Jericho: Israeli colonists on Friday evening set up a new colonial outpost to the west of al-Auja town, north of the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, according to an activist. Hassan Mleihat, the general supervisor of the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouins' Rights, reported that the Bedouin communities of al-Auja detected Israeli colonists bringing vehicles and erecting metal bases and tent sheets to serve as the nucleus of a new outpost to the west of the town.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency, the newly established outpost overlooks the Al-Auja town from the south and the Arab al-Kaabna Bedouin community from the southwest. This development follows the establishment of another colonial outpost just five days ago near the dwellings of Palestinian inhabitants in the Shallal al-Auja Bedouin community, north of Jericho.
Colonists' violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities. Such violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, and attacks on vulnerable homes, among others. According to data from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, colonists carried out 231 acts of vandalism and theft of Palestinian property in the West Bank during April, affecting large areas of land and uprooting 1,168 olive trees.
Approximately 1 million Israeli colonists are living in colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law.
