Israeli occupation authorities approve the reconstruction of 500 settlements in Bethlehem

The Israeli occupation authorities have approved the construction of hundreds of new settlements on expropriated Palestinian lands to the west of the occupied southern West Bank city of Bethlehem to expand an illegal colonial settlement, a local official said today.

Hasan Breijieh, head of the Bethlehem office of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission, told WAFA that, based on Israeli reports, the occupation authorities have approved the construction of 500 housing units in the illegal Israeli settlement of Tzur Hadassah, which is built on lands belonging to Palestinians from Wadi Fukin village.

He said that Israel is targeting Bethlehem with plans to expand its illegal settlements built around the biblical city and district since the start of the occupation the latest of which was rezoning al-Tamara village, east of Bethlehem, in order to include more of its land to the  settlements, as well as barring landowners and villagers from accessing their lands located near the settlements.

Palestinian farmers who need to access their lands near settlements or beyond the Israeli apartheid barrier, particularly in the current olive harvest season, are required to obtain a permit from the military government, which is rarely given except for people over 70 years of age who cannot do the work alone, forcing owners to risk reaching their lands without permission.

In another development, Israeli military occupation today blocked several agricultural roads in villages of Zububa and Ti’inik, to the west of the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin, obstructing movement of farmers and the olive harvest season, said a local official.

Nidal al-Ahmad, head of the Rummana village council, told WAFA that the Israeli army started this morning blocking roads with dirt and cement  in order to prevent the farmers from accessing their lands as they began the olive harvest.

Palestinians heavily depend on the olive harvest season for their economic livelihood.

In Ramallah, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting their olive crops in the village of Burqa, according to the village’s head of local council Adnan Habas.

Habas said that a group of settlers attacked the Palestinian farmers as they were picking their olive crops in the north of the village in an attempt to prevent them from continuing in the harvest.

He added the settlers also hurled stones at the farmers, who attempted to fend off the attack, inflicting injuries on five of them and damaging two vehicles.

Compiled by: Basma Qaddour