By: Madeeha Araj,
The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in his latest weekly report , that in a remarkable and dangerous development, the so-called Israeli Civil Administration has joined other occupation authorities in sponsoring settlement project, and encouraging settlers to provoke the Palestinians, and it called along with the Natural and Garden Authority to invade the West Bank including Jerusalem and to enjoy the springs and farms near the Dead Sea, and the Gerizim Mountain in Nablus, as well as knowing the so-called the capital of the ancient kingdom of Israel in Sabastia. Thus, the Civil Administration acted as the representative of the ruling military force without paying any attention to the International Law, and the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949, which stipulated the protection of citizens and the nature, heritage and culture in the territories under occupation.
In the occupied Jerusalem, Israeli Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel, headed groups of settlers on the occasion of the so-called “Tabernacle Day, and broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They performed Talmudic prayers before the Dome of the Rock and the Mercy’s Gate. The so-called “Temple” groups called for the establishment of a singing program for the settlers and organized loud celebrations, songs and dances in the Umayyad Palaces adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the strict guard of the occupation forces.
At the same time, the Israeli Occupation Authorities intend to build 251 housing units and to confiscate scores of dunums of land in Bethlehem Governorate. The so-called Planning and Construction Council and Settlement Council have ratified a plan for the construction of 146 settlement units in the Gush Etzion settlement south of Bethlehem, and 105 units in the settlement of Kfar Eldad settlement. Within the context, the Israeli Occupation Authorities seized large areas of lands in the Nahalin town, west of Bethlehem, to expand the Alon Shvut settlement. Moreover, the Israeli forces closed over last Friday morning till midnight the Nablus –Ramallah road to provide protection for a settlers’ marathon. The Israeli army announced that the closure will continue from 5 am to 12:30 pm to organize the marathon from the junction of Turmus’ya village to Za’tara junction south of Hawara village.
As the Olive Season begins in the occupied Palestinian territories, settlers step-up their attack on Palestinian farmers, especially in the areas adjacent to the settlements, where settlers of Yitzhar set fire to olive fields in the village of Burin, the fire spread over large areas and led to the burning of 450 olive trees, they have also stolen olive frits in the Burin village belonging to Ibrahim Ali Eid, moreover, Eissa Hamed Saleh Ramadan 55 was injured in the hand when settlers attacked him in his land in Til villages. Furthermore, Abdullah Daoud Da’mas, from Deir Ammar village in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, sustained minor injuries and bruises as a result of the settlers’ attacks wile harvesting his olive fruits in the Nabi Anir area near Ras Karkar village west of Ramallah. Settlers from Beit ‘Ein settlement adjacent to the Jaba’a village also attacked the elderly man, Fadel Abdel-Majid Hamdan and stole his olive fruits.
In the Tulkarm Governorate, A settler from the settlement of Avni Hefetz attacked under gunfire olive farmers in the village of Shufa, southeast of Tulkarm. Moreover, to the west of Ramallah, a group of 16 settlers prevented the residents of Burqa and Beitin villages northeast of Ramallah from picking their olives. At the same time, Israeli forces attacked a Palestinian peaceful rally to protest the building of new outpost on the lands of the villages, with tear gas bombs, which affected 4 of them.
At its 207th session, the UNESCO Executive Council unanimously adopted a draft resolution on Jerusalem and its walls, reaffirming the rejection of the Israeli violations and actions in these historic places. The resolution demanded Israel to stop its unilateral and illegal violations and actions in Al-Aqsa Mosque and in the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls. The resolution and its annex confirmed the invalidity of all Israeli measures aimed at changing the character and identity of the Holy City, and recalled the 16 UNESCO resolutions on Jerusalem that demanded the cessation of excavations, tunnels and all illegal actions in East Jerusalem.