New Israeli settlement expansion scheme threatens to isolate the West Bank cities from each other

The Israeli occupation has seized tens of dunums of Palestinian land in the towns of Qarawet Bani Hassan and Deir Istiya, to the west of the West Bank city of Salfit with the aim of implementing a settlement building plan that will isolate the city form Qalqilya.

Walid Assaf, Chairman of the Commission against the Apartheid Wall and Settlements told SANA correspondent that the occupation announced that it seized the lands on July 4th and that it immediately started razing operations on an area that extends along 7 km in the east of Deir Istiya and Qarawet Bani Hassan towns in order to expand two settlements already built on the lands of these two towns.

These lands have an important strategic position because they are located in the area separating between Qalqilya and Salfit, said Assaf, pointing out that the seizure of these lands will isolate the two cities from each other and will contribute to completing of the construction of the apartheid wall that devours 50% of the area of Salfit with the aim of implementing the occupation’s colonial annexation scheme.

 This Israeli plan threatens with seizing the lands of Wadi Qana, north of Deir Istiya, which is the food basket for this area and one of the most important valleys in the West Bank because it is rich in springs and fruitful trees, according to Assaf.

On his part, Ghassan Douglas, the official in charge of the settlement file in the northern West Bank, said that seizing tens of dunums of Palestinian land in Qarawet Bani Hassan and Deir Istiya towns is part of the occupation’s ongoing war on the Palestinian presence, clarifying that the occupation has established dozens of settlement outposts in Salfit to tighten the siege of the Palestinians and isolate the villages from each other.

Douglas pointed out that the Israeli occupation forces and settlers are constantly attacking Palestinian agricultural lands in the city, cutting down trees and burning crops to seize the lands and displace the Palestinians, stressing that the people of Salfit are adherent to their land and will continue steadfastly to resist the occupation and fail its Judaization plans.

Coordinator of the Popular Committee to Resist the Apartheid Wall and Settlements Salah Khawaja said that the occupation has seized 76% of the lands of the city of Salfit, which is rich in natural resources. The occupation has also forced the locals in a number of villages in the city to abandon their houses after it cordoned off their areas with settlements and destroyed the basic elements of agriculture in these villages.

Al-Khawaja warned that besides separating Salfit and Qalqilya, this Israeli settlement expansion scheme threatens with seizing the largest water basin in the West Bank.

On his part, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Al-Barghouti said that the occupation is accelerating settlement building operations with the aim of implementing its colonial annexation plans in the light of the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities to stop the new Nakba.

Hamda Mustafa