JERICHO, West Bank: Israeli settlers moved into houses they say they purchased legally near the West Bank city of Jericho this week, while Palestinian officials say the sale documents were forged.
An AFP reporter saw families with children moving into homes on the outskirts of the ancient city in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians fear that the new settlement outpost could bring an increased army presence and settler violence.
Several Palestinian communities in the greater Jericho area have already been driven from their homes by harassment from settlers over the past year.
The Israeli families moved into eight houses just outside Jericho’s city limits on Wednesday, Hanan Greenwood, a settler representative, told AFP, near the ancient site known as the Hasmonean Palaces.
“We’re here in Jericho in eight houses that Nachala bought with our help,” said Greenwood, spokesman for the regional council representing settlers in that part of the West Bank.
Nachala is a right-wing Israeli organization that funds the creation of new settlements in the West Bank, and advocates for the Palestinian territory’s annexation by Israel.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank in settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
The territory is also home to over three million Palestinians, who see the area as a key part of what would be a future Palestinian state.
“We came here yesterday afternoon and we’ve been here for 24 hours, very excited,” Greenwood said.
Hussein Hamayel, governor of the Jericho region, told AFP that the land in question is owned by the Palestinian Authority and cannot be sold.
“What is being promoted is a forgery, not a sale, and what is being circulated is settler propaganda,” Hamayel said.
The land is located in the West Bank’s Area C, which under the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990s falls under full Israeli control.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said that around 30 settlers came to take over the houses on Wednesday, and as they did “they assaulted and robbed two Israeli activists and shot a Palestinian man in the leg.”
Peace Now warned that the presence of settlers so close to Palestinian homes could lead to future displacement and friction.
It gave the example of Hebron, where 400 settlers live in the Old City among 250,000 Palestinians.
Peace Now said the Israeli presence in Hebron has notably “led to constant friction and violence, severe restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement” and also “resulted in the displacement of thousands of Palestinians.”
“It is important to emphasize that even if a genuine purchase did take place, rather than a forgery, the (Israeli) government still has the authority to decide whether to allow the settlement to be established,” the organization added.
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