Tensions escalated on Tuesday morning in the western areas of Dura when a group of extremist Jewish settlers began installing mobile homes in the Khillet Ajouri–Sikka area. Local residents expressed deep anger and concern, describing the move as a new attempt to seize their lands.
Local residents say that western Dura is being continuously targeted, and that this activity is a new phase in the expansion of illegal outposts in the area.
According to reports, earlier this month settlers also began constructing a settlement road in the town of Beit Awwa. The road is being built on lands belonging to the Al-Awawdeh and As-Suweiti families in the Tuwas and Sikka areas, near the military checkpoint located at the entrance to the town.
It has been reported that settlers have seized hundreds of dunams of land west of Dura in order to build roads connecting the illegal outposts established there.
Earlier in February, the Israeli army ordered a halt to the construction of the home of Khaled Al-Ajouri and the livestock shelter of Muharib Al-Amaren in the southwestern area of Hebron. At the same time, work on a water pipeline running from the Beit Al-Roush dam in Dura to farmers in the As-Sahel area was also stopped. The four-kilometer pipeline was being built in its first phase to provide water to dozens of farmers, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture.
At the end of January, Israeli forces carried out a large-scale operation in the Wadi Al-Mughayir Al-Harayek area adjacent to the illegal Haggai settlement near Road 60. During the operation, commercial and agricultural structures were demolished, around 100 olive trees were uprooted, and large areas of land were bulldozed.
The operation also included the demolition of Ahmed Al-Tamimi’s 400-square-meter commercial building. Meanwhile, in the Deir Mousa area of Surif, agricultural structures belonging to the Ghoneimat family were destroyed, around 100 olive trees were uprooted, and approximately 10 dunams of land were leveled.