Israeli Forces Target Anti-Settlement Leader in West Bank Crackdown – World news

Israeli occupation forces raided the northern West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum early Thursday, storming the home of Murad Shteiwi, director of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC).

The CWRC, a Palestinian governmental body linked to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), documents the regime’s illegal settlement activity and provides legal defense for Palestinians whose land has been confiscated by Israeli settlers and occupation authorities.

Palestinian sources said heavily armed troops broke into Shteiwi’s residence before abducting him and taking him to an undisclosed location.

In 2014, the regime had arrested Shteiwi over his role in organizing protests against illegal settlements.

Hours later, occupation forces demolished a two-story home under construction in the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah.

Amin Abu Aliya, head of the al-Mughayyir Village Council, told the Palestinian news agency WAFA that Israeli forces “stormed the area and razed the structure under the false pretext of lacking a permit.”

He added that the demolition targeted the southern part of the village, leaving local families displaced.

More than 230 illegal settlements have been established by Israeli settlers since the regime occupied the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967, housing hundreds of thousands of Israelis on Palestinian land.

Under international law, all Israeli settlements are deemed illegal, and multiple UN Security Council resolutions have condemned their continued expansion.

Palestinians seek the West Bank as part of a future independent state, with East al-Quds as its capital.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli regime has escalated its campaign of aggression across the occupied territories, coinciding with its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded in the West Bank as the regime’s forces intensify raids, arrests, and home demolitions across the occupied land.