The Israeli occupation continues to seize more Palestinian lands to intensify establishing settlement roads
The Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements has stressed that the Israeli occupation authorities have intensified the projects of establishing settlement roads at the expense of Palestinian lands in order to connect the settlements that have been already built in the West Bank to each other and to the settlements built on the Palestinian lands occupied in 1948 with the aim of implementing the occupation’s colonialist annexation plan.
In its weekly report published by the Palestinian WAFA news agency on Saturday, the Bureau said that backed by the administration of US President Donald Trump, the occupation authorities are implementing a road network to connect the Israeli settlements to each other, limit the movement of the Palestinians, besiege them and hit their economy.
According to the report, the occupation authorities have seized 401 dunums of Palestinian lands to establish a settlement road in Al-Aroub Camp, to the north of Al-Khalil city. They also seized 406 dunums to open a settlement road in Al-Hawara village in Nablus. Besides, the occupation captured wide areas of Palestinian lands to establish settlement roads in Al-Laban Al-Gharbiyeh village in Ramallah and in several towns in occupied Al-Quds. The aim is to cut the geographic connection between Al-Quds and the cities and towns of the West Bank.
Most of the lands are planted with fruit trees, according to the report.
The report went on to say that the occupation forces continue to raze Palestinian lands in several villages to the west of Salfit city and threaten the locals with seizing 35 thousands dunums of land in areas in the northern Jordan Valley in order to expand settlement activities.
According to the report, the occupation forces captured 1000 dunums of agricultural lands in the villages of Birin, Madma and Asiret al-Qibliya, to the south of Nablus, in order to expand a settlement already built on this area and to set up settlement roads that threaten of confiscating more lands and tighten the siege on the Palestinians in the southern countryside of Nablus.
The report went on to say that the occupation has demolished several Palestinian houses and agricultural facilities in the towns of Qalandya in Al-Quds, Birin and Al-Sammou’ villages in Al-Khalil, Taqou’ and Al-Minyeh in Bethlehem and Al-Maghir in Ramallah.
The occupation forces handed the locals notifications about demolishing several houses in Wadi Al-Rababa in Silwan town in occupied Al-Quds, as well as Yata in Al-Khalil city and Hammamat Al-Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley.
In order to end the Palestinian presence in the Valley of Jordan area and control its resources, the occupation forces prevented the Palestinian farmers from working in their lands in Al-Farisiyeh area and Atouf villages there.
In addition, the report said, the Israeli settlers continue to attack several cities and towns in the West Bank under the protection of the occupation forces. The settlers seized 59 dunums of Palestinian land in Al-Baq’a in Al-Khalil city in order to establish settlement outposts and prevent the farmers from reaching their lands in areas in Bethlehem and Al-Khalil cities. They also cut off tens of olive trees in several towns in Salfit city and opened the sewage towards the agricultural lands of the Palestinians in the town of Deir Ballout, to the west of Salfit, causing damage to the trees.
Hamda Mustafa