Israel continues to implement its settlement expansion scheme in the occupied Palestinian territories with the support of the US administration: Report

The Israeli occupation continues to implement its settlement expansion scheme in the occupied Palestinian territories with the support of the US administration and in the light of the failure of the international community to force Israel to comply with the international legitimacy resolutions, mainly Resolution No. 2334 for 2016 which confirms the illegality of the occupation’s settlement building activities and calls for halting them.

In its weekly report issued on Saturday, the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements said that the US administration has not yet announced a clear position on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and it hasn’t asked the occupation authorities to stop settlement operations.

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hady Amr, during his visit to Palestine last week, didn’t mention settlements and the occupation officials confirmed that there is no American pressure and that settlement building will continue without restrictions, the report clarified.

 The report went on to say that the occupation presses ahead with implementing its Judaization schemes in Palestine, as more than 1500 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the occupation forces razed areas in Al-Yusufiya Cemetery in the Old City of Al-Quds. The report pointed out that the occupation had already demolished the wall of the cemetery and the entrance stairs leading to it in early December 2020 to expand settlement operations near the cemetery and along the eastern wall of Al-Quds in order to obliterate the features of the corridors and historical sites surrounding the cemetery.

According to the report, the Israeli settlers continue their attacks on Palestinian cities and towns under the protection of the occupation forces.

 They settlers stormed the archaeological site in Bab Al-Zawiya area in downtown Al-Khalil city, burned hundreds of olive trees and razed swathes of agricultural Palestinian lands in Jabal Al-Alam in the town of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, to build a settlement road. They also burned a factory in the town of Jama’in in the city of Nablus and seized lands in the town of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus to expand one of the settlements, the report said.

 The extremist settlers, added the report, also seized Abu Al-Shawareb Mountain, which extends over an area of about 100 dunums in the village of Kafr Rai in Jenin, to expand settlement building operations. They also prevented Palestinian farmers from reaching their lands in Khirbet Al-Suwayda and Ain Al-Hilweh villages in the northern Jordan Valley.

Hamda Mustafa