Israeli occupation confiscates more Palestinian lands to escalate settlement building operations with complete disregard for international resolutions

The Israeli occupation continues to confiscate more Palestinian lands and displace the Palestinians in the West Bank, including in occupied Al-Quds, in a bid to evacuate the area from the Palestinian presence so that it can go ahead with its settlement building schemes with complete disregard for international resolutions, according to the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) National Bureau for Defending the Lands and Resisting Settlements.

In its weekly report issued on Saturday, the Bureau said that the Israeli occupation authorities announced a new plan to establish 350 settlement units in order to expand a settlement already built on Palestinian lands near Ramallah in the West Bank. This comes a week after a previous plan to establish 560 settlement units to expand a settlement built on Palestinian lands in the villages of Kisan and Al-Rashayda , southeast of Bethlehem, was announced.

The report clarified that the occupation has been escalating its settlement building operations in Al-Quds with the aim of Judaizing the city completely, isolating it from its Palestinian surrounding, obliterating its features and controlling its sanctities, mainly Al-Aqsa Mosque. These aggressive practices came within the framework of the occupation’s plan to implement its Judaization scheme in the city.

The report noted the repeated provocative raids conducted by the Israeli forces and settlers on the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards and the attacks on the Palestinians.

 According to the report, the occupation forces stormed Al-Fardis area, east of Bethlehem,  with a number of bulldozers and demolished a Palestinian house. They also razed four dunums of Palestinian land and backfilled a water well in the areas of Qurnet Abu Ali and Khirbet Al-Ghazzawi, to the west of Bethlehem. The Israeli forces also razed hundreds of dunums of Palestinian land near Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, with the aim of building a settlement road. In addition, they uprooted dozens of olive trees in the village of Jayyous, east of Qalqilya, after razing lands in an area of 30 dunums, west of the village.

The report asserted that the Israeli settlers continue their attacks on the cities and towns of the West Bank under the protection of the occupation forces. They attacked Palestinian farmers while they were working in their lands in the Al-Shorfa area, east of Dayr Jarir village in Ramallah. The settlers stormed Jabal Al-Alam area in Na’leen town , to the northwest of Ramallah and burned dozens of olive trees. They also stormed the Palestinians’ lands in Ein Al-Bayda and Birin, east of Yatta city in Al-Khalil where they razed wide areas with the aim of expanding settlement building operations. The extremist settlers also attacked the Palestinians in Jaber district in Al-Khalil old city under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces that fired bullets and toxic gas causing injuries and suffocations cases to many Palestinians. They also razed lands in Khirbet Al-Suwayda in the Jordan Valley to expand a settlement outpost already built on Palestinian lands in this area.

 Hamda Mustafa