Qalqilya: The Israeli occupation authorities have intensified their activities by installing 12 mobile homes at a new colonial outpost on Palestinian-owned land east of Qalqilya. This relocation, which accommodates 10 families of Israeli colonists, took place under substantial protection from the Israeli army.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, Murad Shteiwi, who is the director of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission in the northern West Bank, disclosed that this development is part of a larger strategy to expand colonial outposts associated with the Kedumim settlement. This settlement is established on land that belongs to the village of Kafr Qaddum, located east of Qalqilya.
Shteiwi further revealed that the groundwork for this expansion began six months ago when the Israeli authorities commenced the construction of a settler-only road. This involved the bulldozing of approximately 10 dunums of land and led to the establishment of a new colonial outpost named Gideon's Neighborhood on Mount al-Kadan. The outpost is now integrated into the Kedumim settlement, effectively seizing land from the nearby village of Kafr Qaddum.
The expansion poses significant challenges for Palestinian farmers, as highlighted by Shteiwi. He warned that the newly established outpost threatens to limit access for farmers to thousands of dunums of land planted with olive trees north of the village. This could result in the isolation of these agricultural lands, depriving their owners of the ability to cultivate and access them, thereby impacting their livelihoods and the local economy.
