Palestinian farmland in occupied West Bank set on fire by illegal Israeli settlers

Illegal Israeli settlers this morning set fire to Palestinian farmland in the Bedouin community of Arab Al-Malihat, north-west of Jericho in the occupied West Bank. According to the General Supervisor of Al-Baydar Organisation for Defending Bedouin Rights, Hassan Malihat, Jewish settlers from nearby illegal outposts lit fires in fields of wheat and barley.

The latest arson attack by settlers comes the day after they set fire to land adjacent to Al-Marajat Road, north-west of Jericho, reported Wafa news agency. Another incident near Jericho occurred yesterday when Israeli settlers polluted Al-Auja Spring by dumping waste into it, depriving local Palestinians of clean drinking water.

Malihat told Wafa that the local Palestinian community has been experiencing increasing daily incursions by Israeli settlers. These provocations have intensified recently, coinciding with the growth of colonial outposts in the area north-west of Jericho.

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There around 700,000 illegal Jewish settlers living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank. According to international law, all settlements and settlement outposts built in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal. Israel, however, distinguishes between the two, by claiming that settlements are legal, whereas outposts are set up without due process.

In recent months, illegal settlers have escalated their rampage against Palestinians and their properties throughout the occupied West Bank, ranging from arson attacks, stone-throwing against Palestinians and their vehicles, uprooting crops and olive trees, attacks on homes and the theft of livestock.

The Israeli military has been conducting regular raids in the West Bank over the past few years, but these have escalated since the start of the war against the Palestinians in Gaza last October. Palestinians have also faced violent attacks from illegal settlers. At least 553 Palestinians have been killed since October, and nearly 5,300 others have been wounded by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank alone, according to the ministry of health.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah immediately. More than a million Palestinians had sought refuge in the city even before it was invaded on 6 May.

READ: Report: Israel demolished 318 facilities, uprooted 10,000 olive trees in West Bank this year