Minister Mu'ayyad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, said that the Israeli occupation forces and settlers carried out 1,705 attacks during the month of February, in continuation of the ongoing series of terrorism by the occupation state against the Palestinian people, their lands and their properties.

Shaaban explained in the commission's monthly report, "Occupation Violations and Colonial Expansion Procedures," issued today, Monday, that the entity represented by the occupation army carried out 1,475 attacks, while the settlers carried out 230 attacks, and the total attacks were concentrated in the governorates of Nablus with 300 attacks, Hebron with 267 attacks, and Ramallah with 263 attacks.

He pointed out that the attacks ranged from armed attacks on Palestinian villages to imposing facts on the ground, field executions, vandalism, bulldozing of land, uprooting of trees, seizure of property, closures and barriers that sever the ties of Palestinian geography.

A wave of terrorism targeting citizens' properties and homes

Shaaban explained that the settlers' attacks were concentrated in the governorates of Nablus and Hebron, with 43 attacks each, Ramallah with 38 attacks, and Jerusalem with 25 settler attacks.

He added that the settlers carried out 68 acts of vandalism and theft of Palestinian property, which affected vast areas of land, and the settlers' attacks also resulted in the uprooting of 642 trees, including 610 olive trees, in the governorates of Hebron with 292 trees, Jenin with 250 trees, and Jerusalem with 100 trees.

He explained that last February, the settlers systematically targeted the Arab Al-Malihat community northwest of Jericho, by paving a colonial road surrounding the community, targeting the community’s mosque with burning, and carrying out attacks that did not stop, targeting citizens’ property and livestock with systematic assault and theft, in an attempt to displace the community in order to empty the area and hand it over to the colonial project.

He pointed out that the assault on citizens' livestock by stealing, killing, slaughtering and burning has become one of the tools of the settlers in assaulting Palestinian villages and Bedouin communities with great and direct intent in order to cause the greatest damage to living standards and lifestyle and to terrorize the safe people in these areas.

He pointed out that what happened in the village of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, through the theft of more than 900 heads of cattle by armed settlers falls within the framework of criminal behavior observed by the official institution in the occupying state, which overlooks and sponsors the terrorism of the settlers and deprives the Palestinians of their right to follow up on these cases in order to restore their rights and hold the perpetrators of the crimes accountable, stressing that the Commission, despite the complexities and restrictions imposed by the occupation, will continue its efforts to support the steadfastness of citizens and follow up on their cases legally at all levels in order to protect them and restore their rights.

Attempt to establish 8 new colonial outposts

He pointed out that the settlers have tried to establish 8 new colonial outposts since the beginning of last month, which were predominantly agricultural and pastoral in nature. These outposts were distributed by trying to establish two colonial outposts on the lands of Tubas Governorate, and an outpost in each of Jericho, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Tulkarm and Nablus.

Shaaban stressed that the escalation of attempts to establish colonial outposts in the last stage falls within the framework of tearing apart Palestinian geography and imposing facts of control over Palestinian land, as the colonists undertake the task of making a change on the ground, and then the official level undertakes to transform this change into a reality by legislating it, establishing it, and transforming it into a colonial site that enjoys all services.

Seizing 6 dunums and allocating 16 thousand dunums for settlers’ grazing

Shaaban said: Last month, the occupation authorities seized a total of 6 dunams of citizens’ lands through three seizure orders for military purposes aimed at paving sections of roads connecting established settlements and main streets in order to facilitate the movement of settlers and restrict Palestinian citizens. These orders targeted the Nablus governorates with two seizure orders on an area of one dunam, while the third order targeted the village of Tamoun in the Tubas governorate with five dunams.

He added that these orders are aimed at preventing shepherds from accessing these lands and granting settlers full authority to use them, noting that the first military order targeted the lands of the Salfit and Ramallah governorates, specifically the villages of Deir Ballut and Al-Lubban Al-Gharbi, by allocating a total of 2,600 dunums for the grazing of settler colonists, which are areas that were previously declared state lands, while the second, third and fourth orders targeted the Ramallah governorate, specifically the village of Kafr Malik, by allocating an area of 1,505 dunums, and the lands of Deir Jarir with two orders targeting a total of 4,900 dunums for the same purpose, and the fifth order targeted the lands of Ghor Al-Far’a in the Jericho governorate by targeting a total of 426 dunums, while the sixth order targeted a total of 8,700 dunums of lands in the city of Tubas.

Shaaban explained that this step, and the risks it entails, comes within the framework of what has been repeatedly announced about the occupation government’s intention to work on settling the status of “legalizing” 70 agricultural and pastoral colonial outposts, within the coalition agreements between the parties that make up the occupation government, and that the step of allocating lands for pasture will lead to the consolidation of these outposts by granting them vast areas, to become a center and starting point for carrying out more terrorist attacks against Palestinian citizens and their property.

156 facilities demolished and 93 others notified of demolition

He pointed out that the occupation authorities carried out 79 demolition operations last February, affecting 156 facilities, including 109 inhabited homes, 5 uninhabited ones, and 34 agricultural and other facilities.

Demolitions were concentrated in the Hebron governorate, with 55 facilities demolished, followed by Jenin governorate, with 26 facilities demolished, Jerusalem with 19 facilities, and Salfit with 15 facilities.

Shaaban explained that the occupation authorities distributed 93 notices to demolish Palestinian facilities in continuation of the series of restrictions on Palestinian construction and the natural growth of villages and towns, which is translated these days by a large density of demolition operations, and was concentrated in the Nablus Governorate with 25 notices, then the Tulkarm Governorate with 24 notices, Hebron with 13, and Tubas with 8 notices.

31 master plans for the colonies and tenders for the construction of 974 colonial units

Shaaban explained that the planning authorities in the occupying state studied 27 structural plans in February for the benefit of the West Bank settlements and within the borders of the Jerusalem Municipality, including 22 plans for the West Bank settlements and 5 plans within the borders of the Jerusalem Municipality.

It also approved 14 plans, 11 of which are in the West Bank, while it deposited 13 plans, 11 of which are also in the West Bank. The February plans targeted a total of 3,245 dunums of citizens’ lands, with the aim of building 2,684 new settlement units, including 1,278 units for settlements in the West Bank and 1,406 for settlements within the borders of the Jerusalem Municipality.

He added that the analysis of the maps attached to the master plans indicated the occupation state's intention to make a major expansion of the Telem settlement, which is built on the lands of citizens in Tarqumiya in the Hebron Governorate, through its intention to establish a new colonial neighborhood by building 196 new colonial units on an area of 144 dunams.

Shaaban pointed out that last February, the occupation offered a construction tender to add a total of 974 new colonial units to the Efrat settlement, which is built on the lands of citizens in the towns of Al-Khader, Artas, and Wadi Rahhal in the Bethlehem Governorate.