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 ,in its session held on May 21st, 2023, under the tunnels of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Israeli Government approved a number of settlement projects and allocated open budgets for settlement associations operating in the West Bank, especially those in Jerusalem in order to accommodate hundreds of thousands of settlers in settlements already established throughout the West Bank including Jerusalem, bringing their number to about 1,000,000 settlers.
Worth mentioning that the National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlement has initially shed light in its report last week on settlement allocations in the occupying State’s budget. The approval of the general budget by the Knesset last week provided a broader picture of these allocations according to the draft budget submitted by the government, as it was found that the occupation government has allocated NIS 3.5 billion, which will be invested in developing and paving new roads for settlers near the Palestinian populated areas, and hundreds of millions for settlement projects including illegal outposts.
The Occupation State also allocated NIS 2 billion for the development of Road 60, which connects north of the West Bank with its south. In addition to NIS 500 million allocated to widen a road between the settlement of Ariel and the Za’tara Junction in the northern West Bank, as well as NIS 366 million to build a road that reached the so-called Beit Eil Regional Council area, as well as an amount of NIS300 million to build a new road between the settlement of ‘Migron’ and Qalandiya north of Jerusalem, and an amount of NIS 200 million for a bypass road around the Palestinian village of Al-Fondoq on the road between the cities of Nablus and Qalqilya, and an NIS 150 million for a road in Alfei Menashe settlement, besides allocating hundreds of millions of NIS to build roads in and around East Jerusalem.
The occupation government also allocated NIS 399 million to the Settlements Division of the World Zionist Congress through the Ministry of Settlements and National Missions headed by MK Orit Struck, in West Bank settlements. The Settlements Division had provided loans to settlers to establish illegal outposts such as ‘Amona’ and allocated lands for settlements that were in fact private Palestinian lands such as ‘Mitzpe Kerim and the Givat Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El’, another NIS 74 million allocated to the Ministry to assist settlement councils in monitoring illegal Palestinian construction in the area, and another NIS 195 million has been allocated to the Civil Administration to develop West Bank infrastructure.
The Occupation Government’s decisions didn’t stop at that but rather went beyond that towards approving a number of settlement projects and plans. It has approved the construction of more than 600 new settlement units in the Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood in Jerusalem, in addition to 615 settlement units in Pisgat Ze’ev settlement, including the construction of a new settlement in Ariel settlement, with the aim of isolating the northern villages in the Salfeet Governorate from the Salfeet city.
This comes within the systematic displacement and ethnic cleansing policy launched by the Israeli government against the Bedouin communities in the West Bank, especially in Anata, Al-Isawiya and Al-Zaeem to link the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc, which is about 73,000 kilometers and is home to 19 Bedouin community with a population of more than 4,000 people, in the city of Jerusalem and extending from it to communities inhabited by the Arab Jahalin in the area known as E1 all the way to the Dead Sea and pastoral communities in the northern Jordan Valley, such as Al-Maarajat between the cities of Ramallah and Jericho, Ain Samia in Kafr Malik, and Khirbet Tana in towns of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan in the Nablus Governorate, as well as pastoral and agricultural in the areas south of Hebron in Masafer Yatta.
Moreover, the Central Planning and Building Committee in Jerusalem approved plans to build 400 settlement units in the Abu Dis town, paving the way for Israel’s expansion of a Jewish outpost in the town. The new ‘Kedmat Zion’ is to be built near the Separation Wall in Abu Dis that has strategic value. The so-called American road will include a tunnel that will pass under Abu Dis, passing through the area where this Jewish outpost is planned to be built in Abu Dis. The plan is being pushed by Ateret Cohanim, a far-right group that obtains financing and buys land to settle Jews in East Jerusalem.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Hebron:
- Celebrating the confiscation of a building in Hebron.
- Notifications to demolish a number of houses in the ‘Ma’in area’ to expand a settlement.
- Demolishing a one donum greenhouse east of Hebron, destroying the agricultural crops, an agricultural room, and retaining walls. In addition to demolishing a 220m2 tourist villa in the Enab Al-Kabeer village, south of Hebron, with a swimming pool and stone chains inside.
- Destroying agricultural crops in the Wadi Wahdin area.
Bethlehem:
- Dismantling a small shop in Al-Walaja village under the pretext of not having a license. They also demolished a 150m2barracks for raising sheep in Beit Jala.
Ramallah:
- Confiscating 14 donums in the Aboud village.
- Demolishing a farm in the Daljah area in Turmusaya, and bulldozing lands and agricultural roads in the area.
Tulkarm:
- Handing over orders to seize about 5 donums in the Shufa village, located on the road extending from the Shufa Military Checkpoint ‘Al-Burj’ to the north towards the settlement of ‘Avni Hefetz’.
- Torching large areas of wheat-crops in the Ramin’s plain.
Jenin:
- Demolishing a140m2 house in the Toura village in Ya`bad, under the pretext of not having a permit, and another 120m2 under construction under the same pretext.
Jordan Valley:
- Bulldozing 30 donums planted with onions and eggplant in the Al-Nuwaimeh village, destroyed a water network, as well as assaulting a Palestinian citizen and his son by spraying them with pepper gas in the Al-Hamma area in the northern Jordan Valley.
- Demolishing orders of 7 residences, facilities and livestock tents in the Um Al-Jimal area, and seized a bulldozer in the Kardala village.
