المكتب الوطني للدفاع عن الارض ومقاومة الاستيطان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
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By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report that Israeli settler gangs carried out a provocative march to ‘Avitar settlement outpost’ on Mount Sabih on the lands of the Beita town, south of the Nablus city, in which about 17,000 settlers led by 7 Israeli ministers and more than 20 Knesset members, including Yitzel Smotrich, Minister of Finance, Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, Orit Strok, Minister of the Development of the Negev and the Galilee, Yitzhak Wasserlev, Amichai Eliyahu Minister for Jewish Heritage, Minister for Religious Services, Michael Malkili, and the Minister at the PM’s Office, May Golan, joined the ralley in complete disregard and defiance of international laws, and the Rome System of the International Criminal Court.
Accordingly, the Israeli occupation forces closed road blocks and tightened the security at the Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, to facilitate the rally access the settlement outpost. Thus, the Palestinian Association for Human Rights from Beirut – Shahid – described the rally as a provocative act.
‘Shahid’ considered the participation of Israeli ministers and Knesset members in that rally as a prohibited act and that it constitutes a war crime based on what was stipulated in the Statute of the International Criminal Court that this responsibility includes attempting to commit the crime, or assisting, facilitating, aiding or encouraging its commission, and called for their submission, and called to trial them before the International Criminal Court for the war crime of incitement, encouragement and planning for settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.
On the other hand, the Roads Subcommittee that affiliated to the Supreme Planning Council at the occupying state of the so-called Israeli Civil Administration approved the paving of 2 new bypass roads to link settlements in the West Bank with the interior i.e. Highway 60 and the settlements of ‘Migron’ and ‘Kochav Yaakov’ directly with Highway 443, in order to secure the travel of settlers from settlements in the center and north of the West Bank without entering the Hizma checkpoint directly to Highway 443 leading to Tel Aviv.
The talk here is about a huge tunnel that has been under construction for some time, under the Qalandia military checkpoint, north of Jerusalem. The second bypass road to receive a building permit is called the North American Highway, which is part of a complete road system intended to connect Highway 1 North with Highway 60 and the southern settlements in Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem as well, after months of work, the occupation authorities are about t finish the completion of the suspended air bridge project in Wadi Al-Rababa Neighborhood in the town of Silwan, it is more than 200 meters long, 35 meters high, and 4.5 meters wide.
As for the rest of the West Bank Governorates, the occupation authorities approved 6 new settlement structural plans for the purpose of expanding a group of settlements, especially in the Ramallah, Nablus and Jericho Governorates. The plans include the construction of settlement neighborhoods in existing settlements on an area of about 1,200 dunums, such as building a new settlement neighborhood for a small and isolated settlement, ‘Rahalim’ to the south of the city of Nablus, near the Za’tara checkpoint, with 212 settlement units on an area of 572 dunums.
A new settlement neighborhood for the ‘Mevo Yeriho settlement’ in the Jericho Governorate, which was converted 2 years ago from an outpost into a settlement, and work is underway to convert it into a relatively large settlement in the Jordan Valley through a plan to rob more than 500 dunums of land and build about 180 settlement units in it, in addition to approving a plan to expand the settlement. ‘Tana Amrim’ built on the lands of Khirbet Zanuta in Hebron Governorate, with 68 settlement units, and other plans targeting the lands of Masha villages in Salfeet Governorate for the benefit of ‘Etz Ephraim’ settlement, to build new settlement units
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Imposing strict restrictions on Christian celebrations of the Holy Saturday in a flagrant interference to disrupt the practice of religious rites, as Christians also are facing racist campaigns and attacks against their holy places.
- Limiting the number of worshipers in the church, compared to what the church has been witnessing for many years, after the occupation authorities only allows the entry of no more than 1,800 people into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Holy Saturday, including clerics, nuns and working staff.
Bethlehem:
- Attacking a Palestinian citizen near Kisan village, east of Bethlehem.
- Cutting down 180 grape trees, in addition to dozens of iron angles, vine trees were uprooted in Khallet Al-Balutah area, south of Bethlehem.
- Raiding the Solomon’s Pools tourist area located between the village of Artas and the town of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, and performing Talmudic rituals in the place.
- Injuring a citizen during the attack on his house with stones in the town of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem.
Ramallah:
- Attacking citizens and their property, causing damage to 15 vehicles and a commercial store. They also tried to burn down a house near the village of Ras Karkar. Four civilians were wounded and bruised, and other vehicles were damaged at the northern entrance to Al-Bireh
Nablus:
- Closing the archaeological site in the town of Sebastia, assaulted a piece of land called Raskapus n 57 from Basin n 44, and the removal of the fence surrounding the plot planted with apricot, pomegranate, grape, geranium, and cherry seedlings, which have been cultivated since 2019
- Attacking a citizen from the Madama village, and cut down 70 perennial olive trees in the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, located in the ‘Btesha’ area, west of the village.
Jenin:
- storming the Khirbet Hafira and the Tarsala site inear Jenin-Nablus road, near the Arraba station, and Jaba’ after the area was closed, and they performed in showy and provocative appearances Talmudic rituals in the place.
Jordan Valley:
- Attacking residents in the Ein Al-Hilweh community, and their property, 2 solar cell units were destroyed, and 2 civilians were injured in the northern Jordan Valley.
- Continuing their strict military measures in the northern Jordan Valley, obstructing the movement of citizens, and inflicting heavy losses on farmers after closing the secondary road that citizens use as an alternative to the main road.
- Intensifying military measures at the Tayaseer military checkpoint, east of Tubas, and closing the entrance to the Atouf village in the northern Jordan Valley with an iron gate.
