Occupied Jerusalem-SANA
“Separating the Old City from the north of occupied Jerusalem and cutting the road between it and Ramallah” is a new settlement goal that the Israeli occupation seeks to implement by establishing two thousand settlement units on Mount Scopus, putting it at risk of Judaization within a series of plans to besiege Jerusalem, dismember it and isolate it from its Palestinian surroundings.
The mountain located north of Jerusalem enjoys an important geographical location as it extends over an area of 840 dunums, at a height of 850 meters above sea level. Jarrah, in which the occupation is trying to expand settlements to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
In a statement to SANA reporter, Fakhri Abu Diab, a member of the Silwan Town Lands Defense Committee, explained that the new scheme, in its early stages, would seize 150 dunums of Mount Scopus lands to expand a settlement perched in the western region of Al-Isawiya town and connected with Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood from the eastern side.
Abu Diab indicated that the danger of the plan lies in the fact that it aims to separate the Old City from northern Jerusalem, cut off the road connecting it with Ramallah, complete the plan to displace the residents of Sheikh Al-Jarrah neighborhood, in addition to creating a geographical connection with a settlement outpost in the Mufti Palace area in Jerusalem, in which the occupation recently established 56 A settlement unit, which means creating a settlement belt surrounding the Old City and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Director of Al-Quds International Center Hassan Khater said in a statement to SANA that since 1967 the occupation has seized 60 percent of the area of Mount Scopus and demolished, during the past two years, about 78 Palestinian facilities there, pointing out that the new plan aims to seize the rest of its area and Judaize it completely.
Khater explained that the occupation is trying, through this plan, to complete the settlement belt, which starts from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood through the Mount of Olives and the outskirts, to find three settlement belts that wrap around the Old City and Al-Aqsa in order to suffocate and besiege the Old City, in which the occupation prevents Palestinian urban expansion operations, pointing out that the goal of the occupation is to Behind this is the transformation of Palestinian neighborhoods there into isolated areas and the expansion of settlements in the Holy City to Judaize it.
The Director General of the Department of Maps and Surveys in the Orient House in occupied Jerusalem, Khalil Al-Tafkaji indicated that the settlement occupation scheme on Mount Scopus is part of its plans to Judaize Jerusalem and bring about a dangerous demographic change in it and empty it from the Palestinian presence, indicating that the occupation also plans to seize 3,345 dunums of Palestinian lands in the vicinity of Mount The approach to establishing more settlement units and completing the process of Judaizing the vicinity of the Old City.
Coordinator of the Popular Committees Against Settlements and the Wall Salah Al-Khawaja pointed out that the occupation is trying to completely separate Jerusalem from Bethlehem and Ramallah and is intensifying the operations of demolishing houses and seizing lands in the villages and towns of the West Bank, especially those located in the eastern areas of Jerusalem, all the way to the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea areas to implement plans Colonial annexation, calling on the international community to take urgent action to save the city of Jerusalem and stop the occupation’s attempts to Judaize it and implement the resolutions of international legitimacy, foremost of which is Security Council Resolution 2334 of 2016, which affirms the illegality of settlements and calls for its cessation.
Mohammed Abu Shabab