By: Madeeha Araj/ NBPRS/
The Israeli government continues its policy of annexation through creating new facts on the ground and a series of successive settlement projects, exploiting the American umbrella of support and bias toward the occupation and its expansionist colonial policies, particularly in Jerusalem and other areas of the occupied West Bank , the National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements reported . The agreement of the Planning and Building Committee of the Israeli Occupation Municipality in Jerusalem with the Israeli Land Authority to build 20,000 housing units in several areas of the city highlights the Israeli intentions to go ahead with this policy. Moreover, the US administration’s resolution to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem aimed to judaizing the Holy City.
The deal, which has been signed between the two sides confirms the investment of NIS 1.4 billion in projects aimed at developing infrastructure and building hotels, commercial and industrial zones in different parts of Jerusalem. The Mayor of the occupation municipality in Jerusalem, Nir Barakat, of the extremist Likud party, described the agreement as “historic and important for the future of Jerusalem.
An Israeli official at the Israeli Housing Ministry said PM Netanyahu’s office wasn’t delaying the construction of thousands of housing units in Jerusalem. This settlement activity is accompanied by the occupation’s attempt to displace the Palestinian communities east of Jerusalem in the Khan Ahmar area in preparation for the start of the construction of settlement facilities within the E1 plan, which aims to annex the Ma’aleh Adumim bloc i.e. 50,000 settlers to the Holy City. Recently, the Israeli occupation authorities have intensified settlement operations and the demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. A year ago, Israeli Housing Minister, Galant said that “Israel is seeking to build 1,000,000 settlement units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem within 20 years.”
Within the context, the so-called “Planning and Building Committee” of the Israeli occupation municipality in Jerusalem approved a plan to build military colleges on Palestinian land in the Ein Kerem village in Jerusalem. Despite the strong opposition from the Franciscan Church and its citizens due to concerns that construction could cause water droughts in the spring of the “Ein Maryam,” a sacred site for Christians.
In a new challenge to international law that doesn’t allow the conversion of military sites established by the occupation for other purposes, the Israeli occupation authorities announced to transfer plan No. 323, camp of the occupation army known as “Rosh Hibka” to settlement named Betronot and the granting of building permits. Knowing that the area of the plan is 298 dunums and aims to convert the land uses from an agricultural area to a “public educational institutions area, engineering facilities, public space, open areas and roads” .
In the Tulkarm governorate, the Israeli occupation forces began bulldozing the area of the village adjacent to the settlement of “Avni Hefts” from the north-east, after the removal of a wall that surrounded the settlement to the east, in preparation for the establishment of 800 housing units as reported by the contractors working there . It seems clear that the occupation authorities are continuing the razing of lands, which resulted in cracking the homes of citizens resulted from explosion in the nearby.
They bulldozed 10 dunums of land belonging to the al-Barqawi family, erected a shooting field and trained Israeli soldiers after the settlers objected the previous shooting field inside the settlement. It was said that the occupation authorities aim to link the settlements in Tulkarm with each other, especially the “Ennab settlement ” located on the lands of Kafr El-Labad and Ramin North, and the “Salait settlement” on the lands of Kafr Sur in the south with the lands of 1948. ” Furthermore, erecting a power station last year and side roads as well as “islands” on both sides of the bypass road
In the northern Palestinian areas, the Israeli army began military exercises in the area of Khirbet Yirza, after 4 Palestinian families were forced to leave the area and leave their land under the pretext of military exercises. This is the third time that the Israeli occupation forces have expelled the families using live ammunition and artillery shells. At the same time, settlers in the Khallet Hamad in the Jordan Valley began to prepare a road that connects the main streets. It was said that they also built caravans and sheep tents.
Beside the occupation army’s bulldozing of large areas in the northern West Bank, the Finance Committee of the Knesset approved yesterday the addition of NIS 35,000,000 to the settlements set up for settlers evacuated from the outposts “Ammonah” and “Netivot Habut.” On the other hand, in order to develop the appropriate infrastructure for its settlement plans, the Israeli occupation authorities decided to complete the installation of cellular antennas in the occupied West Bank. Phones operating on an Israeli segment. PHI, which won a tender to build cellular infrastructure for the Israeli occupation army in the occupied West Bank, will also cover the transmission of “civilian” telephones in areas that suffer from a shortage of transmission to the Israeli satellite campaign. The improvements are mainly aimed at serving hundreds of thousands of settlers in the West Bank Occupied West Bank. In fact, the company has begun to expand its infrastructure, thus built up to date 15 out of 35 plans.
In a provocative move due to the US-led blind policy, a US Republican party’s delegation visited settlements in Bethlehem and confirmed their support for Israeli settlement in the Palestinian territories. The delegation, headed by the party’s candidate for Arkasto, Mike Heikley, visited Efrat, where they were received by the head of the Council of Settlements in the West Bank, Hanan Dorni and the head of the Efrat local council, Oded Rabibi, who expressed their happiness with the visit
Within the context, the US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman said during a meeting on Wednesday with a group of Israelis and Palestinians in his office in Jerusalem, including Likud MK, Yehuda Glick and the head of the Regional Council for Southern Hebron Settlements, said he saw no reason to evacuate the settlements in the occupied West Bank, while MK, Glick said that Friedman had left the impression that he was “tired of eviction programs” and quoted him as saying “new perspectives must be found.” Friedman is one of the most prominent supporters of Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. His statements confirmed previous leaks that the “deal of the century” will keep the settlements in areas of the occupied West Bank under the control of the Israeli occupation.
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