المكتب الوطني للدفاع عن الارض ومقاومة الاستيطان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
Related Articles
By: Madeeha Araj,
Israeli PM Netanyahu opened a new bypass settlers’ road east of north of the occupied West Bank, bypass road 55 east of Qalqilya, near the Nabi Elias village to link Benjamin’s settlement and “Kfar Saba” with the “Shamron” settlement and its surroundings in the northern West Bank, within the projects of cutting the West Bank into cantons, and deepening the Apartheid regime. T hus, no any political settlement in the future according to the borders of June 4, 1967 will be made.
Netanyahu claimed that such settlement projects are at the heart of Zionism, and came after following “expensive sacrifices.” Opening ceremony was attended by Communications Minister, Yisrael Katz, the deputy head of security and the head of the settlement council. Netanyahu also claimed that he and his government were working on what he called “the reconstruction of the land of Israel,” referring to settlement construction in the various areas of the occupied West Bank. He promised settlers to follow up settlement construction and create bypass roads that serve the settlements, adding that “this bypass road is part of the system of bypass roads that are built throughout the” Judea and Samaria, ” as the Israelis like to name it.
At the same time, the Israeli Government, according to Rabbi Dahan, plans to open settlement bypass roads near Huwara, and another Near Arroub, which means the seizure of large areas of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and annex it to Israel. According to Hebrew sources, the cost of this settlement expansion plan is about NIS 3.3 billion, most of which is allocated by the Israeli government and its ministries and agencies. Meanwhile, the Israeli minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said that the government will ratify the legitimization of the Hafat Gilad’s outpost, where rabbi was killed last month.
At the same time, the Israeli occupation is passing a series of legislation allowing it to impose more control over the occupied West Bank. Thus, the Knesset approved the first reading of a bill submitted by the “Jewish House” party, which provides for the applying of Israeli law at higher education institutions, and nullifying the so-called “Council for Higher Education in the West Bank.” This step also comes to authorize the establishment of a medical college at the Ariel University in the Ariel settlement, as part of a series of laws aimed at creating the so-called “creeping annexation” “Of the settlements established on the territory of the Occupied West.
The law was voted by 24 Knesset members in favor, and 19 against. The bill was proposed by the head of the Jewish House party, Shuli Rafaeli, who said the proposal was “another step towards sovereignty.” She also said that “the law doesn’t see the Ariel University as an Israeli academic institution, and therefore it is impossible to establish a medical college linked to an Israeli hospital.”
The Israeli authorities are implementing several large-scale settlement projects, including the expansion of the Ramot and Ramat Shlomo settlements with 1,500 new settlement units of which 500 settlement units will be built soon. Moreover, the Israeli government started to open a tunnel linking the largest settlements east of occupied Jerusalem, “Ma’ale Adumim” in West Jerusalem, and the intersection of the bypass road connecting Jerusalem – Tel Aviv “443 Maodain” down the mountain slopes between the settlements “Ramot” and “Ramat Shlomo St. 9. In the first stage, expanding St. 9 that intersects with the Jerusalem bypass road, “443, and 21, to swallow Shu’fat, Beit Hanina Tahta and Beit Iksa, thus linking the settlement with “Jacob and Pisgat Zeev “and other north and east Jerusalem settlements of the Jordan Valley in order to create links between the settlement neighborhoods.
Within the context of controlling the demographic situation in Jerusalem and its surroundings, the occupation army has approved a plan to impose its control over the Palestinian towns in East Jerusalem. The plan mainly targets the Shu’fat Refugee Camp, Kafr Aqab and other Palestinian towns, where some 150,000 Palestinians are living, to be under control of the so-called “Benjamin Brigade” in the West Bank. This plan comes a few weeks after the decision of the Municipality of the occupation in Jerusalem, to separate the towns east of the city from the scope of the municipality, and the formation of municipalities separate from them it in order to get rid of the demographic threat.
As for the European diplomats, who have warned that Israel is working on the development of archeological sites and tourist projects to further legitimize the settlement outposts in Jerusalem, which US President Donald Trump declared to be recognized as the capital of occupation. The diplomats identified the sites of excavations run by settlers in Palestinian neighborhoods. The diplomats specified the excavation sites that run by settlers in the Palestinian neighborhoods and the “cable car” project, which will stop at specific points inside the confiscated land, as well as projects to designate urban areas as “national parks.” Regarding the cable car project, which was recently approved by the Political Security Council which is expected to be operated by 2020. Diplomats also pointed that the project will enhance the promotion of “tourist settlements.”
KM, Mottay Yogev “Jewish House” described the Palestinian construction in C Area, which is partially financed by the EU and implemented without permits from the Civil Administration, as “terrorism of building.” In another context, the Israeli occupation army began to erect an intelligent fence, equipped with electronic technology and advanced monitoring cameras, south of the occupied Golan near the border with Jordan, despite the presence of two fences. Tel Aviv recently announced the launch of the security fence project along the border with Jordan, and will extend 30 kilometers between the resorts of Eilat in the far south of Wadi Araba at a cost of $ 85,000,000 by its completion in early 2019.
A list of Assaults Documented by the National Bureau by Israeli Occupation and Settlers over the last week:
Jerusalem:
- Demolishing a number of barns i the Issawiya town under the pretext of non-license, despite the fact that being built several years ago near the school district and the center of the village. Moreover, removing banners and pictures of martyrs and prisoners glued on the walls and columns.
- Demolishing orders were handed over to, Suleiman Turk, Majid Abu Turki and Mazen Rajabi, who have been ordered to demolish their houses by their hands under the pretext of not having a permit, otherwise they will be fined NIS 70,000,000.
- Imposing taxes on church and other UN of about 887 real estates and properties in Jerusalem. Nir Barkat, mayor of Jerusalem took the decision to change the policy applied since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Taxes was estimated at NIS 650,000,000 i.e. US $ 191 million, besides other restrictions on the Armenian and Roman churches for non-payment of due property taxes.
Ramallah:
- Isolating 4 families in Ramallah from their Palestinian surroundings, thus besieging them between the Beit El settlement andthe Wall that were built on the Ramallah and Al-Bireh land. The new wall that was recently built by the Israeli army with a 500 meters long near Beit El.
- Preventing residents of the Silwad town from entering and using their own land despite the evacuation of the Amona outpost that was built on the village’s land. This comes 3 years after winning the case in the High Court and a year on the evacuation of the Amona outpost, where the army continues to ban Palestinian land owners from returning to their land.
- Writing racist slogans on the walls of the village of Nabi Saleh, demanding the Tamimi family leave the village. The slogans also included threats against the residents. such as, “death penalty for Ahd Tamimi” , “No place for the Tamimi family” and “Greetings from the revenge group in the Israeli army”.
Hebron:
- Demolishing agricultural tent in the Rifa’a area, east of Yatta, south of Hebron.
- Demolishing order of 7 buildings in the Susiya village, south of Hebron.
Bethlehem:
- Bulldozing 4 donums of agricultural lands in the Khader village, belonging to Moh’d Ahmed Abu Samra. Extremist group of women in the green planted the land and prevented the owner from entering it, where citizens and their land are exposed to constant attacks by settlers.
- Flowing of rainwater in the Wadi Fukin village causing damage to homes and infrastructure due to construction in the Tsur Hadassah settlement. The Regional Planning and Building Committee plans to expand the settlement of Tsur Hadassah by three times its current size through building new neighborhoods containing thousands of settlement units, giving no intention to its catastrophic consequences due to winter floods and summer drought.
- Running over the child, Ala’a Ali Abu Maiala, 5, near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
Nablus:
- Demolishing orders of 3 houses in the Beit Dajan village, belonging to citizens, Ameed Ahmad Abu Thabet, Rafat Inad Abu Jish and Saed Ahmad Abu Jish, under the pretext of being built in C Area.
- Breaking into Joseph’s Tomb and performing Talmudic prayers, where about 20 vehicles carrying some 1,300 settlers, including a number of senior rabbis accompanied by Israeli soldiers performed their Talmudic rites.
- Storming the archaeological hill of Balata next to the tomb of Joseph for the first time, the place includes the Canaanite city of Shechem that dates back more than 5,500 years.
- Uprooting more than 100 olive trees from the Yasuf village, south of Nablus, belonging to Moh’d Saleh Jazi from the village.
- Storming the southern area of the Madma village for the second time in two days.
- Demolishing a 100-square-meter house under construction in the Beit Dajan village east of Nablus, under the pretext of being built without permit.
- Storming the Mas’odeiah area, near Burqa village north of Nablus.
Salfeet:
- Mixing water of a spring near the Haris town north of Salfit with sewage from Ariel settlement, the second largest settlement in the West Bank, due to the recent rains until it mixed with sewage from the sewers of the settlement, which in turn polluted Wadi Mutawi, Sheib Ghantas and farms from several villages in Salfit. Worth mentioning that the area is classified as C Area, thus the occupation prevented the Palestinians from using it.
Jenin:
- Preventing the construction of a multi-purpose building in the Ya’bad town. Mayor of municipality, Samer Abu Bakr stated that the building consists of a kindergarten, maternity center and children’s park. It is classified as public buildings and funded by EU. It was noted that the occupation forces seized the equipment of the contracting company that implemented the project.
Jordan valley:
- Putting up new settlement units and building a school in the Broch Hibaka settlement, and transferring 30 settler students to it.
- Forcing shepherds to leave the grazing grounds in the Al-Farseia area in the northern of the Valley.
