The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said that the Ministry of Settlement in the Israeli government is heading, through an action plan prepared by it, to double the budgets that will be transferred to settlement councils in the West Bank , to be used in monitoring and documenting Palestinian construction in Areas (C), and this was included in the general budget for 2008 2023 and 2024.

A budget of 40 million shekels will be allocated to local and regional settlement councils, compared to about 20 million that was allocated for that in the past, and the Ministry of Settlement is looking forward to doubling the budget that will be allocated to settlers to equip themselves with drones and patrols that monitor Palestinian construction in Area C, with the aim of fighting the Palestinian presence in them. .

The budgets that will be transferred to the settlements will be allocated to hiring employees for the patrol departments and purchasing drones, tablet computers, and vehicles. Large settlements will be able to finance the pensions of 4 full-time guards and four others part-time. The allocated budget can also be used to operate many volunteers within the so-called “project.” National Service” and holding conferences on preventing Palestinian construction and expansion in Area C, and establishing security infrastructure against the implementation of so-called “illegal activities on the ground” such as fencing and building paths and roads.

It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Settlement, headed by Tzachi Hanegbi, approved in 2020 a budget of 20 million shekels to monitor Palestinian construction in Area C. In recent years, so-called "land patrols" have been operating and active in West Bank settlements that monitor Palestinian construction and agriculture, and these patrols submit their reports. To the Civil Administration and the occupation authorities to issue demolition notices and stop work and construction for Palestinians.

The Civil Administration also operates a hotline calling on settlers to report Palestinian construction work, which is known in Israel as the “Campaign on Area C”, as part of a plan to empty Area C of Palestinians and annex it to Israeli sovereignty.

At the same time, the occupation authorities are promoting preliminary plans for about 6,500 settlement units in new or existing settlements in East Jerusalem, despite their repeated commitments to a temporary halt to construction in the settlements, as the Israeli Local Planning Committee in Jerusalem presented plans for the Wadi Al-Jouz Business Center (Silicon Valley), and the lower canal, and the "ramot".

The Local Planning Committee in Jerusalem recently held discussions on five settlement plans in French Hill / Mount Scopus (2), Givat Shaked, Pisgat Ze'ev, and Ramot, and objections to the Lower Canal plan were rejected.

The lower canal plan includes the construction of 1,465 housing units, which would lead to the expansion of territorial contiguity between "Har Homa" and "Givat Hamatos", which would lead to an increase in the settlement wedge between the southern end of East Jerusalem and the Bethlehem area in the West Bank.

As for the Wadi al-Jouz Business Center, despite the claim that it will increase job opportunities for Palestinians and boost the economy in East Jerusalem, there is acute concern that it will eventually lead to the eviction and demolition of about 200 Palestinian companies, and replace them with Israeli or international companies.

The Ramot North A and Ramot North B plan, which was discussed by the local planning committee, would expand the current Ramot settlement to the northeast towards Bir Nabala.

With regard to the French Hill / Mount Scopus, work is underway within the framework of developing two plans in the area and the buildings of the Hebrew University campus in Mount Scopus for a total of 1,539 housing units, in addition to an expansion in "Pisgat Ze'ev" by about 730 housing units east towards the separation wall and the Hizma area. This leads to the depletion of the few remaining land reserves in the region.

The local planning committee of the occupation municipality had rejected the objections submitted to the Wadi Al-Joz business center plan (Silicon Valley) and recommended approval of the plan, which will be built on the ruins of the industrial zone. The period for submitting objections to the plan ended on February 26, when 59 objections were submitted by By landowners and business owners in the area.

The Silicon Valley plan, launched by the Jerusalem Development Authority, is an 80-dunam business center in the urban center of East Jerusalem not far from the Old City, a bustling commercial area with shops, garages and other small businesses, all at risk of being demolished and replaced with high-rise corporate office buildings. High-tech, the plan also includes 194 housing units, which is a very small number that constitutes only 13% of the building area, and most, if not all, of the existing facilities will be evacuated, and the majority will not be eligible for any compensation, and local shop owners estimate that closing existing facilities It means that 2000 workers will lose their jobs.

The District Planning and Building Committee in Jerusalem also decided to deposit a plan to build 460 settlement units in the "Gilo" settlement, south of occupied East Jerusalem. The plan covers a total area of about eight dunums, and includes this number of settlement units in five residential buildings, which are two towers with a height of 35 meters. Three floors and three 10-story buildings, the lower floors house work areas, a clinic, and a commercial front.

Of the total housing units, about 92 units will be allocated for small apartments of up to 55 square metres. In addition, as part of the plan, 3.5 dunums will be allocated for public open spaces, about 3 dunums for the construction of a new primary school, and about 2,500 square meters for four daycare classrooms. And five kindergarten classrooms, and the construction of two new temples and the expansion of two existing ones.

New outposts
In the rest of the regions and governorates of the West Bank, the looting of Palestinian lands continues, sometimes by military orders, and at other times by settler thieves.

Settlers established a new settlement outpost in the southern area of the lands of the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, and brought mobile homes and tents. .

The settlers also established a new settlement outpost near the Al-Auja Spring community, north of the city of Jericho, and placed a portable dwelling and a water tank on a mountain overlooking the Al-Auja Spring Bedouin community, and made a way to it with the aim of seizing lands in the area.

It is noteworthy that the Al-Auja Spring community is one of the Bedouin communities that is subject to repeated violations by the occupation and its settlers with the aim of stealing water and controlling the land for the benefit of settlement projects.

The occupation authorities are not satisfied with deploying more forces, police and border guards along the West Bank from north to south and from east to west. The Israeli police chief called on settlers who have a weapon license to carry their weapons with them wherever they go during the days of the Jewish Passover holiday and to Coming armed to the Eid prayers in synagogues, and carrying weapons when they go out for a walk.

The police, the Israeli army, and the Shin Bet claim that they have received dozens of warnings about planning operations carried out by Palestinians inside Israel and in settlements in the occupied West Bank. The police say that they have reinforced their forces and border guards at the military checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank in order to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel.

Facilities for the killer of the Dawabsha family
In a move of racist significance, the Israeli occupation authorities decided to grant facilitation to the terrorist settler Amiram Ben-Uliel, who killed the Dawabsha family by burning down their house in the village of Duma, south of Nablus in 2015, who is serving a life sentence 3 times.

The decision to facilitate the facilities was taken by the Occupation Prisons Service and the Shin Bet on the pretext of the Jewish “Passover” holiday, which lasts until April 12, and the facilities include allowing him to leave isolation and spend the “Passover” period in the religious wing with other prisoners.

At the international level, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted two resolutions on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the illegality of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, during its meeting in its 52nd regular session, and 38 countries voted in favor of the decision on the illegality of settlements in the Palestinian territories, including occupied Jerusalem. While 5 countries abstained from voting, and 4 countries voted against it, 41 countries voted in favor of the resolution of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, 3 countries abstained from voting, and 3 countries voted against the resolution.

The UN resolution came about two weeks after the Knesset approved the repeal of what is known as the "disengagement law" or the law of "separation" from the occupation settlements and camps in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the West Bank, allowing settlers to return to 4 settlements in the northern West Bank that were evacuated in 2005.