Occupied Jerusalem: Over the past week, there has been a heightening of Israeli actions and settler rampages in the occupied West Bank, in tandem with moves to expand settlements and outposts onto more land and seize Palestinian water sources, the Palestine Liberation Organization National Bureau for Defending Land said in a report Saturday.

The report warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that his government had endorsed 264 settlements and outposts in the West Bank, while the number of areas designated in less than a year has surged to almost 70, in a prelude to expanding construction, connecting outposts to infrastructure, and legalizing some of them.

It noted that a tender had been issued for the construction of around 1,200 settlement units in the E1 area east of occupied Jerusalem, amid the continued dispute over transferring so-called "law enforcement" powers in the West Bank from the Israeli occupation army to the police.

The report documented a cascade of rampages carried out by settlers in the Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarm and Jordan Valley governorates, including beatings and gunfire, the arson of homes and factories, the uprooting of olive trees and theft of livestock, the establishment of new settlement outposts, land levelling, and the cutting of electricity poles and water lines.

In Jerusalem, the occupation authorities handed out around 30 demolition notices in Anata, while other areas witnessed raids, provocations and demolition notices targeting structures near the Separation Wall, the report said.

In Hebron, the report remarked that Palestinian citizens were wounded by gunfire and attacks by settlers, while a home was set ablaze in Khirbet Hamroush; Bethlehem, Ramallah and Nablus also witnessed attacks that included setting trees and property ablaze and the establishment of new settlement outposts.

In the Jordan Valley, the attacks focused on water sources and grazing lands, as settlers seized an irrigation line in Fasayil and diverted the water into a pool they used for swimming, leaving Palestinian fields parched and bringing agricultural activity to a halt, the report continued.

It added that water lines and solar panels were also vandalized, shepherds were prevented from reaching grazing lands, while occupation forces began excavation work near Al-Hamma Spring for the benefit of settlers.

According to the report, settlers have rampaged through at least 160 water and sanitation sites in the occupied Palestinian territories since the beginning of the year, as Palestinian officials view the targeting of water sources and land as part of a systematic policy aimed at tightening the screws on Palestinians and pushing them to leave their lands. (QNA)

Palestinian report unveils heightened settler rampages across West Bank lands

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