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 less than two days on the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting between the Palestinian and the Israelis, with the participation of the USA, Egypt and Jordan, where the Israeli occupation government vowed in Aqaba and Sharm el-Sheikh not to take unilateral measures, but the Knesset approved in the second and the third readings a draft law to ‘cancel the separation law’ in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, by a majority of 31 members of the Knesset, with 18 against.
The draft was submitted by the extremist, Yuli Edelstein, a member of Knesset from the Likud party and chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, aims to cancel provisions that prohibited settlers from entering the 4 settlements evacuated in the occupied West Bank in 2005, namely, Ganim, Kadim, Homesh. , and Sanur, in a way that opens the way for their resettlement again, within the framework of the coalition policy and agreements to form the government, which aims to legitimize random settlement outposts in the northern occupied West Bank.
Despite the fact that the aforementioned law doesn’t endorse the construction of a settlement on the land, still it grants settlers permission to enter vacated Palestinian land, and it is likely that following the ratification of the law, settlers will start trying to build settlement outposts to create a de facto on the ground, which will be settled later, as usual. The law will also constitute the cornerstone for rebuilding the ‘Homesh’ settlement in particular on private Palestinian lands registered in the land registry.
Despite its evacuation, there is still a religious school, and it has become a major source of 234settlers’ violence who receive protection from the occupation army to deprive Palestinian farmers of cultivating their lands. This ‘disengagement law came after the cabinet’s decision last month to “whitewash” 9 settlement outposts and initiate procedures for building 7,200 settlement units and others. Actually, this law will lead to the actual annexation of large parts of the West Bank lands.
Minister Ben Gvir commented on this law as saying in a tweet that he is proud to participate in the abolition of the law, in the legalization of new settlements, and in returning to all parts of our country. As the far-right settlement and fascist minister Orit Struck, who dismissed harsh criticism in the White House with a succinct, ode to vanity, closed-mindedness and ignorance, said: “I suggest that Americans shall not talk about the non-respected agreements.
In another context, settlement plans in Jerusalem continue, as the Israeli local planning committee in the Jerusalem municipality is scheduled to discuss 4 settlement plans on the twenty-ninth of this month, namely, the Wadi Al-Joz business center ‘Silicon Valley’, the lower canal plan, and 2 plans for the major expansion of the Ramot settlement.
This lower canal plan is for a new settlement in southern Jerusalem along the Green Line and is approaching its final steps before it is approved. Planners for an important expansion in the settlement of Ramot will be discussed for the first time, as the Israeli authorities present the Silicon Valley plan as providing job opportunities and boosting the economy of East Jerusalem. But in practice, it could lead to the closure and evacuation of about 200 Palestinian establishments, to be replaced by Israeli companies, according to Israeli sources.
It should be noted here that the past eighteen months have witnessed an increase in the promotion of settlement plans, including these four plans, along with other plans such as the Atarot settlement plan, the plan to expand the Nof Zion settlement, and a plan to double the size of the Givat Hamatos settlement.
Regarding the expansion of the Ramot settlement that is a new plan to expand this settlement towards the northeast of the separation wall and the Bir Nabala enclave, the plan includes building 1318 housing units on an area of 65 dunums. The first session to advance the plan is expected to be held soon after which the area committee will have to decide on the future deposit of the plan for public review.
The second plan is for the settlement of Ramot, in the area adjacent to Ramot and extending the settlement northeast towards the separation wall and the Bir Nabala enclave. The plan includes building 600 housing units on an area of 28 dunums.
Besides, the occupation authorities published last Wednesday tenders for the construction of 1,029 settlement units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in violation of their pledges at the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, which was held on the 19th March, 2023 to freeze settlement bids for a limited period, including 940 new housing units in the two settlements of Efrat. And Beitar Illit mainly and 89 in East Jerusalem in clear disregard for its false promises, and in disregard for international law and resolutions of international legitimacy and the opposition of the international community, including Israel’s allies in the United States and the European Union, in an attempt to calm tensions in the region before the month of Ramadan.
Some of these building plans will take place in relatively small settlements, which means they will be greatly expanded, 80% of these construction plans are located in settlements deep in the West Bank, which indicates the impossibility of establishing a Palestinian State in any possible political settlement.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Demolishing 2 residential facilities made of wood and zinc in which 11 citizens live, and each has an area of 100m2 under the pretext of being built without a permit in the town of Al-Zaeem.
- Writing racist slogans on a truck and 2 vehicles in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, and the tires of more than 5 vehicles were damaged there
Bethlehem:
- Forcing farmers to leave their lands located in the Al-Mashra’ area, and threatened to arrest if they return to them in the town of Al-Khader.
- Chopping scores of fruitful and perennial olive trees, as well as demolished stone chains, and barbed wire surrounding the 5-donum in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem.
Ramallah:
- Smashing windows of a number of vehicles at the entrance to the village of Beitin.
- Damaging vehicle tires and writing racist slogans in the town of Burqa, east of Ramallah.
Nablus:
- Stoning Palestinian cars in Hawara, which led to the destruction of the car of a citizen from Awarta.
- Raiding the archaeological site in Sebastia, protected by the occupation forces, who closed the area.
Salfeet:
- Puncturing tires of 10 vehicles, and wrote racist slogans on the walls of houses in the northern area of Salfeet.
- Handing notices to stop work and construction on 8 houses under construction, barracks, and agricultural rooms in the town of Deir Ballut
Jordan Valley:
- Injuring a citizen in an attack by settlers on Al-Maarajat Road, sustained fractures and wounds, after which he was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, while his wife fainted, and stoned at a number of citizens’ vehicles in the area, damaged a number of them.
- Injuring a woman in an attack by settlers on citizens’ tents in Khirbet Al-Farsieh in the northern Jordan Valley.
- Issuing a notice to halt construction in 15 homes that were roofed with ‘Zinc’ some of which had been built for decades in the village of Jiftlik.
- Closing agricultural roads east of the villages of Atuf and Al-Ras Al-Ahmar.
