المكتب الوطني للدفاع عن الارض ومقاومة الاستيطان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
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By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The National Bureau for defending land and resisting settlements ( nbprs ) stated in its latest weekly report , that hebrew media revealed that the largest and most dangerous settlement plan to establish a “national park” (Settlement Promenade) belonging to the settlements in the West Bank on an area of 1 million donums between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, to prevent ever the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state, knowing that it is the largest thief robbery project on Palestinian lands to establishing such a plan, and to demarcating the placement of the vast area at the disposal of settlement plans, considering that the area has become an area of influence for the settlements.
The plan if approved and implemented would change the face of the area between occupied Jerusalem and the Dead Sea under the pretext of turning it into a nature reserve. According to the details of the new plan, the settlement park will extend from the ‘Kochav Hashahar settlement’ east of Ramallah to reach the Herodion area east of Bethlehem. The plan includes the establishment of tourist centers in the area, mobile restaurants, a network of hotels north of the Dead Sea and a joint information center.
On the other hand, the occupation municipality in Jerusalem began implementing the first phase of a new Judaization plan aimed at dismembering occupied East Jerusalem, within what it calls the “City Center” project prepared by the Israeli Ministry of Interior 20 years ago. The project extends over an area of about 700 donums near Othman Bin Affan Street from the north, to Al-Maqdisi Street from the east; With the aim of defining building policies and changing its identity, the new Judaization project from Al-Anbiya Street, which is located in the western part of Jerusalem, and is connected to Damascus Gate and Sultan Suleiman Street, all the way to Salah El-Din Al-Ayyubi Street.
It includes many signs in Hebrew within the targeted area, with the aim of “Hebraising” the area and the streets. The occupation municipality has allocated NIS 600 million to implement what it calls development work at a time when the implementation of the first phase has already begun, while the municipality plans to complete the other phases within weeks.
Likewise, the occupation municipality approved the detailed structural plan for converting the sheep market “Friday” or “The Trench Land” and part of the Yusufiya cemetery’s land in the eastern corner of the old city wall into a tourist park after it announced the approval of the detailed structural plan n. 0872952/101 for the market project in the northeastern corner of the old city wall. The project aims to establish a tourist park around the old city walls on an area of 4.5 donums, knowing that the land is privately owned by the Owais, Hamad and Atallah families.
At the end of 2019, the aforementioned families were able to extract a decision from the Supreme Court that the land is owned by them, and the land is adjacent to the Yusufiya cemetery and was known for many years as “The Friday Market” because sheep and livestock were sold there until the 80s when the occupation municipality confiscated it and turned it into a dump. On the other hand, the land of The ‘Martyr’s Memorial’ adjacent to the Yusufiya cemetery is an Islamic endowment land, where citizens protested against the decision to convert it into a park and private garden, as it contains Islamic graves, but the municipality rejected the protests and insisted on its position to turning the land into a biblical garden.
On the other hand, the so-called legal advisor for the “Judea and Samaria” region at the Civil Administration revealed at the end of last month a set of military orders related to the confiscation of Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank for various uses will be implemented soon. A new Israeli settlement plan was revealed to legitimize an existing outpost in the northern West Bank, specifically in the Nablus Governorate. The orders require the confiscation of 1,480 dunums of Palestinian land in Nablus, especially those surrounding the Israeli settlement outpost known as ‘Adi Ad’. The military order states that the targeted Palestinian lands were in “settlements’ areas of influence” and became an integral part of the “Israeli settlement Amichai,” which was built years ago in Nablus.
The maps attached to the military order show the targeted lands belonging to the villages of Jalud, al-Mughayyir and Turmusaya, which are targeted for confiscation under this pretext “settlements’ areas of influence”, which opens the way for the development scores of settlement outposts in the vicinity of the existing settlements between the cities of Nablus and Ramallah, especially in the middle of the road, which turned into what looks like a new settlement bloc comprising 20 outposts linked to 5 settlements in one line. The settlements are located.” Shvut Rachel “Mitzpe Rachel”, Eli, Shiloh, Kfar Tapuah, and Rekhalim”
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Demolishing a house in Wadi al-Hummus in the Sur Bahir town seven years ago, and another in the “Tal al-Fowar area in Beit Hanina.
Hebron:
- Notifying to stop work and construction in a house and warehouses of 180m2 under the pretext of building without a permit in the Irfaiya area, east of Yatta.
- Demolishing a room and 4 agricultural tents in the Al-Adra area, west of the bypass line, east of Yatta.
- Handing over a notice of demolition and removal of 80m2 house, which is under construction, in the Al-Tawana village in Masafer Yatta. It also notified Ashraf Al-Amour to stop work on his 85m2 house, which is under construction. Besides, six inhabited homes, a commercial store, a car wash in the Al-Rifaiah village, a grocery store with an area of 80m2, a “Zinco” roof, and a car wash,
Bethlehem:
- Uprooting 95 olive trees in four dunums in the Batin al-Ma’is area, south of the Al-Khader town, and about 10 dunums of Hamdan family’s lands were razed, along with 2 other dunams belonging to the Al-Tus family, and about 60 olive trees were uprooted during the bulldozing operations
- Setting up a permanent military checkpoint in the “Um Rakba” area inside the Al-Khader town, and notified 4 brothers of evacuating their 10 dunums of land planted with olive trees in the Abu Siaj area, under the pretext of being a ‘state property.’
Nablus:
- Torching agricultural lands in the Burin village, south of Nablus, and attacked a number of houses and delayed the work of civil defense crews in putting out the fires.
- Attacking cars of citizens with stones on the road between Jenin – Nablus near the Masodiya area, damaged some of them.
- Chopping 8 perennial olive trees from the lands of Qaryut, south of Nablus.
Jordan Valley:
- Demolishing a house under construction in Aqabat Jaber Refugee Camp, south of Jericho, under the pretext of building without a permit.
- Rejecting a petition to stop the demolition of civilian tents in Khirbet Ibziq, north of Tubas.
