An Israeli newspaper reported today, Wednesday, that Israel plans to establish a settlement neighborhood in Qalandiya, north of occupied Jerusalem, at a time when the Jerusalem governorate revealed that the occupation intends to build a waste treatment facility in the same area, which threatens the displacement of dozens of Jerusalemite families.
The Calcalist newspaper stated that the local planning and building committee in Jerusalem will hold a session next month to establish a massive settlement neighborhood for ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) in the Atarot area and on the land of the old Jerusalem airport in the Qalandiya area, north of occupied Jerusalem and Ramallah.
The newspaper added that Israeli authorities plan to build the new neighborhood on an area exceeding 1263 dunams, which will include about 9,000 housing units for more than 30,000 settlers.
It continued that the plan has been proposed repeatedly, but this time it includes appendices for construction and economic and social development that were not previously present, which may contribute to facilitating approval and advancing the establishment of the neighborhood.
In parallel with the genocide in Gaza and the aggression against the occupied West Bank, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu approved several settlement projects aimed at tearing apart the West Bank and Judaizing occupied Jerusalem.
In August of last year, Netanyahu - wanted by the International Criminal Court for committing war crimes in Gaza - signed the "E1" plan to expand settlements established on lands in the West Bank surrounding occupied Jerusalem.
The settlement plan aims to isolate occupied Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, severing geographical and demographic communication between the city and Palestinian communities, undermining the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, as well as isolating the northern West Bank from the south and turning it into enclaves subject to the authority of the occupation.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem governorate stated today that the occupation authorities plan to establish a waste treatment and energy recovery facility on Palestinian land in the village of Qalandiya, north of the city, which threatens the displacement of dozens of Jerusalemite families.
The governorate added in a statement that what is known as the "Israel Land Authority" distributed evacuation orders demanding residents vacate their homes and lands within 20 days in preparation for the confiscation of about 130 dunams for the project, which was reactivated by a decision from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich based on old orders dating back to the 1970s.
The governorate warned that the project constitutes a violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions, leading to the expansion of the separation wall and the confiscation of additional lands, warning of its serious environmental and health repercussions that will turn Palestinian lands into a dumping ground for hazardous waste.
The Jerusalem governorate called on the international community to take urgent action to stop the project and protect Jerusalemite residents from displacement and the destruction of their environment.
In other developments, occupation forces demolished the home of Jerusalemite Mousa Badran in the Silwan neighborhood south of occupied Jerusalem today, under the pretext of building without a permit.
Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the occupation police spread in the neighborhoods of Bir Ayoub and Al-Bustan in Jerusalem, closed several roads, and took positions on rooftops, coinciding with the incursion of the occupation municipality crews into the neighborhood to carry out the demolition.
According to statistics from the Jerusalem governorate, the occupation authorities had demolished about 93 buildings by the end of May, while UN reports indicated that more than 623 homes and facilities were destroyed in the West Bank since the beginning of this year.
Commenting on the new demolition operation in the Silwan neighborhood, Haroun Nasser al-Din, a member of the political bureau and head of the Jerusalem Affairs Office in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), stated that the demolition of Jerusalemite homes, the latest being the demolition of Mousa Badran's house, comes within the context of the forced displacement policy pursued by the occupation to uproot Palestinians from their land and erase the Arab and Islamic identity of the city.
At the same time, the Jerusalem governorate reported that 154 settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque today under the protection of Israeli occupation forces.
Israeli occupation forces also demolished two inhabited houses in the village of Walaja west of Bethlehem and a tin house and two water wells in the village of Al-Fakheit in Masafer Yatta south of Hebron.
In Hebron as well, Palestinian sources reported that the occupation seized 38 dunams of citizens' lands in the town of Beit Ummar.
Occupation forces stormed towns in Ramallah today, while settlers attacked Palestinian properties and
شارك برأيك
New Israeli plans to build a settlement and waste treatment facility in Qalandia