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.



Palestinian NGO to Ask UK Court to Block F-35 Parts to Israel over Gaza War

Protesters demonstrate outside the Royal Courts of Justice ahead of a legal challenge brought by the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq over Britain's exports of parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, amid its conflict with Hamas, in London, Britain, November 18, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin
Protesters demonstrate outside the Royal Courts of Justice ahead of a legal challenge brought by the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq over Britain's exports of parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, amid its conflict with Hamas, in London, Britain, November 18, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin
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Palestinian NGO to Ask UK Court to Block F-35 Parts to Israel over Gaza War

Protesters demonstrate outside the Royal Courts of Justice ahead of a legal challenge brought by the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq over Britain's exports of parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, amid its conflict with Hamas, in London, Britain, November 18, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin
Protesters demonstrate outside the Royal Courts of Justice ahead of a legal challenge brought by the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq over Britain's exports of parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, amid its conflict with Hamas, in London, Britain, November 18, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin

Britain is allowing parts for F-35 fighter jets to be exported to Israel despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, lawyers for a Palestinian rights group told a London court on Monday.

West Bank-based Al-Haq, which documents alleged rights violations by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is taking legal action against Britain's Department for Business and Trade at London's High Court, Reuters reported.

Israel has been accused of violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza war, with the UN Human Rights Office saying nearly 70% of fatalities it has verified were women and children, a report Israel rejected.

Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians and denies committing abuses and war crimes in the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Al-Haq's case comes after Britain in September suspended 30 of 350 arms export licences, though it exempted the indirect export of F-35 parts, citing the impact on the global F-35 programme.

Al-Haq argues that decision was unlawful as there is a clear risk F-35s could be used in breach of international humanitarian law.

British government lawyers said in documents for Monday's hearing that ministers assessed Israel had committed possible breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL) in relation to humanitarian access and the treatment of detainees.

Britain also "accepts that there is clear risk that F-35 components might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL", its lawyer James Eadie said.

Eadie added that Britain had nonetheless decided that F-35 components should still be exported, quoting from advice to defense minister John Healey that suspending F-35 parts "would have a profound impact on international peace and security".

A full hearing of Al-Haq's legal challenge is likely to be heard early in 2025.

The Gaza health ministry says more than 43,800 people have been confirmed killed since the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023.