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 on the fifth anniversary on the UN Resolution 2334 that was 14 members were with, and with the abstention of the USA, the Security Council affirmed that settlement is illegal and a flagrant violation of International Law, and called on Israel to stop all Settlement activities, including natural growth, and to dismantle all outposts erected since March 2001. But, following the issuance of the decision, we didn’t witness a slowdown in the pace of settlement. On the contrary, settlement plans increased and roamed the Palestinian land without being held accountable or punished.
Last years have witnessed dozens of settlement plans in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, and infrastructure projects for settlements, such as the new settlement bypass road and sewage projects, and the construction of more outposts, which exceeded 280 ones by 2021, while 26,331 housing units were approved for construction in the settlements between 2017 – 2020, compared to 10,331 units scheduled for construction in the period 2013 – 2016.
Worth mentioning that many local and international circles expressed their concern about the high rate of crime and violence directed by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as 2021 recorded the highest levels of violence in recent years at the hands of herds of settlers and Jewish terrorist organizations. The rise in crimes against what the occupation authorities call a national background is linked to the outposts and agricultural farms that these authorities have allowed to establish in more than one area. In Yitzhar and Shilo near Nablus, there was an increase in crime, whether in chopping olive trees or throwing stones at Palestinian cars at crossroads.
An increase in violence was also seen in Hebron, where a number of settlement outposts and farms have been established in recent years. In the first10 months of 2021, there were 410 attacks by settlers against Palestinians of which 302 against property and 108 against individuals, while the year 2020 witnessed 358 attacks and 335 attacks during 2019. These numbers do not reflect the whole truth. 49% of Palestinians who are exposed to settler violence didn’t file any suitcase because they do not expect justice. Indeed, according to the National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlement, and other international organizations, the Israeli authorities closed about 91% of the investigation files into settler attacks against Palestinians between 2005 and 2019 without charging any.
On the other hand, the planning authority in the occupation municipality approved a plan to expand the commercial complex ‘Al-Malha Mall’ on the lands of Al-Malah, Beit Safafa and Al-Walajah, by adding 12,700m2 for trade and employment, while two 18-storey towers will be built – one as commercial offices and the other to accommodate 300 new settlement units. The planning committee said that this policy goes in line with the approach of promoting the scale of construction and mixed uses along the light rail and public transport routes as a whole and that the Malha district will be one of the important public transports in the city.
As for settlers, they launched last week a series of attacks, some of which used firearms, on Palestinian villages in the vicinity of Nablus, concentrated in the village of Burqa, where 40 houses were attacked, 5 others were also attacked in the Sebastia village north of Nablus, and 10 other houses were attacked by settlers in the village of Deir Sharaf, as well as attacks on the villages of Qariut, Qusra and al-Lubban, during which the settlers used weapons, stones and sticks in their brutal attacks on the citizens.
Moreover, the Israeli occupation army issued lenient instructions to its soldiers about opening fire and pressing the trigger in targeting Palestinian citizens who are defending their lands in the face of settlers’ attacks. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem issued a statement, saying that the Israeli occupation forces don’t use shooting in the West Bank under special circumstances, but rather as a ‘routine procedure’, even without the targets posing a threat to these forces. Thus, the occupation army allowed its soldiers to shoot at Palestinians throwing stones at any case, just kill, even if they a not facing danger. Knowing that since the beginning of 2021, the number of martyrs who were targeted by the occupation bullets was 84 martyrs, 79 of them males and 5 females, including 7 cases of targeting and killing at the occupation checkpoints throughout the Palestinian territories.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Notifying the Salhiya family to evacuate their houses in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood until the 25th of January, as well as, seizing a plot of land belonging to the family under the pretext of public interest and the establishment of schools.
- Forcing a Jerusalemite to demolish his 60 m2 house in the town of the Jabal Al-Mukaber to avoid paying heavy fines imposed by the Israeli municipality.
- Warning the Salem family in the Sheikh neighborhood not to participate in any solidarity activities near their house, which is threatened by the Israeli settlers’ seizure and fencing a land belonging to the family with barbed.
- Storming the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque under strict Israeli protection.
Hebron:
- Organizing a demonstration in the Al-Hawar area adjacent to the bypass road n 60, and attempting to break into a house belonging to Younis Aqel, threw stones at citizens’ vehicles as well.
- Uprooting 50 olive trees in favor of building a settlement road, and more than 60 four-year-old olive trees east of Yatta, located on an area of one and a half dunams.
- uprooting 300 olive seedlings in the Taybeh area of Tarqumia, northwest of Hebron, to connect the ‘Adora settlement’ with the ‘Telem’ settlement.
Bethlehem:
- Handing demolition orders and stopping construction to residents of theWadi Fukin.
- Demolishing a two-storey house under construction with an area of 80 m2 for each in the town of Nahalin in the “Abu Ker” area.
- Issuing an order of seizing the lands in the town of Al-Khader in order to install isolation gates on the agricultural roads that lead to the “Sidi Boaz” settlement outpost built on Palestinian lands.
Ramallah:
- Running over a Palestinian female, Ghadeer Anis Masalma, 63, while she was at the entrance to the town of Sinjel, north of Ramallah.
- Bulldozing the farmers’ lands in the eastern area of Deir Nidham village, west of Ramallah, and erecting a barbed wire around the lands to prevent farmers from using their lands.
Nablus:
- Storming the village of Burqa under the Israeli protection and damaging 40 houses in the village while the mosques of Burqa appealed the people to confront the Israeli settlers’ attacks.
- Storming the western entrance to Burqa, and attacked the citizens’ homes with stones which caused the injury of 3 citizens.
- Attacking a citizen house and a car washroom at the entrance to Burqa village, northwest of Nablus.
- Closing the three roads linking the village of Burqa and the road connecting the cities of Jenin and Nablus with earth mounds, and declaring the road between the towns of Silat Al-Dhahr and Deir Sharaf a closed military area, under the pretext of securing a march for the Israeli settlers.
Salfeet:
- Placing eviction notices on the lands of citizens with an area of more than 20 dunums in the Khallet Hassan, under the pretext of being state property. It should be mentioned that the Khallet Hassan has an area of more than 4,000 dunams threatened with confiscation, with the aim of establishing a new settlement linking 5 settlements and a number of settlement blocs between the Salfit and Qalqilia Governorates.
- Attacking 3 citizens in the Wadi Qana area.
Tulkarm:
- Attacking a two-storey house in the Ramin town, east of Tulkarm, and breaking its windows with stones.
Jordan Valley:
- Confiscating an agricultural tractor in the Farsieh area in the northern Jordan Valley.
- Attacking the Arara area in the Wadi Al-Qilt area and frightening the children and women.
- Storming the Khirbet Homsah Al-Tahta.
- Conducting Israeli military training a few days ago near the citizens’ tents and their agricultural lands in the areas of Al-Farisieh, Al-Maleh, and Ein Al-Hilweh.
