Illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers assaulted a Palestinian farmer on Friday morning in the al‑Mas’udiyya area northwest of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, forcing him off his land and threatening him with further violence if he returned.
A group of colonizers invaded the agricultural area and confronted farmer Ahmad Abu Salah, ordering him to leave and declaring that they had taken control of the land.
Residents reported that the colonizers claimed ownership of the area and warned Abu Salah not to come back.
Fifteen Palestinian families live in al‑Mas’udiyya and face ongoing attacks by both Israeli occupation forces and colonizer groups, part of a sustained effort to pressure them into leaving the area in favor of expanding colonial control.
Al‑Mas’udiyya is an archaeological site that contains remnants of the historic Hijaz Railway, making it both a heritage area and a frequent target of colonizer activity.
In addition, illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers invaded Palestinian lands in the al‑Mazahem area of Duma, south of Nablus, and erected fencing around plots near residents’ homes in an attempt to illegally seize the land.
In related news, Israeli colonizers intensified their attacks on Friday in the southern areas of al‑Mughayyer, east of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, firing live ammunition and invading Palestinian grazing lands under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, who also abducted several international solidarity activists.
On Thursday, Israeli colonizers assaulted an elderly Palestinian man in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and installed five caravans near Beit Sahour, east of Bethlehem, in the southern occupied West Bank.
On Wednesday, illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers carried out multiple attacks across the West Bank, targeting education staff, agricultural land, and residential areas in Tubas in the northeastern West Bank and Ramallah in the central 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.
