeated similar violations, including the uprooting of dozens of trees in recent months, aimed at expanding the perimeter of the illegal Israeli colonies of Ariel and Tappuah.
These colonies, built on land belonging to the city of Salfit and its surrounding villages, now encroach toward al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya.
Israeli forces have barred Palestinian landowners from accessing or cultivating the targeted area, which is rich with productive olive trees.
On Sunday, the Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission has disclosed that Israeli occupation authorities have issued five new military orders to seize a total of 73 dunams of privately owned Palestinian land in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, located in the central part of the occupied West Bank.
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 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
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”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
