BETHLEHEM,(Palestine Foundation Information Center) Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched large-scale bulldozing operations Thursday in the town of Teqou’, southeast of Bethlehem, to construct a new settlement road—marking yet another escalation in the ongoing annexation and Judaization of the West Bank.
Local sources reported that IOF troops, accompanied by bulldozers and heavy machinery, stormed the areas of Qanan Saqir and Fasoura and began razing land belonging to the Al-Asakira, Al-Zeer, and Jibrin families. The planned road is expected to result in the confiscation of thousands of additional dunums under the pretext of “securing” settler movement.
Residents and activists warn that this project is part of a broader plan to expand settler infrastructure while permanently altering the area’s geography. The move comes as part of a long-standing policy of land theft, accelerated under the cover of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Sources also reported that settlers, backed by the IOF, have already seized more than 20,000 dunums of land around Teqou’ for pastoral colonization. This wave of land grabs is being carried out with near-total impunity, as the IOF continues to provide protection for settlers and facilitates the displacement of Palestinian landowners.
Meanwhile, the IOF has imposed a severe movement lockdown in Teqou’, erecting seven iron gates at key junctions within the town. These barriers isolate neighborhoods from one another and cut residents off from nearby villages, further restricting daily life and deepening the town’s fragmentation.
Teqou’, situated on the southeastern edge of the Bethlehem governorate, has faced years of expanding settlement activity and land seizures. The latest road project is seen as part of an effort to sever geographical continuity between Palestinian communities in the area—reinforcing Israel’s control and undermining any future territorial integrity for a Palestinian state.
