New Israeli settlement plan deprives Palestinians in Al-Walja village of their lands

The fertile agricultural lands, the abundant water springs and the strategic position of Al-Walja village in the southwest of occupied Al-Quds have made this area a target of the Israeli greedy settlement ambitions.

In 1948, the occupation seized 15708 dunums of this village area, which is 17708 dunums, displaced most of its Palestinian residents, built the racial apartheid wall on swathes of its lands and encircled it with settlements. Recently, the occupation has announced a settlement building plan that will deprive the resident of Al-Walja village of reaching their agricultural lands.

In its weekly report published on Saturday, the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) National Bureau for Defending the Lands and Resisting Settlements clarified that the occupation authorities announced a plan to expand a settlement outpost already built on the land of Al-Walja village. Implementing this plan will deprive the residents of reaching and benefitting from their agricultural lands and will prevent them from using the village’s remaining water springs which numbered 24 before the occupation seizes most of them, the report said.

According to the report, the occupation announced a plan to establish 135 new settlement units in Al-Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Al-Quds with the aim of separating it from the other neighborhoods of the occupied city. The occupation also seized new areas in Wadi Al-Rababa neighborhood in Silwan town, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, as part of its plan to seize more than 20 dunums in this area with the aim of connecting between a settlement already built in Ras Al-Amoud neighborhood and another one built on Al-Zeitoun Mount overlooking Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Quds old city.

Moreover, the report said that the Israeli occupation forces seized 616 dunums of the lands of the towns of Qaryout, Al-Sawiya and Al-Laban Al-Sharqiya south of Nablus. They also razed lands in Ein Al-Baydaa area in Al-Kalil city with the aim of establishing new settlement outposts.

The occupation forces also forced three Palestinians to demolish their own houses in different areas in occupied Al-Quds and they demolished a number of houses and agricultural facilities in several West Bank areas, the report went on to say.

The report pointed out that the Israeli settlers uprooted 120 olive trees in the town of Tarqoumiya in Al-Khalil city and stormed into several areas in Al-Khalil, Ramallah and Nablus where they attacked Palestinian olive harvesters and seized their crops.

Hamda Mustafa