By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The National Bureau for defending land and resisting settlements ( nbprs ) stated in its latest weekly report , that the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain have signed normalization agreements with the Israeli occupation government in the White House sponsored by the American administration. The Bahraini role in the signing ceremony was no more than a complementary, and was only for media and political purposes, but normalization with the UAE was the real breakthrough. This country is trying to present itself as a regional player in the region’s affairs, thus, it claims that it stands with the Palestinian people through preventing Israeli annexation of vast Palestinian areas of the West Bank. At the same time Netanyahu in coordination with Beni Gatz have given green lights to the Higher Council of Construction at the Israeli Civil Administration for the approval of building 5,000 new settlement units in the West Bank.
In the context, the London-based Impact Foundation for Human Rights revealed a report about 112 Israeli companies that are working in the illegal seizure of real estate and property from Palestinians in the West Bank, including brokerage firms, Israeli Bank Leumi, and Bank Hapoalim, which are the institutions that are qualified for concluding big deals with official and private institutions in the United Arab Emirates. According to the report, those Zionist institutions have successfully contributed in accommodating more than half a million extremist Israeli settlers in hundreds of settlement units scattered throughout the occupied West Bank.
On the other hand, the Israeli government supports a settlement project in the West Bank as it provides generous assistance to illegal outposts in the so-called student villages of the “Kadama Association”, which provides guard services to the outposts. According to the association’s report, in 2018, it received support of about NIS 4 million from the ministries of education and agriculture, and local authorities. And the so-called “Kadma 3333” was established in 2013. Within the framework of this association’s work, eight student villages were established, six of them in the West Bank, in the settlements of Ma’aleh Ephraim, Al-Mouj, Shamaa, Bani Kidem, Rimonim and Makhura, and 2 in kibbutzim Nir Oz in the environs of Gaza and Misgav General in the Galilee that accommodate about 300 students.
In recent years, this model of service has become a popular one, and as a means of developing settlements and outposts. It controls the largest area of land with the least number of inhabitants has found widespread popularity, whereby 11 outposts have been established in the form of agricultural farms in the West Bank since 2011.
In another context, the policy of demolishing homes and establishments of the Palestinians by the occupation authorities through various means to prevent them from using their lands for construction, where the Israeli Civil Administration and the so-called construction and organization inspector, specifically in areas C under the pretext that they are state lands or military areas or reserves, and are forbidden to build in. For this purpose, military orders are used, including Military Order No. 1797, which authorizes the occupation army to demolish orders within 96 hours.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week, Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Handing demolition notices to dozens of Palestinian houses in the Wadi al-Hams area, Jerusalem.
Hebron:
- Seizing a bulldozer and two trucks during their work in rehabilitating the land of Hebron specialized Oncology Hospital of the “Charitable Cancer patients Hebron” Society.
- Demolishing a house under construction belonging to Mufid Abu Zanouna, in Khilat Taha, in the Beit Awa town, southwest of Hebron, under the pretext of not having a building permit, and demolished two rainwater wells as well as removing 15 electricity poles in the same area.
- Handing demolition notice to Issa Jamal Hammad’s house in Maain area, east of Yatta under the pretext of not having a building permit, and handed 3 notices of stopping work to houses under construction in the village.
- Issuing a military order to confiscate 17 sites in Hebron, including 2 houses in the Tel Rumeida Neighborhood.
Bethlehem:
- Handing notice of stopping construction on a small poultry farm and retaining walls in the Ein Goiza area of the Waljah village northwest of Beit Bethlehem.
- Demolishing a number of retaining walls in agricultural lands in the Pater village, west of Bethlehem, bulldozed lands and uprooted olive trees, under the pretext of being State lands.
- Demolishing 3 residential tents and five livestock-raising barns in the Kissan village, east of Bethlehem under the pretext of not having a building permit.
- Burning 50 old olive trees in the Wadi al-Sham area southwest of the Al-Khader area southern of Bethlehem.
Nablus:
- Notifying of the seizure of 803 m2 of Douma village lands, south of Nablus, basin No. 7, under the pretext of establishing a water exploration facility.
- Seizing a Palestinian bulldozer during its work in establishing an agricultural road in the Al-Thahrat area in the Douma village.
- Prohibiting the construction of an agricultural road in the Galod village under the pretext of not being under Palestinian control.
- Bulldozing areas of citizens’ lands in the Galod village to expand Shafot Raheel settlement.
- Closing a secondary road under construction in the Asira al-Qabaliya village south of Nablus, under the pretext of being located in Area C.
- Bulldozing Palestinian lands in the Jabal Al-Lahf area from the lands of Douma, Qisra and Jalloud.
Salfit:
- Uprooting 200 olive trees of figs, grapes, plums, lemon and almond.
- Preventing the work in a water collection well in the Qarawa Bani Hassan town.
Jordan Valley:
- Notifying of seizing a 1,00 m2 lands in the Khirbet Ghazal in the northern Jordan Valley, in order to expand an artesian well that feeds Israeli settlements and camps, despite being registered in the Palestinian Tapu.
- Seizing a water tank during its work to facilitate a road in the Yerza village, east of Tubas.
- Notifying to demolish 2 agricultural establishments, belonging to the brothers Rami and Hafez Masaid, under the pretext of not having a building permit in the Khirbet Yarza in the northern Valleys.
- Confiscating a shaven and a truck loaded with a water tank during its work in rehabilitating the only way to Khirbet Yarza in northern Valleys.
- Filming the Shalal Al-Auja Co-ed Basic school, which contains 13 classrooms, includes students from the 1st to the 9th Grade, and a number of tin houses in the Ain Al-Auja community in northern Jericho to pressure the people leave the area.