المكتب الوطني للدفاع عن الارض ومقاومة الاستيطان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
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By: Madeeha Araj,
The Israeli government is backing a plan to build a new outpost containing 1,100 housing units in north-east Jerusalem that separates Palestinian communities and prevents the territorial contiguity among the East Jerusalem’s neighborhoods and other outskirts of Ramallah and Al-Bireh . According to the plan, construction in Jerusalem will be expanded to the east, linking Neveh Ya’akov and the settlement of Givat Binyamin that lies to the east of the Separation Wall. The new outpost is considered part of the “Givat Binyamin” settlement, where the Minister of Housing, Yoav Galant, assured the details of the plan as he said, “We will build everywhere we can in order to provide solutions to the housing shortage, especially in Jerusalem. He added the establishment of the new outpost strengthens our presence in Jerusalem and keeps the settlers in their positions instead of moving to Maale Adumim and Modi’in.
At the same time, the Israeli occupation authorities approved a plan to build 900 new settlement housing units in the settlements of the occupied Jerusalem of which building 355 units in the Gilo settlement, 250 units in the Ramot settlement, 220 units in the “Nabi Ya’akov” settlement, and 116 in “Pisgat Zeev settlement.”
In a provocative context, Head of the Regional Council for Settlements in the Northern West Bank, Yossi Dagan conducted a tour in the Old City of Jerusalem, he also visited the so-called “Sedkiyahu Cave” a Jewish naming of the cave, which is an archaeological one located under the Old City of Jerusalem. Morover, Dagan in a statement to the 7th Israeli channel said that he will organize a ‘special tour in East Jerusalem, accompanied by all the heads of settlements’ in the occupied West Bank in the coming days. He added, ‘Everyone should come here and support the fighters stationed in the place’. Furthermore, sources quoted Matti Dan as “thanking” the head of the settlements in the occupied West Bank for “strengthening settlement in the Old City”, adding that “Jerusalem and Samaria” were liberated together, and the link between them will not be separated and Israel will remain a united state.
In another serious matter related to the scourge of fraud and the seizure of Palestinian land, the Israeli High Court ordered owners of the Palestinian lands in the Jordan Valley, whose settlers have taken control of their land, to negotiate with the state and the settlers who cultivate the land in order to pay compensation for the exploitation of their land. In the order issued on July 10th by the judges stated that the defendants, “the state and the settlers” have to submit a document including assessments by estimators of the proposed amount of compensation until July 30th.
Worth mentioning here that the Palestinian lands-owners in the Jordan Valley have submitted in 2013 “a petition for Israeli Higher Court,” but the judges proposed a settlement, following the publication of a report in “Haaretz” that called the Palestinians to regain their land between the Israeli fence and the Jordanian borders, and to take out the settlers, who planted them. In the 1980s, Haaretz reported that the territories had been handed over to the Zionist Histadrut according to a view prepared by the Public Prosecution and by the then Central District Commander, Amram Mitzna’s approval. The Histadrut then handed over the land to the settlers. After the report was published in Haaretz, the Palestinians, who were denied entry to their lands in 1969, found that the lands, which were closed under security claims, were handed over to the settlers, thus they appealed to the court to return them.
Within the context of the Israeli annexation and expansion projects, the Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislation Affairs has approved a draft law banning the division of Jerusalem, and that the law was unanimously voted by the committee. It stipulated that the division of Jerusalem is prohibited and only can be carried out by the approval of 80 members of the Knesset, even if the division is within the framework of a political settlement with the Palestinians.
The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements condemned the erection of 6 Israeli camps that were set up to teach killing of our people. The English Newspaper “Carbonated” reported on the Israeli “fantasy terror” camps in various locations, some of them in the settlements built in West Bank that offer tourists an opportunity to play the role of occupation soldiers, thus, they join courses for US $ 115 to learn killing. One of these camps, called Caliber 3 located in the Gush Etzion settlement, a famous camp that trained anti-terrorism, founded by Colonel, Sharon Gat, in 2003. Gat added that about 15,000 – 25,000 people annually visit the CALIBER 3 camp.
The National Bureau documented the following Israeli Occupation and Settlers’ Violations during the last week:
Jerusalem:
- Demolishing a house in the Al-Zayyim village east of the occupied Jerusalem under the pretext of being built without a license. The municipal staff accompanied by Israeli soldiers during the demolition.
- Handing over 6 demolition orders for Palestinian housing facilities at the “Al-Baba” Bedouin village to the east of Jerusalem funded by the European, in an attempt to move the people living there and to annex their land to “Maale Adumim settlement’ plan” within the project E1. The “E1” project targets about 12,000 donums of the land of Jerusalem and the West Bank, it is one of the most dangerous settlement projects of Judaization that aims to separate the holy city from the West Bank.
Hebron:
- Invading Al-‘Arroub Refugee Camp and handing over orders to prevent citizens Ahmad ‘Issa Ghanem and’ Abd al-Fattah Joubarah to stop building works in their houses. They also photographed the houses of Ahmad Mousa ‘Ayyeda and Idris’ Abdullah Mansour in the camp.
- Severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people in the Old City of Hebron and other neighbourhoods.
- Expanding the fence of a path that separates the Palestinians and the Jews in the main street of Salayma neighbourhood, and preventing passersby and vehicles from entering the Wadi Nassara under various security pretexts.
Bethlehem:
- Erecting 5 caravans on in the Al-Khadir village north of Bethlehem city, where a group of settlers erected at the Ein Qasis area ner Sidi Bogar settlement on land belonging to Sbaih family.
- Confiscating of scores of donums from the Jaba’ village’s land, and putting hand on 70 other donums at Wadai Al-Ghool area, for military purposes, the land belonging to Shama’lih family.
Qalqilia:
- Closing the Kafr Lakhef-Azzun bridge, with large stone rocks, preventing farmers from reaching their farmland. Worth mentioning here that the bridge serves other villages in the area, such as Jayous and Seeir.
Nablus:
- Bulldozing more than 20 donums of agricultural land in the Jalood village, near the Shvut Rachel settlement, aiming to establish a new settlement on land belonging to Ahmad ‘Abd al-Haj Moh’d family.
Jordan Valley:
- Bulldozing 5 donums near the Rotem settlement in the northern Jordan Valley.
- Confiscating pumps and water tanks, and removing a water line in Um Al-Jamal area.
- Invading the Hamma Spring, and seizing water pumps and tanks in an attempt to force the Palestinian citizens there to leave the area.
