New Israeli Settlement Outpost Near Nablus

Settlers targeting Palestinian olive farmers in Huwara in the West Bank on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. AFP
Settlers targeting Palestinian olive farmers in Huwara in the West Bank on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. AFP
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New Israeli Settlement Outpost Near Nablus

Settlers targeting Palestinian olive farmers in Huwara in the West Bank on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. AFP
Settlers targeting Palestinian olive farmers in Huwara in the West Bank on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. AFP

Dozens of settlers set on Wednesday a new settlement outpost on Palestinian territories in Beit Dajan village near Nablus city.

The settlers arrived late at night and began setting up the new outpost on private Palestinian lands belonging to the residents of the village, five kilometers away from their homes, eyewitnesses said.

They installed an animal barn and extended water pipelines to supply the new outpost with water from the Alon Moriah Israeli settlement near the village.

They also built a several-kilometer road, causing damages and confiscating hundreds of dunums of Palestinian lands.

Meanwhile, the Land Research Center of the Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem reported that the Israeli army issued 63 military orders to close areas and lands planted with olive trees in separate parts of the West Bank, coinciding with the beginning of the harvest season in the Palestinian territories.

The orders target about 3,000 dunums of lands planted with olive trees in separate areas of the governorates of Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus.

The army considered them as part of or belonging to the settlements.

According to the orders, nobody is allowed to enter these areas, and whoever is present therein shall immediately leave. They also claimed that they exclude holders of permits issued by the occupation authorities.

This means that many Palestinian families and farmers will not have access to their lands and would not be unable to harvest their trees or make olive oil.

Palestinians considered the military orders an official support from the occupation authorities for settlers who usually wait for the olive harvest season to prevent farmers from accessing their lands.

In Wednesday, Israelis of Leshem settlement burned nearly 50 olive trees in Deir Samaan area, east of Deir Ballut.



EU Official Hold Talks in Algeria on ‘New Pact for Mediterranean’

European Commission Director-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Stefano Sannino. (EU)
European Commission Director-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Stefano Sannino. (EU)
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EU Official Hold Talks in Algeria on ‘New Pact for Mediterranean’

European Commission Director-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Stefano Sannino. (EU)
European Commission Director-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Stefano Sannino. (EU)

The European Commission’s Director-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, Stefano Sannino, made an official visit to Algiers on Tuesday to discuss with senior Algerian officials the reviving of their “Partnership Agreement” and a plan to engage the partner countries of the Southern Neighborhood in the New Pact for the Mediterranean.

In a statement, the European Commission said Sannino will stay in Algeria until April 24.

“This mission is firmly in line with the consultations conducted on the New Pact for the Mediterranean, which the European Commission will adopt in the coming months, with a view to promoting a more integrated and supportive approach to regional cooperation,” the statement said.

During this visit, Sannino will hold talks with representatives of several Algerian ministerial departments, including Foreign Affairs, Energy, Finance, and Culture.

He will also take part, on Wednesday, in the opening of a conference on “New Investment Dynamics and Prospects for Cooperation” between the European Union in Algeria, jointly organized by the Delegation of the European Union in Algeria and the Algerian Investment Promotion Agency (AAPI), in the presence of representatives of the Algerian Economic Renewal Council (CREA) and the business community in Algeria.

The visit will provide a valuable opportunity to reaffirm the EU’s commitment to revitalizing bilateral cooperation with Algeria, within the broader and strategically articulated framework of the New Pact for the Mediterranean, the Commission said.

It added that the EU “aspires to a partnership that goes beyond the very strong existing relations, particularly in the energy sector, to build other strategic complementarities for sustainable and inclusive growth, in a changing geopolitical context and facing shared challenges such as reindustrialization, economic competitiveness, and the green transition.”

The visit comes as Algeria’s Foreign and Commerce ministries hold talks with the North Africa Unit at the Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission, aimed at reviving their “Partnership Agreement” signed in 2002.

The new Agenda for the Mediterranean was launched by the European Union in 2021 to strengthen the strategic partnership with its Southern Neighborhood partners in trade and renewable energies, upgrading facilities and infrastructure, and managing migration and counter-terrorism issues.