Following the footsteps of the governments that preceded it, the Lapid government is deepening settlement in Jerusalem

 

The transitional Israeli occupation government headed by Yair Lapid is following the footsteps of the Israeli governments that preceded it in its policy aimed at deepening and expanding settlements, especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

In its weekly report issued on Saturday, June 30, 2022, the National Office for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements confirmed that the city of Jerusalem is under a fierce settlement attack, but the Israeli occupation authorities did not announce it officially before the recent visit of the US President to the region.

The office indicated that the settlement subcommittee of the Civil Administration of the Israeli occupation army announced its approval of the establishment of 816 new settlement units, after it revealed the deposit of two settlement plans in a series of new settlement projects.

In a new settlement project, as part of a plan targeting the eastern region of Jerusalem, the occupation authorities are seeking to confiscate about 67,000 dunams east of the city, starting from the village of “Makhmas” to the east of the town of Al-Sawahra.

Israeli sources revealed a huge settlement project in the “Mishor Adumim” settlement, east of Jerusalem, on the road between the city and Jericho, to establish a huge water park and a hotel with about 1,000 rooms.

It is expected that this huge complex will be built over the next three years, and will contian: a hotel, a new water park, six swimming pools, a park and a fashion complex of 8000 square meters, a 4,000-seat amphitheater, and a restaurant complex.

According to the report; The Israeli District Planning and Building Committee in Jerusalem has 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 report referred to what the Bimkom Association revealed about the settlement of Palestinian lands in the city and its dangerous consequences, and indicated that the settlement constitutes an existential threat to Jerusalemites.

The report indicated that this measure pushes the governmental settlement projects, and paves the way for the settlement associations in the city to expand their activities and seize more Palestinian land and real estate.

At the same time, the issue of the displacement of the residents of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, came to the fore again, after a settler organization called on the Israeli Supreme Court to issue an order to evacuate the Bedouin village.

The National Office stated that the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate is under a wide settlement attack, after the occupation authorities announced the approval of an expansionist settlement plan in the Mevohoron settlement, which is built on the governorate's lands in the northern West Bank.

The report pointed out that the Israeli Supreme Court retracted last week from a previous decision to evacuate the outpost Mitzpe Kramim because it was built on Palestinian land northeast of Ramallah.