Mona Kandil
Press TV, Qaryout village, north of West Bank
Israeli occupation authorities unveiled a new plan to seize about 700 dunums of land in the village of Qaryout in the north of the occupied West Bank. Palestinian farmers, who were not been officially informed about the plan, tried to reach their olive groves, but they were attacked by the settlers and the Israeli soldiers, who also drove them out from their land at gunpoint. The soldiers informed the farmers then that they can only access their land with a special permit from the military.
On Monday, the Israeli military distributed an aerial map, which showed the army will confiscate land classified under 'Area B' in Qaryout in favor of an illegal nearby Israeli settlement known as Eili.
Under the interim Oslo Agreement signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli regime in 1993, the West Bank was divided into three areas: Area (A) under Palestinian control, Area (B) under Palestinian and Israeli control and Area (C) under full Israeli control. According to the activists, the Israeli military distributed new maps showing the change in the classification of land, and the new seizure.
Over the past two weeks, the West Bank witnessed a wave of settler attacks and agricultural assaults as Palestinian farmers began the year’s olive harvest. Attacks were mainly in northern villages near Nablus and Salfit, with the largest concentration of illegal Israeli settlements.
Palestinians warn that the Israeli regime continues to grab their land under different excuses, including military purposes or serving Israeli settlers. And this time here in Qaryout village, the seizure of land mainly aims to annex these areas to the illegal settlement of Eileh.