Ramallah, June 1 (Petra) -- Extremist Jewish settlers on Monday established a new settlement outpost near the town of Al-Auja, north of Jericho.

Hassan Mleihat, Chairman of Albaidar Association for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, said in a statement that large numbers of armed settlers brought equipment to the area and carried out bulldozing work aimed at imposing a new colonial reality on the ground.

Mleihat said seven pastoral settlement outposts are located in Al-Auja, describing them as among the main tools used to seize Palestinian land and restrict residents, threatening their presence and continuity in the northern valley and Jericho areas in favor of Israeli settlement expansion.

In a related development, Israeli occupation forces demolished commercial shops in the central vegetable market, known as Al-Hisbeh, in the town of Beita, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.

Beita Municipality said in a statement that Israeli occupation forces raided the market at dawn, forced shop owners to remove goods and vegetables, and then began demolishing the shops with bulldozers.

Settlers also attacked the town of Burin, south of Nablus. Burin Municipality said several extremist Jewish settlers attacked the town in the morning, prevented a farmer from working on his land, and attempted to attack a home in the village before residents confronted them.

Israeli occupation forces also carried out a series of raids across several West Bank cities, towns, villages, and camps, as well as occupied Jerusalem. The raids included arrests, home searches, and field interrogations of dozens of Palestinians.

Several areas in the West Bank witnessed raids on homes and facilities, military measures, the detention of residents, searches inside homes, tampering with property, and field interrogations.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement that Israeli occupation forces detained 15 Palestinians.

//Petra// AO