HEBRON– Israeli settlers today laid the groundwork for the construction of a settler-only road in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, according to an activist.
Issa Amro, former founder of Youth Against Settlement, said that under the cover of darkness, the settler bulldozer leveled Palestinian land in Tal Rumeida neighborhood for the construction of the new road that would connect Karantina area to the neighborhood.
The 500-meter-long and 4-meter-wide road would be constructed on lands belonging to Hebron Municipality as well as to the Ju‘beh, Dandis, Natsheh and ‘Amro families, noting that the Municipality and the families have title deeds.
Youth Against Settlement slammed the construction of the new road as an act of daylight robbery intended to strip Palestinian landowners of their holdings and an act of sabotage of centuries-old olive trees and Palestinian identity.
The Palestinian neighborhood is located in the Israeli-controlled area of the old town, known as H2, where several hundred extremist Jewish settlers are based. Israel heavily restricts movement and activity of Palestinians in H2 area while allowing the settlers free movement and access.
The city of Hebron, which houses the Ibrahimi Mosque, is home to roughly 160,000 Palestinian Muslims and about 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers who live in compounds heavily guarded by Israeli troops.
Israel has expelled the only international monitors protecting Hebron’s Palestinians from 800 heavily guarded settlers, one of whom committed the 1994 massacre that triggered their deployment.
Source: Palestine News And Information Agency