Suhail Khaliliya, Director of the Settlement Monitoring Unit at the Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ), said that the expansion of the borders of the settlements and the legalization of others to establish them on the lands of the Bethlehem Governorate comes within the framework of the “Greater Jerusalem” settlement project.

Khaliliya added in a statement to the official "Wafa" agency that implementing this project will lead to the annexation of 73 km of Bethlehem Governorate's lands, equivalent to 11% of its total area.

He pointed out that the decision of the Israeli occupation authorities to transfer lands in the Bethlehem Governorate to the "influence zone" of the "Nahal Helitz" outpost with the aim of turning it into a colony comes within the framework of the occupation state's efforts to "settle the situation" or "legalize" the colonial outpost that was established on the lands of the Bethlehem Governorate, specifically the lands of Beit Jala and Battir under the name "Nahal Helitz", among the five colonies that the occupation "cabinet" approved last June to "legalize" and turn them into colonies.

Khaliliya pointed out that the establishment of the "Nahal Helitz" settlement will lead to the seizure of 600 dunams of Battir town lands, noting that it is only a few hundred meters away from the area called (B).

A report issued by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission stated that the occupation authorities seized 4,500 dunams last month, and approved 20 structural plans for settlements and five new buffer zones.