Israeli Forces Clear Palestinian Lands In Nahalin, West Of Bethlehem, As Settlers Smash Gravestones

Israeli forces continued broad-scale land-clearing operations on the lands of Palestinian residents in Nahalin, west of Bethlehem, with bulldozers targeting vital lands in the Ain Fakih area for expansion and settlement activities.

“Expansion of settlement activity continues in the town of Nahalin, west of Bethlehem, with new roads being cut and the settlements and surrounding outposts expanding around the town, at a time when residents say these projects have narrowed their access to farmland and reduced the areas available to them”

Al-Jazeera Net

The Yemeni news agency سبأ said extremist Jewish settlers smashed gravestones in the Rashaidah cemetery east of Bethlehem Governorate, describing it as an attack targeting the cemetery and surrounding lands.

Al-Jazeera Net

Local Palestinian sources told سبأ that the cemetery lies about 3 kilometers east of the village and contains more than two thousand graves, including graves of martyrs dating back to the British Mandate era.

سبأ also reported that the West Bank is witnessing an unprecedented settlement wave through successive and escalating attacks, and that the Palestinian Resistance to the Wall and Settlements Commission documented 1,637 assaults during April affecting various Palestinian governorates.

Naeem Fanoun, the mayor of Nahalin, confirmed that settlement plans seized vast areas of the town’s land, with its total area decreasing from 24,000 dunams to only about 12,000.

Al Jazeera Net reported that Nahalin has become surrounded by four settlements interspersed with random settlement outposts, turning it into 'an island in a sea of settlements.'

Jarida Al-Quds

Al Jazeera Net added that conditions have grown more complex since October 7, 2023, after farmers faced great difficulty reaching agricultural lands and those who manage to reach them are subjected to arrest or detention and harassment.

In field testimonies, farmer أبو معاذ said access to land is now fraught with risk, prompting some farmers to head to the land at night to care for trees and prune them, while farmer حسين شكارنة warned that pastoral outposts established by settlers have become a tool for deliberately destroying crops.

جريدة القدس described a direct military siege in the form of iron gates installed by occupation forces at Nahalin’s main entrances, saying the gates control the fate of thousands of citizens and are used as a tool for collective punishment by closing them for long periods.

“Bethlehem – Saba: Israeli forces continued, on Tuesday, broad-scale land-clearing operations on the lands of Palestinian residents in the town of Nahalin, southwest of Bethlehem in the West Bank”

Wikālat Sabā'

Al-Jazeera Net said the West Bank has witnessed an Israeli escalation by the army and settlers since 8 October 2023, resulting in 1,175 Palestinians martyred and 12,919 wounded, the detention of about 24,000, and the displacement of 33,000, according to official Palestinian figures.

In the same account, Al-Jazeera Net reported that new pastoral outposts directly affect agricultural lands after being used as grazing for settlers’ sheep, which leads to crop damage and harm to the land.

جريدة القدس also said these developments coincide with widespread arrest campaigns affecting about 24,000 citizens under a systematic displacement policy aimed at changing the demographic and geographical reality in the occupied Palestinian territories.