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 Israeli Occupation makes great efforts to control the entire Palestinian land that has extended to eastern outskirts of the Dead Sea on an area about 950 km2, including 600 km2 of the West Bank occupied in 1967, knowing that the sea contains 28 types of salts and minerals, the most important of which are chlorine, bromine, sodium, phosphate and calcium. Moreover, the occupation deprives the Palestinians of the right to visiting it, but allows the Israelis and the tourists to do so.
Its control plans extends to tourism projects and several settlements that Israel established in the northern Dead Sea areas, and spent millions on them in building infrastructure and various facilities that would attract settlement in the occupied Palestinian valleys, knowing that the Dead Sea annually loses areas of the land that are flooded by water due to the policy of the Israeli government, which seizes the sources that feed the sea for the benefit of the settlements and settlers, whether in the lands it occupied in 1948 or the lands it occupied in 1967.
Moreover, the Israeli occupation authorities intend to inaugurate a chain of hotels in the Dead Sea, similar to the Maldives, and in the form of a new “Riviera” in the Middle East, as they claim, as Israel plans to inaugurate a hotel with 200 rooms floating on the water initially. The occupation government held a tender to inaugurate these hotels in the Dead Sea, and Barclays won them and is supposed to build a tourist Riviera in the Dead Sea, very similar to the global Maldives here and a continuation of the occupation government’s policy based on settlement, Judaization and robbery of the capabilities and wealth of the Palestinian people Natural and in continuation of similar projects previously completed.
As for occupied Jerusalem, it is still in the midst of escalation and settlement and Judaization projects, which do not stop and take an upward trend with each new Israeli elections for the Knesset in the context of competition between the Zionist parties, small and large. This is evident from the intensity of these projects adopted by the occupation authorities, the municipality of Moshe Lion, and the settlement associations, especially the Elad Association, which focuses its activities in the occupied city and governorate of Jerusalem.
Despite the opposition of the international community, private Israeli companies, the Ministry of Housing and Settlement, and the so-called “Israel Land Authority” announced a joint agreement under which 1,250 settlement units would be built on the southern slopes of the “Gilo” settlement built on Beit Jala lands in the Bethlehem Governorate. This announcement comes within the framework of cooperation between the companies “Ken Hathor” and “Epsilon” with the Ministry of Settlement and Housing and the ‘Israel Land Authority’, which said that the development of the southern slopes of the settlement neighborhood “Gilo” will be implemented, and the development will include road networks, infrastructure, public areas and parks.
In addition to the construction of a group of high-rise buildings, comprising 1,250 housing units in the lower part of the southern slopes, including 27 buildings from 9 to 13 floors, as for the second section of the project, it will include 4 settlement towers, each with between 20 to 24 floors, on top of those heights that overlook the mountains of the southern West Bank. This area will be called “Gila Cliffs Neighborhood” within a large project that includes the development of roads, infrastructure, public areas, parks, commercial and employment areas southwest of the tunnels linking Jerusalem with the settlement bloc “Gush Etzion”.
The new plan is expected to add to the upper part of the complex a scheme that includes hundreds of settlement units in 4 huge towers that will accommodate about 580 new settlement units within the next 4 years. According to the companies that were awarded the first bid, the project is in the planning and coordination stages with all relevant authorities in the occupation municipality in Jerusalem and the local and district committees, and supportive.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Storming Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Lions Gates for the first time since the occupation of the occupied city of Jerusalem in 1967, under the protection of the Israeli occupation police, and performed Talmudic prayers.
- Citizen Essam Sharaf, from Wadi Qaddoum neighborhood in Silwan town was threatened to demolish his under-construction house.
- Handing Fakhri Abu Diab, a researcher specializing in Jerusalem affairs, a decision to demolish part of his home in the Al-Bustan Neighborhood of Silwan.
- Renewing excavation work in the Yusufiyah Cemetery next to the Lions Gates, under strict protection from the occupation police, and the occupation authorities are trying to establish a garden on part of the cemetery’s land.
Hebron:
- Storming the Kanar area in the Dura town, south of Hebron, and spoiled properties of the citizens.
- Attacking citizen, Ahmed Musa Muhammad Hawamdeh, in the Samu town.
- Assault the child Islam Sharif Al-Tamimi 13, while he was in the Old City, causing bruises and injuries to the head
- Smashing glasses of a house belonging to the Sidr family on Al-Shallala Street, in the city center, and terrified the children of the family.
- Uprooting about 100 olive trees in Wadi Sa’ir, east of Hebron in preparation for the confiscation of 11 dunums.
Bethlehem:
- Shooting towards farmers in the Tako’a town.
- Demolishing a house under construction and two tents, and uprooted 50 olive trees in the town on the pretext of being in Area C.
- Attacking houses of citizens in the Khalit al-Lawz area, caused panic and fear. They also destroyed water pipes in Kisan village, east of Bethlehem.
Tulkarm:
- Placing “caravans” in the lands of Abu Luqa village, near the Beit Leed town, east of Tulkarm, to establish a new settlement outpost.
- Attacking farmers in the lands of the villages of Shufa, Kafr al-Labad, Kafa, and al-Hafasi while they were working on their lands in the village of Shufa. .
Jordan Valley:
- Demolishing a 110m2 house under construction east of Jericho under the pretext of not having a permit.
- Closing the water holes in the village of Bardala in the northern Jordan Valley, which irrigate the citizens on the pretext of unlicensed.
- Seizing 2 trucks for transporting organic fertilizers in the Al-Ras Al-Ahmar area, southeast of Tubas.
