Occupied Jerusalem - SANA
The Israeli occupation escalated settlement operations in the occupied city of Jerusalem during the current year, amid the international community's disregard for the continuous Palestinian demands to abandon the condemnation statements, and to implement the UN resolutions that confirm the illegality of the settlement and demand its cessation.
The National Office for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements of the Palestine Liberation Organization stated in a report published on its website that the concern prevails in the Palestinian and international circles about the expansion of settlement operations, especially with the confirmation of the Prime Minister-designate of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he will intensify during the next year the establishment of settlement units and the construction of roads. settlement in and around Jerusalem with the aim of increasing the number of settlers in the occupied city.
The report quoted the United Nations envoy to the Middle East, Tor Winsland, as confirming in a briefing he gave last week to the Security Council that the occupation has tripled plans to establish settlement units in Jerusalem during the current year compared to the previous year, as it announced plans to establish 3,100 settlement units in 2022 compared to 900 in 2022. The year 2021, while plans were announced to establish 4,800 settlement units in the West Bank, compared to 5,400 units last year.
Stressing that the Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, remains a source of deep concern, as the settlements constitute a flagrant violation of United Nations resolutions and international law, and undermine the chances of establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The report indicated that the occupation authorities began constructing a settlement bridge over the Wadi Al-Rababa neighborhood in the town of Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, to connect the Old City in Jerusalem and the Al-Thawri neighborhood east of the city, while the bulldozing work continues in the area completely adjacent to the southeastern wall of Al-Aqsa and the Umayyad palaces area, which is far from it. 80 meters within the framework of a plan to surround the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque with a belt of settlement outposts, and to completely Judaize the area.
The report pointed out that the occupation is also expanding settlement operations in Nablus, as it seized 3,492 dunums of land from the two mountains of Al-Qurain and Al-Mastra in the village of Aqraba, and prevented Palestinians from entering it within the framework of a huge scheme aimed at controlling the eastern slopes of the West Bank, specifically those adjacent to the Jordan Valley, referring to The settlers have begun to establish new settlement units in the village of Burqa, and a settlement road has been built in the town of Qusra.
The report indicated that the occupation forces uprooted hundreds of trees, leveled 28 dunums of land from the village of Wadi Fukin in Bethlehem, and demolished two agricultural facilities in the towns of Carmel and Al-Tawana in Hebron, and three homes in the Ras Al-Amud neighborhood and the towns of Jabal Al-Mukabber and Silwan in Jerusalem, and two houses in Jericho. I delivered demolition notices for 16 homes in the city.
The report stated that settlers seized 70 dunums of Palestinian lands in the Nabaa Faraa area, south of Hebron, and stormed the towns of Burin, Madama, Sebastia, Al-Sawiya, Awarta in Nablus, Yatta in Hebron, Arraba and Jaba in Jenin, and attacked Palestinian homes, burned shops, and uprooted 32 olive trees in the towns of Qarawat Bani Hassan and Yasouf in Salfit, and they cut off the road linking Hawara and Qalqilya, and attacked Palestinian vehicles.
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