Surrounded by armed security guards, the Israeli machinery shoved aside earth to create new routes for Jewish settlements, carving up the land around Samara's village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa and creating new barriers to movement for Palestinians. "This is to prevent the residents from reaching and using this land," said Samara, a member of his village council.
He told Reuters the move would "trap the villages and the residential communities" by confining them exclusively to the areas they live in. With each new road that makes movement for Jewish settlers easier, Palestinians in the West Bank who are usually barred from using the routes face fresh hurdles in reaching nearby towns, workplaces or agricultural land.
While several major European countries, including Britain and France, in September joined an expanding list of nations recognising a Palestinian state, Israeli settlements on the West Bank have been expanding at an increasingly rapid pace under Prime Minister Netanyahu's government as the Gaza war has raged. Palestinians and most nations regard settlements as illegal under international law. Israel disputes this. Hagit Ofran, a member of the Israeli activist group Peace Now, said new roads being bulldozed around Beit Ur al-Fauqa and beyond were a bid by Israel to control more Palestinian land. (Read more)
