Illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers began setting up a new colonial outpost on Wednesday on Palestinian‑owned land in the town of Beit Iksa, northwest of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank.
Local sources said that around 40 colonizers, accompanied by Israeli occupation soldiers and police, invaded the areas of Ras Freij, Krum al‑Gharaba, and Al‑Mattata with four trucks and a bulldozer, where they began leveling land and installing structures in preparation for establishing the outpost.
Residents reported that the colonizers closed the agricultural road used by villagers to reach their farmland and threatened Palestinians at gunpoint, warning them not to approach their own land.
The colonizers had invaded the area two weeks earlier and erected an outpost, prompting confrontations with residents who attempted to stop them.
Although the colonizers withdrew at that time, they returned on Wednesday with direct military and police protection and resumed efforts to establish a permanent colonial presence.
Beit Iksa, located about eight kilometers northwest of occupied Jerusalem and home to roughly 2,000 residents, has been subjected to years of Israeli measures that have isolated it from its surroundings.
Military roadblocks and the Annexation Wall encircle the town, and large areas of its land have been confiscated for surrounding colonies. These restrictions severely limit residents’ access to their agricultural land and threaten their livelihoods.
In related news, Israeli colonizers established a new colonial outpost at dawn on Wednesday on Mount Ebal north of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, with direct involvement from the so‑called “Samaria Regional Council” and the colonialist organization “Amana.”
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.
