Nablus - "Jerusalem" dot com - Imad Saadeh - The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements confirmed that the transitional occupation government headed by "Lapid" is following in the footsteps of other previous governments in deepening and expanding settlement, and the Jerusalem governorate in particular is under fierce settlement attack. The occupation authorities had reservations about officially announcing it before the US President's recent visit to the region.

In its weekly report on settlement, the office stated that the settlement sub-committee of the Civil Administration in the occupation army had announced its approval of the establishment of 816 new settlement units after it revealed the deposit of two settlement plans within a series of new settlement projects, where the committee announced the creation of the master plan. Detailed No. 2/1/225 of the “Almon” settlement established on the lands of the village of Anata on an area of 100 dunums for the establishment of 91 new settlement units, public institutions and commercial areas The village of (Al-Eizariya) on an area of 6.2 dunums for the establishment of 16 new settlement units, and for the entry into force of the detailed structural plans No. 4/2/225 for the settlement of (Ma’ale Mikhmas) established on the lands of the village (Deir Dibwan) on an area of 150.6 dunums for the establishment of 114 new settlement units. On July 24, 2020, it was announced that the settlement outpost (Neve Erez) would be transformed into a permanent settlement neighborhood. And about the entry into force of the detailed structural plans No. 2/2/205 for the "Shilo" settlement to reside on the lands of the villages of Qaryut and Jalud (in the site known as (Al-Khafash) on an area of 358 dunums to establish 534 new settlement units. The project was announced on the third of July 2021 and the entry into force of the detailed structural plans No. 2/4/2/235 for the settlement of (Talmun) established on the lands of the village of (Ras Karkar) in the site known as (Ras Abu Zaytoun, Shu’bah Theeb) on an area of 104 dunums to establish 168 new settlement units. It was announced on the 5th of August 2019.

In a new settlement project within a scheme targeting the eastern region of Jerusalem, the occupation authorities seek to confiscate about 67,000 dunums east of the city, starting from the village of Mikhmas to the east of the town of Al-Sawahra, where Israeli sources revealed a huge settlement project, in the settlement of "Mishor Adumim" east of Jerusalem, And on the road between the city and Jericho to build a huge water park and a hotel with about 1,000 rooms. This huge complex is expected to be built over the next three years, and on the agenda: a hotel, a new water park with 21 slides, six swimming pools, a theme park, an 8,000-square-meter fashion complex, a 4,000-seat amphitheater, and a restaurant complex. An investment of about 1.5 billion shekels in the new project and belongs to the Kass Group, owned by Hanush Kass, which won the tender, at a cost of 60 million. The occupation authorities also plan to build a new bridge that starts from the “Ma’ale Adumim” settlement to the town of Al-Zaim; This is to separate the settlers from the Arab places in the region.

In Jerusalem Governorate, the Israeli District Committee for Planning and Building in occupied Jerusalem also approved a plan to build 1,446 settlement units on the lands of Sur Baher, for the benefit of the Lower Canal settlement between the settlements of Givat Hamtos and Har Homa, south of the city. The "district" approved the deposit of the settlement units plan in the Lower Canal settlement for objection for a period of 60 days. Once approved, it will be returned to the "district committee" for final approval. Regarding the "lower channel" settlement, it is an Israeli government plan that was prepared at the initiative of the Israel Land Authority, and promoted very quickly. It was put to the table of the Area Planning Committee in July 2021, after the formation of the Lapid-Bennett government , and it was quickly passed. As for the area of the land to be built on, it is about 186 dunums, and half of the planned area is located behind the Green Line, and about half of it is inside it. However, its strategic location between (Givat Hamatos) and (Har Homa) makes it particularly politically problematic, as it deals a blow to the possibility of Palestinian urban contiguity in Jerusalem, and is already closing off the last remaining corridor connecting Beit Safafa and Sharafat with the rest of Jerusalem.”

Also in Jerusalem, the "Bimkom" association revealed an instruction booklet in Arabic about the procedure for settling the Palestinian lands in the city, its consequences and its serious consequences, considering the settlement an existential threat to Jerusalemites, a procedure that pushes government settlement projects and paves the way for settlement associations in the city to expand their activities and seize more Palestinian lands and real estate. .

The Ministry of Justice had recently issued an announcement about the start of the settlement of large lands in the Palestinian neighborhood of Al-Thawri (Abu Tor), and in the area south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and early on it was promoted to conduct a land settlement in Mount Scopus and Sheikh Jarrah - the French Hill, in the area that is planned In it to establish a new settlement under the name of "Givat Hashked", and in the area allocated for the expansion of the settlement of Ramot.

Everyone remembers how such operations ended in favor of the settlers and settlement associations without the knowledge of the Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, when rights were registered in the land registry in the names of Jewish settlement associations who claimed ownership of lands before 1948, and additional land settlements were also promoted in Jabal Abu Ghneim settlement. Har Homa" next to the village of Sur Baher, and in the lands of the village of Shuafat, north of Jerusalem, in the religious Jewish settlement (Ramat Shlomo), and next to Jerusalem Airport (Atarot), where another new settlement is planned.

The Red Khan
At the same time, the issue of the displacement of the residents of Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, east of occupied Jerusalem, came to the fore once again, after a settlement organization requested the Israeli Supreme Court to issue an order to evacuate the Bedouin village. The failure of the government in any plan to evacuate the Palestinian village. The Israeli newspaper "The Jerusalem Post" quoted Attorney Avi Segal, who represents Regavim in this case, as saying: "The Supreme Court must stop this circus act and issue a final ruling setting a deadline for the eviction and demolition of the illegal compound." Since 2009, the "Regavim" settler organization has been calling for the eviction of Palestinians from Al-Khan Al-Ahmar and the demolition of their homes. In 2018, the Israeli Supreme Court gave the green light to demolish Khan al-Ahmar and evict the Palestinians from it. The former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, pledged to do so, but then retracted this promise, after the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned that the demolition homes can be considered a war crime.

The Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate is also under massive settlement attack after the occupation authorities announced the approval of an expansion settlement plan in the “Mefuhoron” settlement, which is built on the lands of the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate in the northern West Bank. The new detailed plan bears the number (2/1/212), on an area (258 dunums) of citizens' lands previously closed for military purposes.

The lands subject to the new planning are located in Financial Basin No. 2, part of the site of “Khirbet Rikubus from the lands of Beit Liqia and Beit Nuba, southwest of Ramallah.” This plan was approved at the end of June 2022, and aims to establish and legalize (251) settlement units, In addition to roads, institutions, a parking lot, a cemetery, etc. The settlement plan is still in the stage of deposit and it surrounds the settlement from its three sides (north, south and east) through the establishment of a settlement bloc in the shape of a crescent, and it will come on parts of agricultural lands of a plain nature that are grown with winter crops. What is remarkable about this plan is that it was issued by the so-called person in charge of issuing permits in the lands confiscated for military purposes, indicating that the lands subject to the new planning were seized for military purposes in accordance with Military Order No. (977) issued in 1982, but the occupation authorities worked to convert them for military purposes. purely settlement. On the twenty-fourth of this July, the occupation authorities approved a settlement plan to expand the “Dolev” settlement, northwest of Ramallah. The new plan includes the confiscation of about 280 dunums of Palestinian lands to build 364 new settlement units in the settlement, on lands belonging to the towns of Ras Karkar and Deir Ibzi in Ramallah. The scheme targets Basin No. 1 in the site known as “Madros” in the town of Ras Karkar, and Basins No. 2, 4 and 7 in the areas known as “Ain Wadi al-Mughayer”, “Al-Dora” and “Al-Wajh Al-Shami” (respectively) in the town of Deir. Ibzi, and it aims to change the use of the targeted lands to third-class residential areas (according to the Israeli definition).
On the other hand, the Israeli Supreme Court retracted a previous decision to evacuate the "Mitzpe Karamim" settlement outpost, due to its construction on private Palestinian land, northeast of Ramallah, and the demolition of buildings in this random outpost, within three years, and the Israeli Supreme Court is victorious in its decision. To the Israeli right and the settlement movement, which sought to push the judicial occupation authorities, to prevent the evacuation of the illegal outpost even in accordance with Israeli law, with the full support of Israeli government officials, including the current and former Ministers of Justice, Gideon Sa'ar and Ayelet Shaked. The settlement outpost includes at least 45 settlement units, inhabited by about 54 settler families, and built on private Palestinian land. The Israeli Minister of Security, Benny Gantz, had expressed his support for the settlers in their endeavor to overturn the Supreme Court's decision to demolish and evacuate buildings in this random outpost.

In a serious provocative step, the so-called "Central Region Commander" in the occupation army, Yehuda Fox, issued a military order to facilitate the sale of lands in the West Bank to Jewish settlers. The order allows Palestinians who want to sell their lands to settlers, to obtain a determination of inheritance from an Israeli Sharia court, instead of a Palestinian Sharia court. He claimed "Fox" that this is a protection for the Palestinian seller. The settlers demanded that the occupation army issue this military order, following the emergence of the need for a decision to restrict inheritance in land sales deals in order to prove ownership of the land. After the issuance of the military order, Knesset Member of the "Religious Zionism" bloc, Orit Struck, welcomed the issuance of the military order. It claimed that the decision represented a smart and effective response to the brutal war waged by the Palestinian Authority against Jewish land purchases.