Settlers Cut Water Supplies to the Village of Beit Oura Al-Fouqa West of Ramallah

SadaNews - Settlers cut off water supplies to the village of Beit Oura Al-Fouqa, west of Ramallah, today, Thursday.

Local sources reported that settlers from the "Beit Horon" settlement, built on the lands of citizens, closed the main valve supplying the village with water.

The village council stated in a statement that this assault constitutes a tool of collective punishment and revenge, after citizens confronted an attempt by the settlers days ago to steal the lands of the village and establish a new settlement road.

The council added that from the moment the water was cut off, it initiated communication with all relevant parties to address the crisis and allow the technical staff to enter the area of the installations located inside the settlement. However, the technical team was forced to wait until late at night yesterday, Wednesday, near the annexation and separation wall, without being allowed to enter to inspect or repair the damage.

It pointed out that this violation does not only deprive the village residents of water but also affects citizens from outside the village who depend on its water share, amid the policy of deprivation and reduction imposed by the occupying authorities on the water quotas allocated to our people in the West Bank.

The council called on local and international human rights and humanitarian organizations for urgent intervention to stop this violation and ensure the immediate restoration of water to the village, asserting that what is happening represents collective punishment for the peaceful protest and the citizens' rejection of the theft of land for which they hold official documents proving their ownership.

It warned of the accelerating pace of colonial activities in the region, as settlers' vehicles and bulldozers continue to operate around the clock, under the protection of occupation forces, to complete the road construction and impose new realities on the ground. It explained that the area of the village's land is about 4500 dunams, with five-sixths of it effectively isolated due to the colonial roads (Road 443 to the south and the new colonial road to the north), military points of the occupation army to the west, and the "Beit Horon" settlement to the east, which will deprive its owners of using or accessing it, in a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.

It also pointed out that the occupation forces deliberately tighten the pressure on citizens through the military checkpoint that separates the town of Beituniya, west of Ramallah, from the eight towns located to its west (Beit Sira, Beit Nuba, Kherbetta Al-Masbah, Beit Luqia, Al-Tireh, Saffa, Beit Oura Al-Tahta, Beit Oura Al-Fouqa), as local sources reported that searching a single car may take a long time, requiring the owner to remove everything inside and place it on the ground, with young men and women detained for hours.