A new settlement plan for the occupation threatens to displace thousands of Palestinians and isolate Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank

Occupied Jerusalem - SANA

The Israeli occupation authorities announced a plan to establish thousands of new settlement units in the occupied city of Jerusalem that threatens to completely isolate them from the rest of the West Bank and displace thousands of Palestinians, within the framework of implementing annexation plans and imposing new facts on the ground that prevent any opportunity to establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The new plan includes the establishment of 4 thousand settlement units extending over an area of ​​12,443 dunums of Palestinian land to expand the settlement located east of occupied Jerusalem and link it to a network of apartheid roads that the Palestinians are not allowed to pass through with the rest of the settlements along the area extending to the city of Jericho in the West Bank, which means surrounding Occupied Jerusalem with settlements from all sides, cutting off its geographical connection with the occupied West Bank, and completely isolating it from it.

Spokesman for the Palestinian government Ibrahim Melhem confirmed in a statement to SANA correspondent that the occupation is accelerating the implementation of its settlement plans in occupied Jerusalem with the aim of changing its character, legal status and demographic composition to Judaizing it and implementing annexation plans in flagrant violation of international law and international legitimacy decisions, stressing that the occupation crimes will not change the fact that it is until The disappearance and the steadfastness and steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land will bring down all their colonial plans.

Melhem pointed out to continue working with the international community and international organizations to stop the occupation crimes against the Palestinians, hold those responsible to account, and implement international legitimacy decisions.

The specialist in Jerusalem affairs, Fakhri Abu Dhiab, explained that this plan is part of a huge settlement scheme to Judaize the occupied city of Jerusalem, indicating that the occupation has announced that it will implement it in three phases. The first will besiege the towns of Eizariya, Abu Dis and Sawahrah, east of Jerusalem, with the Apartheid Wall, and in the second, thousands of Palestinians from several villages in the east will leave The city will take over thousands of dunams to connect the settlement of Maqamah east of occupied Jerusalem with the heart of the city and the settlements extending to Jericho in the West Bank, and in the third, it will expand the settlement operations to separate the north of the West Bank from its south, making the establishment of a geographically continuous Palestinian state impossible.

In turn, the director of the Jerusalem International Center, Hassan Khater, stated that this scheme threatens to displace 9 thousand Palestinians from the towns of Khan al-Ahmar, Abu An-Nuwar, and al-Sawahrah and others, besieging thousands of others in the towns of al-Eizariya, Abu Dis and al-Sawahira by the Apartheid Wall and isolating them from occupied Jerusalem while the settlements are linked together and expanded.

Coordinator of the Popular Committees for Resistance to Settlement and Judaization, Salah Al-Khawaja, explained that the occupation is working to expand the settlements east of occupied Jerusalem, to seize 540 km2 of Palestinian lands in the vicinity of the city to implement annexation plans, stressing that the Palestinians will continue to steadfastly resist the occupation and will thwart its plans to uproot them from their land that has become prey to settlement Judaization in light of the international community's inaction and silence on the crimes of the occupation.

Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Wasel Abu Yusef, indicated that the occupation is expanding settlement activity, striking against all international laws and decisions of international legitimacy to permanently eliminate any opportunity to establish an independent Palestinian state on the line of June 4, 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital, taking advantage of the silence of the international community over its crimes, which requires action. Urgently from the United Nations to implement the UN Security Council resolutions, foremost of which is Resolution No. 2334, which affirms the illegality of settlements and calls for an immediate end to the ICC and the need for the International Criminal Court to open an official investigation into the crimes of the occupation and hold those responsible accountable.

Muhammad Abu Shabab