Colonists Establish New Colonial Outpost Near Jericho

Jericho: Israeli colonists established a new colonial outpost in the Al-Mu'arrajat area northwest of Jericho, marking the fifth such outpost along the Al-Mu'arrajat road, according to local sources and rights monitors. According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, Hassan Malihat, the general supervisor of the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, reported that colonists recently set up a tent, brought in water tanks and a generator, and fenced off the area to prepare it for becoming a permanent outpost. This development is part of a recurring pattern across the occupied West Bank. Eyewitnesses from the nearby Arab al-Malihat Bedouin community, north of Jericho, confirmed that the outpost was established under the protection of Israeli soldiers. Colonists were observed bringing excavation equipment and metal fencing to the site as they initiated groundwork. Hassan Malihat warned that this new outpost is part of a comprehensive colonial plan aimed at seizing a strategically s ignificant corridor that separates Jericho from central parts of the West Bank and restricts movement between the northern and southern regions. Witnesses described the move as a form of gradual Nakba, carried out without bulldozers or mass expulsion, but no less dangerous than forced displacement. They cautioned that the larger goal appears to be the dismantling of Bedouin communities and driving them toward forced displacement. The organization stated that outposts begin with a single tent and soon develop into full-fledged settlements. It added that colonists act as unofficial arms of the Israeli government with full backing from the Israeli military. Al-Baydar emphasized that the expansion cannot be separated from the broader Israeli policy to empty Area C of its Palestinian population, particularly Bedouins, whose structures are regularly demolished and who are denied access to water and energy, while colonists receive wide-ranging support. Residents of the area expressed outrage over what they descr ibed as the international community's silence and the Palestinian authorities' inability to halt the expansion. A local elder from the Arab al-Malihat Bedouin community remarked, 'They're not shooting at us or loading us onto trucks-they're just making life impossible until we leave. This is another form of ethnic cleansing.' Al-Baydar concluded its statement by urging serious international action, including ongoing on-the-ground monitoring and daily documentation of violations. The organization described the situation in Al-Mu'arrajat as a slow-motion massacre taking place away from cameras and called on human rights groups to treat it as an active case of creeping ethnic cleansing.