A group of several hundred armed paramilitary colonizers, accompanied by dozens of Israeli soldiers, stormed the village of Awarta, south of Nablus, on Monday to perform religious rituals at a site located on Palestinian land in Awarta.
To prepare for the arrival of the paramilitary colonizers, Israeli troops fired sound bombs at the roofs of Palestinian homes in the village, causing distress to the residents and terrifying the children in their homes.
According to Saad Awad, the head of the Awarta Village Council, after terrorizing the villagers with military vehicles and sound bombs, the paramilitary settlers invaded with more than twenty buses. They entered the shrines of al-Fadil and al-Eizar, which are ancient sites in the village.
Awad added that although right-wing extremist Jews believe that there is a religious significance to the site for people who practice Judaism, he said that no archaeological evidence supports the colonizers’ claims.
In a separate incident on Tuesday morning, a group of around a hundred right-wing paramilitary Israeli settlers blocked a road at the Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya Junction, south of Nablus. The armed paramilitary gang acted with complete impunity, and with the support and protection of Israeli soldiers.
Yaqoub Owais, head of the Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya village council, told reporters with the Ma’an News Agency that around 100 settlers closed the road in a demonstration to prevent students from returning to their school.
Owais said that the settlers stated their goal is to take over the Palestinian school in the village and turn it into a Jewish school. They plan to use force to achieve their objective.
Since the Palestinian population in the West Bank lives under Israeli martial law, there is no recourse for Palestinians when their land is stolen, property taken over or village invaded in this way. The Israeli settlers who have taken over land in the West Bank by force, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, do so with no legal ramifications, and Palestinians have no legal recourse by which to seek justice for their stolen land and property.
The action took place just as students were preparing to return to the village school. But due to the paramilitary forces’ action, they were unable to open their school for classes. However, the school principal vowed to re-open on the following day.
