The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission stated that the occupying state is accelerating its colonial expansion operations at an unprecedented rate, not only in terms of expanding settlements and adding new units and buildings within them, but also in terms of establishing colonial neighborhoods far from the original colony.

The head of the Authority, Minister Mu'ayyad Shaaban, added in a statement issued on Wednesday that the occupation authorities have recently increased the pace of construction of these neighborhoods, which are eating into more citizens' lands. He explained that the maps attached to the master plans received, which the Authority's crews are analyzing and documenting, indicated the occupation state's intention to expand the "Etz Efraim" settlement, built on citizens' lands in the villages of Masha in the Salfit Governorate, and Saniriya in the Qalqilya Governorate, by depositing a master plan aimed at establishing a new neighborhood belonging to the settlement for the purpose of building 192 new colonial units on an area of 32 dunams, through the master plan numbered (Yush/1/6/126).

He added that the planning authorities in the occupying state studied 45 master plans for settlements in the West Bank, including Jerusalem (both within and outside the municipal boundaries), last March. They approved 16 master plans, while depositing 29 others.

He noted that the March plans targeted a total of 3,280 citizens' lands.

In the same context, settlers, under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, bulldozed dozens of dunams of Palestinian land in the village of Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah.

Local sources reported that a settler bulldozer, under the protection of the occupation army, razed dozens of dunams of land planted with ancient olive trees in the southern part of the village.

She pointed out that settlers had cut down dozens of olive trees in the area over the past 48 hours.

The sources indicated that the settlers seized hundreds of dunams in the southern region, with the aim of transforming it into a pastoral colonial outpost.

She said there is a plan to displace the village's residents and establish a large colonial settlement complex on the lands and homes of the citizens, linking it to the two neighboring settlements, especially since it is the only village whose entrances have remained closed since the war of extermination, and have not been opened for a single minute.

Umm Safa's area is estimated at 4,000 dunams, of which only 300 dunams remain due to the occupation's measures, land encroachment, and the seizure of vast areas of it. This is the same area on which the citizens' homes are located.