Jerusalem Governorate warns of a settlement plan to establish 13 new colonies in the West Bank

The Jerusalem Governorate issued a strong warning about the serious repercussions of the Israeli Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs (the Cabinet) approving a vast settlement plan. The plan includes the establishment of 13 new colonies affiliated with the so-called 'Binyamin Council' settlement, a step described by the Governorate as an attempt to impose a new geographical reality that isolates the occupied city of Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and its natural extension in the West Bank.

The Governorate affirmed in an official statement that the intensification of colonial projects recently falls within the political bidding associated with the electoral cycle of the occupation authorities. It clarified that the occupation government seeks through these decisions to appease extremist fascist right-wing currents and ensure their support at the ballot boxes, by confiscating more Palestinian lands and legitimizing illegal settlement expansion.

According to field data, the implementation of the project will begin with a first phase in the coming months, including the immediate construction of four to six new colonies. The occupation authorities also intend to legitimize a group of pastoral colonial outposts spread in the area, transforming them into permanent settlements that receive direct government recognition and funding, thereby entrenching settlers' control over vast areas of land.

The plan targets two strategic geographical axes. The first axis extends in the areas located northwest of Jerusalem Governorate, reaching west of Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, alongside bypass road 60. This route aims to tighten control over key entrances and ensure geographical continuity for settlers at the expense of the surrounding Palestinian villages and towns, which will find themselves besieged by settlement construction.

The second axis of the project focuses on the eastern slopes of Ramallah Governorate towards the Palestinian Jordan Valley, which threatens to completely dismember the West Bank and isolate its north from its south. Local sources indicated that this linkage between colonial blocs represents part of a broader vision to annex large areas of the West Bank and prevent the establishment of any geographically contiguous Palestinian entity in the future.

The acceleration of colonial projects is linked to the occupation's electoral cycle; where geography and Palestinian blood are exploited as an entry point for political bidding.