The occupation’s sinister plan to separate Jerusalem from Bethlehem, a new episode of the criminal Judaization policy

Occupied Jerusalem (ST): In order to tighten the siege of the occupied city of Jerusalem with the settlements and cut the geographical communication between it and the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank, the Israeli occupation announced a new settlement plan on Palestinian lands in the town of Beit Safafa, south of the city, in violation of international legitimacy resolutions that affirm the illegality of settlement and demand its cessation.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to intervene urgently to stop the colonial settlement plans of the occupation, indicating that this plan aims to complete the separation of Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and change its cultural features and demographic reality by suffocating it with huge settlement outposts from all four sides in addition to the apartheid wall, warning that this will lead to displacement forcing entire Palestinian areas and neighborhoods out of the Holy City.

Al-Quds Governorate confirmed that the scheme amounts to a  brutal aggression and a continuation of the systematic policy of occupation aimed at annexing more Palestinian lands and expanding illegal settlement operations, calling for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2334 of 2016, which calls for a cessation of settlements. 

Coordinator of the People’s Committee against the Wall and Settlement Salah al-Khawaja explained that the plan includes the establishment of 4,000 new settlement units to expand three settlements that besiege Jerusalem from the southern side, and then link them to a network of settlement roads with the settlements established east of the city, all the way to the Dead Sea, which completely cuts off the geographical connection between Jerusalem and the West Bank and imposes a fait accompli based on apartheid, threatening to displace thousands of Palestinians. 

Al-Khawaja indicated that the occupation is trying to separate Jerusalem from the West Bank by linking the settlements built in the south, north and west of the city with each other, which threatens to isolate the northern West Bank from its center in preparation for the implementation of colonial annexation plans, stressing that the Palestinians will not allow the occupation to continue gradually separating Palestinian cities from each other and that they will continue the resistance in defense of their land. 

The Director of the Office of the Resistance of the Wall and Settlement Commission in Bethlehem, Hassan Breijieh, explained that this settlement plan aims to close the northern area of Bethlehem and besiege it with settlement belts, pointing out that if implemented, it will become impossible for Palestinians to enter Jerusalem from the north of Bethlehem, which means separating the occupation cities and towns in the West Bank from each other. 

The director of Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Jawad Siam, stated that the Judaization war waged by the occupation on Jerusalem includes the siege of the city with settlements from all sides and the establishment of thousands of settlement units on its lands. 

A tunnel dug by the occupation under the Old City towards Al-Aqsa, which causes collapses and cracks in Palestinian homes, especially in Silwan, and landslides in the vicinity and yards of Al-Aqsa.

Siam pointed out that the excavation and bulldozing work affects large areas of Palestinian lands in Jerusalem, not even the cemeteries, as the occupation bulldozers, during the past few days, bulldozed parts of the “Al-Yusufiyah” cemetery adjacent to the historic wall of Jerusalem and adjacent to Al-Aqsa, in flagrant violation of the sanctity of cemeteries and all international laws and norms. 

On the thirteenth of this month, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization “UNESCO” adopted two resolutions in favor of occupied Palestine during the 212th session of its Executive Council in Paris, confirming the status of Jerusalem as an“occupied city” and the nullification of the occupation measures. They also included a demand for “Israel” to stop its continuing illegal policies in Jerusalem, depriving Palestinians of the right to worship and movement, and distorting the authenticity and integrity of heritage sites in Jerusalem in particular and Palestine in general.

K.Q.