المكتب الوطني للدفاع عن الارض ومقاومة الاستيطان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
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By: Madeeha Araj,
The policy of Judaization and ethnic cleansing practiced by the occupation authorities to displace the Palestinian population from their land and tighten their life, and expansion of settlements and military areas are continued in violation of international law based on discrimination, racism and hatred. According to the information by Sant Eif Organization” which specialized in following up the legal matters, has said, the occupation government and its army have called for the transfer of the administrative demolition to the West Bank C areas, which means giving the Civil Administration extensive powers to demolish houses and facilities without referring to the courts. Thus, it issued a military order to remove the new buildings and to demolish any building under construction within six months. The military order includes any residential building that does not exceed 30 days from the date of entry into force, even if the building is completed. This military order comes into force on 17-4-2018 signed by the military ruler.
Those military orders are part of the policy of forced displacement adopted by the Israeli occupation authorities, which aims at displacing the Palestinian population from their land and tightening the siege on them, to expand the settlements and the military areas, which is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and escalates to war crimes based on discrimination and ethnic cleansing.
On the other hand, the chapters and repercussions of the Nakba and the massacres of Palestinian cities and villages coincided with the opening of the American Embassy in Jerusalem and the American’s recognition of it as the capital of Israel in violation of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy, including Security Council resolution 478 , which assert that East Jerusalem is occupied territory, and that the issue of Jerusalem is a final status issue, and its future must be resolved through direct negotiations.
Within this context, two-thirds of the members of the UN Security Council expressed deep concern over the failure to implement a resolution in 2016 calling for an end to Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. The UN’s envoy to the Middle East, Nikolai Mladenov, told the Council last year that Israel was putting an end to the demand for a halt to settlement construction. The National Bureau considered that the decision of the Palestinian leadership to refer the settlement file to the International Criminal Court is an important tool to submit complaints and prosecute the occupation leaders, as settlement and ethnic cleansing are war crimes.
On the eve of the transfer of the US Embassy to the occupied city of Jerusalem, the Israeli government decided on 13-5-2018 to allocate NIS two billions to strengthen Israeli sovereignty on theeastern part of the city, besides, allocation of about NIS 350 million to develop the surrounding areas of the occupied old town, including organizing Jewish events in the Mount of Olives, and upgrading the quality of cleaning and maintenance services in public places and the restoration of the Jewish cemetery at Mount Olives.
The Israeli occupation government has also decided to control various parts of East Jerusalem and allocated NIS 50 million to confiscate lands from the neighborhoods of Beit Hanina and Sur Baher by the end of 2021, to be completed until 2025. The so-called Minister of Justice, “Israel” Elite Shaked said, “We will strengthen our presence in East Jerusalem, and we have already begun to impose Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem..
At the same time, the Israeli government gave the green light to invest US $ 56 million for a cable car project linking West Jerusalem to the old town of East Jerusalem. Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, said on the eve of the official transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, “This project will change the face of Jerusalem because it will facilitate the arrival of tourists and visitors to the Western Wall. The cable car, which has a length of 1.4 kilometers, can transport 3,000 people an hour in both directions at 21 km ph. According to his estimations the project will be ready and operated by 2021.
In addition, the Municipality of Nir Barak supports and encourages the Government to construct 4 buildings in the Gilo settlement project south of Jerusalem, each of which includes 22 housing units. This will increase the number of housing units in each project by 88 ones. The housing units will be different in size, and cost between NIS 2 million and NIS 2.7 million in 2019, 12 units have already been sold. According to Avi Tservati, Deputy Director General of Tsrifati Shimon, who oversees the construction of the “Tsrifati Pisgat Ze’ev” project, according to Israeli data, a total of 2,164 housing units have been built in Jerusalem since the beginning of the current decade. Building permits issued in 2016 and 2017 are the most important factor in the increase number of building, most of which are located in Pisgat Ze’ev. The new Tsrifate Pisgat Zeev project includes the construction of 92 new housing units in four buildings, 2 of which are 7-8 floors tall and 2 others 6-7 floors, each floor consists of 3residential units. According to Hebrew sources, American Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, financed the organization of the Friends of the Religious School “Commute” in Beit El in 2013 for $ US 12,000, with the aim of foiling any attempt to evacuate any Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
A list of Israeli Occupation and Settlers’ Assaults over The Last Week, Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Writing racist slogans on Palestinian civilian vehicles and smashing 28 cars.
- Preventing Jerusalemites from moving in the Old City and brought orders to the merchants to close their shops in the city due to a march organized by the settlers in the place in order to celebrate the so-called “Jerusalem Day”, the day of occupation of the rest of the city of Jerusalem in 1967.
- Storming the courtyards of the Aqsa Mosque in commemoration of the occupation of the eastern part of the city, and raised the Israeli flag in it.
- Finding a bag containing pills of hallucinations in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque that was put by settlers.
- Breaking into a number of houses in Silwan, and took measurements of these houses, in preparation for demolition under the pretext of building without a permit.
Hebron:
- About 500 grape trees were cut off on the bypass road near Wadi Qaboun, east of Halhoul, north of Hebron.
- Capturing archaeological house in the Dora, south of Hebron, in the area of ”Ein al-Dilba” near the entrance to the eastern city, belonging to Harbeiat family, and raised the Israeli flags on it.
- Closing Ghaith and Salaymeh areas by an iron gate, thus restricting movement of citizens. Besides placing a separation fence to separate the Salameh and Ghayth neighborhoods from the Ibrahimi Mosque and Al-Sahla Street in order to tighten the siege on the citizens living in those areas.
Bethlehem:
- Constructing a bridge connecting the settlements of Beitar Illit A and Beitar Illit B, west of Bethlehem. According to the Israeli authorities, the length of the bridge is 355 meters and its pillars will be erected in the land of the residents of Husan village.
- Closing agricultural roads in the al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, leading to the areas of Sawwanah and Shu’shala. This arbitrary procedure will deprive land owners of accessing them.
Ramallah:
- Attacking participants in a national event to commemorate the Nakba in the town of Tirmasiya north of Ramallah. Moreover, uprooting olive seedlings planted by the participants east of the town.
Salfit:
- Bulldozing works in Wad Abdel Rahman, north of Salfit, and establishing a cemetery for settlers. They razed a number of dunums, confiscated red soil for settlers’ gardens and rocks and stones for the sidewalks of the settlement of Ariel, the second largest settlement in the West Bank.
- Breaking into the Kifl Hares town north of Salfit in order to perform religious rites, desecrated the Islamic places.
Nablus:
- Cutting off olive trees close to the entrance of Burqa village, north of Nablus.
- Running over child, Yamen Odeh on the Hiwara main road, and provocative acts at the entrance to the town of Al-Luban south of Nablus, and tried to invade the town after dozens of them gathered at its entrance. They chanted slogans against the Palestinians and the Arabs.
