Lina Altawell
01 July 2026•Update: 01 July 2026
In attempt to establish a new settlement, Israeli occupiers raised Israel’s flag near Palestinian homes inside an area classified as Area A in the village of Beit Imrin, northwest of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, a local official said on Wednesday.
“Three occupiers raided the northern side of the village and raised Israeli flags on electricity poles near Palestinian homes,” Akram al-Faqih, head of Beit Imrin village council, told Anadolu.
He said a pastoral settlement outpost was recently established near the area, and occupiers repeatedly raided areas close to Palestinian homes.
“This is an attempt to target the area and establish a new settlement outpost,” Faqih warned.
“Occupiers sneak into areas near residents’ homes and use shepherds to reach them,” he added.
He said Israeli occupiers have carried out repeated attacks on the outskirts of the village, which has about 4,000 residents.
The attacks included assaults on Palestinian homes and vehicles and the theft of sheep, he said.
“Their goal is to expel residents from the village outskirts and push them toward its center,” he affirmed.
“The village council informed the Palestinian liaison authority of the incident, but the flags remain raised,” Faqih said.
The Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now estimates the number of occupiers in the West Bank at about 500,000, in addition to about 250,000 in illegal settlements built in occupied East Jerusalem.
On Monday, Israel Hayom newspaper revealed an illegal settlement plan aimed at taking control of about 100 points inside areas classified as Area A in the occupied West Bank, which are under full Palestinian civil and security control under the Oslo II agreement.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday boasted about accelerating illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, saying his government had established 160 pastoral settlement outposts and approved more than 100 new illegal settlements.
Under the Oslo II agreement signed in 1995, the West Bank is divided into Areas A, B and C. Area A is under full Palestinian control, Area B is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control, while Area C is under full Israeli control and makes up about 60% of the occupied West Bank.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal under international law and says they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.
Palestinians see the settlement projects as part of an accelerating Israeli policy to expand illegal settlements, confiscate land and impose new facts on the ground.
Israel was established in 1948 on lands occupied by armed Zionist organizations that carried out massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians. Israel then occupied the remaining Palestinian territories in 1967 and continues to refuse to withdraw from them.
*Writing by Lina Altawell in Istanbul