A new wave of land confiscation for more housing units in settlements

By: Madeeha Araj,

The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in his latest weekly report , that the Israeli right-wing Government and the extremist settlers continue their policies to undermine the two-state solution, and confiscate more lands to build new settlement housing units in the occupied West Bank, where the so-called "Supreme Planning Council" affiliated to the Israeli Civil Administration approved on Oct. 10th the construction of 2342 new housing units, bringing the number of settlement units planned by the Netanyahu government to 8,337 units, an increase of nearly 50% compared to the year 2018.

Among the settlements that the Occupation Authorities intend to expand is the “Bracha settlement” that is adjacent to the city of Nablus from the south, where 207 settlement units will be built there, the “Dolev settlement” built on the lands of the Jniya village, where 382 settlement units, and “Mofot settlement,” where 182 housing units will be built, too.

Under the pretext of the construction of the wall that Israel has begun to build in June 2002 in the Jenin Governorate in the West Bank, the Israeli army has also announced new confiscation orders for hundreds of dunums in Jenin and Tulkarem Governorates for the construction of the annexation and separation wall, where the Israeli Occupation Authorities have handed over orders of confiscating of 409 dunums of the lands of the towns of Ya bad, Barta a, Tora, Waifeen, Al-Arqah, Zebda, Nazlet Zaid and Sahr-Abed in Jenin, and they also informed of the seizure of 3,000 dunams of land east of Yatta south of Hebron, extending from Khirbet Menzel, to the Arabs of the Jahalin on the outskirts of the Dead Sea.

On the other hand, the Israeli Minister of Transportation, Smutrich began implementing his plan to build new streets and activate trains and public transport regularly with the aim of contributing to the imposition of sovereignty on these areas. A total of NIS one billion has been allocated for the tunnel plan between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion. And soon a bypass road around the Al-Aroub Camp north of Hebron will be opened at a cost of NIS 800,000,000.

Moreover, the Israeli Government has opened with the presence of the mayor of Jerusalem and the chief rabbis of Israel, the first underground cemetery in the occupied Jerusalem, it is the first of such in the world. The project includes the construction of about 24,000 graves at a depth of 50 meters underground, in the first phase, about 8,000 burial graves expected to be available for burial at the end of 2019.



A list of Israeli Occupation and Settlers Assaults over the Last Week, Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Demolishing a house in the Al-Sawana Neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem under the pretext of not having the necessary license.
- Forcing a citizen in Isawiya to demolish his house on his own under the pretext of building without a permit.
- Leveling a 400m2 of agricultural land in Isawiyaowned by Ishaq Moh’d Mustafa Hamdan.

Hebron:
- Demolishing a house and a sheep-barn belonging to the Jawabreh family at the main entrance of the Al-Arroub Refugee Camp, adjacent to the Jerusalem-Hebron road, under the pretext of building in areas “C”.
- Evacuation orders of 5 residential rooms in preparation for demolition east of Yatta south of Hebron.
- Handing over a notification to Al-Simia Elementary Mixed School “Challenge 13” in the Samou area that serves more than 40 students.

Bethlehem:
- Cutting down 25 olive trees in the Jamjoum area, Nahalin, west of Bethlehem, wrote racist statements, threatened farmers to enter the area claiming its ownership, erected an iron gate at the entrance of these lands to prevent their access.
- Seizing agricultural tractor owned by Ibrahim Adnan Salah near Al-Khader village south of Bethlehem.

Ramallah:
- Handing over the Beit-Sira Village Council a decision to stop work on paving the main town street, and confiscated the machines.
- Demolishing orders of 6 houses in the Kober town north of Ramallah.

Nablus:
- Stealing olive fruits from citizens lands behind the fence of Itamar settlement, southeast of Nablus.
- Pouring wastewater into the Deir al-Hatab village, stealing olive fruits there, attacking Khaled Salah Rawajba s family from the village of Rogib with stones while harvesting olives, and wrote racist slogans on the walls of a house in Huwara.
- Israeli occupation forces stormed the archaeological site in Sabastiya, north of Nablus.

Qalqilya:
- Detaining 7 mbers of the Mara ba family for more than 5 hours inside their land behind the Apartheid Wall in Kafr Thulth village in Qalqilya Governorate.

Jordan Valley:
- Attacking a peaceful protest march against the establishment of a settlement outpost on the lands of Khalat Hamad in Wadi al-Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley, forcing the solidarity activists to leave the site under the pretext of being in a closed military area. Furthermore, an elderly man suffered bruises as a result of being beaten by Israeli soldiers.

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