Israel digs a settlement tunnel under Bab Al-Khalil area in Al-Quds old city

In a blatant violation of the resolutions of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which included the old city of Al-Quds in the list of the endangered world heritage and called for halting any activities that change its cultural features, the Israeli occupation launched new digging operations under Bab Al-Khalil area in the western part of the old city of occupied Al-Quds to establish a settlement tunnel that extendes to the middle of Al-Buraq square in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

  In its weekly report published on Saturday, the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements said that the occupation authorities started digging works under Bab Al-Khalil area to establish a 475 meters long, 10-30 meters deep and 2-3 meters wide tunnel. The tunnel will pass under Othman bin Affan mosque, Bab Al-Sisilah area, the historical Abu Khadija Khan and Al-Khalidiyeh Library till it reaches Al-Buraq square.

According to the report, the tunnel aims at facilitating the Israeli settlers’ raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque and changing the historical character of the areas under which it will pass. The move will cause damage to many buildings as well as huge economic losses to the people in Al-Quds who have already been suffering from disastrous conditions because of the occupation’s racist measures and repeated closures of Palestinian shops in the old city.

The report added that the locals in Al-Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Al-Quds continue to be the target of settlers’ attacks, launched under the protection of the occupation forces, with the aim of forcing the Palestinians in the western part of the city to evacuate their houses and hand them over to the settlers.

Moreover, the occupation forces demolished 4 Palestinian houses and two commercial facilities in the towns of Anata and Al-Issawiyeh in occupied Al-Quds, 12 houses in Masafer Yatta town, south of Al-Khalil, and a house in Al-Seela Al-Harethiya in Jenin.

The settlers, the report pointed out, also continued to attack Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank. They seized 40 dunums of agricultural land in Aseeret Al-Qebliyeh town to expand a settlement and stormed into the archeological areas in the towns of Sebestia in Nablus and Taqou’ in Bethlehem. They also raided several towns and villages in Nablus, Qalqilia, Salfit, the northern Jordan Valley and Bethlehem and attacked the Palestinians’ houses and properties.

Hamda Mustafa