On Thursday afternoon, illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers burnt agricultural lands near Rantis village, located to the west of Ramallah in the central part of the occupied West Bank.
Majid Khalaf, the head of the Rantis Village Council, stated that a group of colonizers of the so-called “Hilltop Youth” group invaded Palestinian olive orchards in the northern part of the village, and set them ablaze.
Khalaf added that the flames engulfed many trees before being extinguished by the villagers with the help of Palestinian Civil Defense firefighters from the nearby town of Ni’lin.
The fire consumed large areas, burning dozens of olive trees and saplings before the fire was contained.
It is worth mentioning that, just a day earlier, the colonizers burnt another olive orchard in the western part of the village.
Khalaf also said that the colonizers frequently attack Palestinian lands and orchards in the area, especially after they established a new colonialist outpost on stolen Palestinian lands on a nearby hill.
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.
Both Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Criminal Court Rome Statute prohibit settlement activity.
According to Article 8(2) of the Rome Statute, ‘the transfer, directly or indirectly, by an occupying power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory’ are unlawful. In 2021, United Nations Palestine expert Michael Lynk said Israeli settlements should be classified as war crimes under the Rome Statute.
