RAMALLAH, (Palestine Foundation Information Center )Israeli settlers on Thursday cut off the main water supply to the Palestinian village of Beit Our al-Fauqa, west of Ramallah, as land-clearing operations continue for the construction of new settler roads.
Local sources said settlers from the illegal settlement of “Beit Horon,” built on Palestinian-owned land, shut down the main valve that provides the village with water.
The village council said in a press release that the move represents an act of collective punishment and retaliation, after villagers recently confronted settlers attempting to seize village lands and carve out a new settlement road.
It warned of the rapid escalation of settlement expansion in the area, noting that settlers are working around the clock, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), to complete the road and impose new realities on the ground.
According to the council, Beit Our al-Fauqa encompasses about 4,500 dunums of land. Nearly five-sixths of this land will be effectively cut off due to surrounding settler roads, Highway 443 to the south, the new colonial road to the north, IOF positions to the west, and the Beit Horon settlement to the east. This would deprive villagers of using or accessing most of their farmland, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.
The West Bank has witnessed a dangerous surge in settler terrorism, often carried out from agricultural settlements and outposts. These attacks systematically target Palestinians’ essential resources, particularly water and agricultural lands.
According to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, Israel’s discriminatory water policies have created a severe gap between settlers and Palestinians. While all settlers and Israeli citizens enjoy a daily water supply, only 36 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank have access to water every day, it added.
These assaults are part of an escalating pattern of organized settler violence against Palestinians, fully backed and protected by the IOF. The violence disproportionately targets agricultural areas and water resources, aiming to suffocate Palestinian communities and cement Israel’s settlement expansion.
