Israel steals more Palestinian lands to continue implementing its settlement expansion scheme

Despite the UN resolutions that affirm the illegality of the Israeli settlement building activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, mainly the Security Council Resolution No. 2334  of 2016, the international community continues to refrain from implementing any of these resolutions to stop the Israeli occupation’s settlement expansion plans and its crimes which threaten the Palestinian presence in Palestine.

 The Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements, said in its weekly report published on Saturday that the Israeli settlers attacks against the Palestinians have escalated recently, particularly in the West Bank city of Nablus. The settlers razed 50 dunums of Palestinian land in the vicinity a mountain in the village of Burin in order to expand a settlement already built on the land of the village. They also stormed into several mosques in the town of Awarta and made provocative tours in their courtyards. The settlers closed the entrance of the village of Al-Laban Al-Sharqiya and threatened to close Al-Laban Secondary School for girls and seize its building. They also closed the roads between Jenin and Nablus cities to restrict the movement of Palestinians.

According to the report, the settlers carried out digging works in the entrance of Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil city and stormed into the towns of Susseya and Berin in the south of the city as well as the neighborhood of Al-Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Al-Quds city. The settlers also attacked the Palestinians’ houses and properties in Ramallah and forced shepherds to leave their pastures in several villages.

The report talked about the Israeli occupation’s incessant attempts to displace the Palestinians by demolishing their houses as well as their trade and agricultural facilities in different villages and towns in the cities of Al-Quds, Al-Khalil, Bethlehem, Jenin and Qalqilia.

The report pointed out that the occupation forces razed 40 dunums of agricultural lands in Al-Waljeh village in Bethlehem as well as swathes of land in the vicinity of Sbeih Mount area in Beita town in Nablus where they uprooted dozens of olive plants. They also closed the entrance of Osreen town, south of Nablus as well as the archeological area of Al-Mas’oudiyeh in Baraqa town, northwest of Nablus.

Hamda Mustafa