Israeli Occupation controls more than 85 percent of the Palestinian land

Occupied Al-Quds, (ST) – The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics revealed that the Israeli occupation controls more than 85 percent of the Palestinian land and continues to expand settlement operations, demolish the Palestinians’ homes and forcibly displace them, with the aim of eliminating the Palestinian presence and implementing its Judaization plans.

In a statement issued on Wednesday on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of Land Day, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics stated that the Israeli occupation controls more than 85 percent of the total land area in historical Palestine.

The Bureau pointed out that the past year witnessed a significant increase in the pace of the establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements. It said that the occupation announced 83 plans to establish more than 22,000 settlement units in the occupied city of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the rest of the West Bank.

The report pointed out that the occupation is working to double the number of settlers to change the demographic situation in their favor, as the number of settlers at the end of 2022 amounted to 7.1 million, while the number of Palestinians in the West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip reached 5.4 million and in the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948 reached 1.7 million. “The number of Palestinian refugees in the diaspora reached more than 7 million”, the report added.

The report stated that the number of occupation military sites and bases in the West Bank reached 483 sites by the end of 2021. It pointed out that occupation forces and the settler gangs carried out 8,724 attacks during the past year, 6,847 of which were against Palestinians, 1,515 against Islamic and Christian sanctities, and 362 against lands and natural resources.

The report indicated that the occupation authorities demolished 953 homes and facilities during the past year in the West Bank, most of which were concentrated in the occupied city of Jerusalem. OCHA documented the demolition of 9353 Palestinian houses and facilities by the occupation since 2009, which caused the displacement of 1031 Palestinians, while the livelihood of 28,446 others was badly affected.

The report stated that the number of prisoners in the occupation detention centers reached 4,700, pointing out that the occupation forces detained 7,000 Palestinians last year, including 882 children and 172 women.

The report indicated that the number of Palestinian martyrs exceeded 100,000 since the Nakba in 1948, while the number of martyrs during the past year reached 231, including 56 children, while thousands were wounded.

On the 30th of March of every year, the Palestinians commemorate Land Day, as an expression of their adherence to their land and their national identity. The events of this day go back to the year 1976, when demonstrations spread to various Palestinian cities and villages in protest against the occupation authorities’ seizure of 21,000 dunums of land in the city of Galilee in the occupied Palestinian territories of 1948, and when the occupation forces suppressed them with live bullets, which led to the martyrdom of a number of Palestinians and the wounding and detention of hundreds.

Raghda Sawas