Israeli settlement expansion continues in occupied Al-Quds to end the Palestinian presence there and judaize the city
Over the past week, the Israeli occupation continued to expand settlement building activities in occupied Al-Quds with the aim of ending the Palestinian presence in this city and judaizing it, thereby preventing the establishment of the independent Palestinian state on the June 4th, 1967 line, with Al-Quds as its capital, according to the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements.
In its weekly report published on Saturday, the Bureau said that the occupation announced a plan to establish 473 settlement units on the land of the Palestinian town of Safafa, southeast of Al-Quds, and prevented the residents in the town to build more houses. The aim is to put more pressure on the locals and displace them.
According to the report, the occupation has intensified attacks on Al-Quds residents and escalated settlement expansion as well as house demolition in the towns of Beit Hanina and Silwan. It set up more barriers in Al-Quds’ streets, especially in the Old City and the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, to restrict the movement of the Palestinians, while providing protection for Israeli settlers who repeatedly storm into the city.
The report went on to say that the occupation also intensified its violations in the West Bank.
The Israeli forces demolished several agricultural facilities in the towns of Masafer Yatta in Al-Khalil, Al-Khader and Nahalin in Bethlehem, and three houses in the town of Beit Furik in Nablus. They also delivered demolition notices to several houses in the village of Al-Mdawar in Qalqilya and razed 60 dunums of agricultural land in the village of Um Al-Kheir, south of Al-Khalil city. The occupation forces also prevented the farmers from reaching their lands in the town of Qaryut in Nablus and prevented Al-Khalil Reconstruction Committee from completing maintenance and restoration of Al-Ibrahimi Mosque and Al-Khalil Old City.
In the same context, the Israeli settlers seized swathes of Palestinian land in the town of Qassis in Bethlehem and near Khallet Khader spring in Al-Farisiya area in the northern Jordan Valley. The settlers also stormed into the towns of Al-Samou’ and Masafer Yatta in Al-Khalil, Wasilat Al-Dhuher in Jenin and the village of Madma in Nablus and attacked Palestinian houses and properties, the report went on to say.
It pointed out that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in her briefing at the UN Committee in charge the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights that the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories have reached a disastrous level due to the continuous violations by the Israeli occupation and settlers against the Palestinians. She urgied the international community to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for these violations and to take decisive measures to immediately stop them.
Hamda Mustafa
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