Palestinian says settlers took over West Bank home he was building for newlywed son |
Mohammad Salameh was building a home for his family in the West Bank, where his recently engaged son was meant to start married life. Instead, before construction was complete, a group of Israeli settlers seized the property.
Video filmed earlier in the week and verified by Reuters showed at least six settlers moving around on the roof of the two-story house, which sits below a nearby hill in the Nablus-area Palestinian village of Jalud.
Salameh said appeals to the Israeli military and police brought no help. Now he fears his home, which like many others in the Palestinian territory is surrounded by Israeli settlements and smaller outposts, is lost forever. Other houses in the area could suffer the same fate, he said.
“The neighbor close by has built a two-story house, which they will probably take too,” said Salameh. “If we lose this house, they will lose theirs.”
“Only God knows if there is law and order, then they will leave,” he said of the settlers. “If they succeed in taking one, then the rest will follow.”
Reuters was unable to reach the settlers for comment. One of them could be seen walking on the house’s roof on Thursday.
The IDF said it received a report regarding the house earlier this week and that “soldiers arrived at the area and quickly acted to disperse the gathering.” The military did not comment on the settlers’ continued presence in the house.
The IDF said law enforcement regarding actions by settlers in the West Bank is the responsibility of Israel’s police, which did not respond to a request for comment.
⚡️مستوطنون بحماية من قوات الاحتلال يستولون........