Israel settlers rebuild illegal outpost in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers today rebuilt a settlement outpost in the Palestinian village of Al-Lubban Ash-Sharqiya near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, reported Wafa news agency.

According to local residents, groups of extremist settlers stormed the Al-Jneina neighbourhood, located on the outskirts of the village to set up the outpost, in preparation to build a new settlement in the area.

The village has been a frequent target of settler attacks, as dozens of settlers and soldiers usually storm the village and prevent students from reaching their schools.

Palestinian families in Lubban Sharqiya send their children to a school near Road 60 and have been vulnerable to attacks from settlers and Israeli forces for several years.

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Almost 3,000 Palestinians live in Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya, which sits on the main road that connects several Palestinian towns and villages to the city of Nablus in the north.

There are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, noted Wafa. All settlements are illegal under international law. So-called settlement “outposts” are even illegal under Israeli law.

Jewish settler violence has been on the rise since last year, and the Israeli government does little to stop it, or punish those responsible. Experts believe that the rise of unpunished settler violence is one of the reasons behind the ongoing series of deadly attacks in Israel.