Bethlehem /PNN/

Israeli settlers have trespassed Palestinian-owned land, razing a large swathe of it to expand a nearby settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Qasem Awwad, an official at the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, said that the settlers razed about 50 dunums of land located south of the city of Nablus on Monday in order to expand the nearby settlement of Yitzhar.

According to Awwad, the setters have recently set up a number of settler units in the razed area to pave the way for the seizure of more land owned by Palestinians from the town of Huwara and the villages of Burin and Asira al-Qibliya in Nablus Province.

Awwad accused the Israeli government of colluding with settlers and covering up their illegal activities, which aim at seizing Palestinian land for settlement expansion and turning the West Bank cities, towns and villages into isolated cantons.