Israeli occupation forces on Friday cracked down on anti-land-pillage protests in Beita and Beit Dajan towns, south and east of Nablus city in the West Bank.

Israeli forces used fatal violence to disperse a rally in protest of the construction of the new colonial settlement of Givat Eviatar atop Jabal Sabih, near Beita in addition to another rally to defend Palestinian-owned land threatened with confiscation, east of Beit Dajan.

Joint List MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) receives first aid treatment in a Palestinian Red Crescent’s ambulance near Beit Dajan, Friday, July 8, 2022 (Photo: Zo Haderech)

Director of the Palestinian Red Crescent’s Emergency Department in Nablus, Ahmad Jibril, said that 16 protestors suffocated from tear gas, including Hadash MK Ofer Cassif (Joint List) and a journalist.

The villagers of Beita have not only been protesting decades of Israeli oppression, but also intensified Israeli land pillage of their land. In almost a year, some eight Palestinians from the town were killed and over 620 others were injured while trying to oust the colonial settler outpost built atop Mount Sabih.

In addition to Mount Sabih, Israeli forces have erected another colonial settlement outpost atop Mount Al-Arma, north of Beita, a few months ago, as both mounts enjoy a strategic location as they overlook the Jordan Valley, a fertile strip of land running west along the Jordan River which makes up approximately 30% of the West Bank.

According Wafa Palestinian news agency, the construction of the two colonial outposts atop Mount Sabih, south of Beita, and Mount Al-Arma, north of the town, besides to a bypass road to the west is an Israeli measure to push Palestinian villages and towns into crowded enclaves, ghettos, surrounded by walls and settlements.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=30079