"Digital Settlement".. Daily Economic Bleeding from the Pocket of the Palestinian Citizen

SadaNews - Amid the complex economic and political reality that Palestine is facing, and the loss of thousands of Palestinians' sources of income due to settlement and land confiscation, the Israeli occupation has not just settled on the land; it is extending deeper through extensive technological settlement.

The Israeli occupation plants its towers in the Hebron Governorate and various areas of the West Bank, controlling both land and broadcasting, which represents a form of settlement.

For the report:

The telecommunications sector is considered one of the most important pillars of the national economy, which Israel is destroying, violating all agreements. Moreover, it is attempting to legalize this through the Israeli Telecommunications Law issued in 1982, which considers the West Bank as land belonging to "the State of Israel."

Alongside claiming the settlers' need to contact emergency teams in many areas where network coverage does not reach.
Ameer Dawood, the documentation director at the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, confirmed during his talk with SadaNews that "this law is one of the first laws and measures taken by the occupying state as part of its preparations for annexation operations and imposing sovereignty over Palestinian lands."

He added: "It is important to emphasize that the annexation project and the imposition of sovereignty are not achieved through a single step, but rather are being worked on through multiple and simultaneous paths. This reflects that the idea of annexation is not new or emergent after 2020; it has been part of the Israeli vision since the beginning of the occupation, as Israel views the Palestinian territories as annexable at any moment."

Dawood pointed out that "the number of towers belonging to Israeli telecommunications companies established on West Bank lands reached 559 by the end of 2020, scattered across Palestinian geography, reflecting a part of the policies of control and imposing facts on the ground."

Endless illegal powers are granted to Israeli companies without regulatory approvals, at the same time Palestinian companies are prevented from improving their infrastructure and face restrictions that confine and limit their operations.

For his part, Laith Draghmeh, the executive director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, confirmed to SadaNews the existence of real challenges facing the Palestinian telecommunications sector, especially in light of the unregulated expansion of Israeli telecommunications companies' towers in Palestinian territories, saying: "We indeed face a problem relating to the presence of tall towers belonging to Israeli telecommunications companies in our areas, without any entities imposing restrictions on them or preventing their existence."

Draghmeh indicated that the authority received several complaints last month related to Palestinian towers in some areas, explaining: "We contacted the local community in those areas, held direct meetings with the participation of our technical and executive teams, and provided the necessary awareness regarding the nature of the towers' work and the commitment of Palestinian companies to the specifications and standards to ensure service delivery to citizens in the best possible way."

He also emphasized that "the authority, in cooperation with Palestinian companies, is working to overcome many technical and administrative challenges, continuously striving to alleviate obstacles and improve the reality of the telecommunications sector in Palestine, despite the political conditions and imposed restrictions."

In the face of all this, the Palestinian telecommunications sector stands shackled.. It faces a compounded challenge represented by the illegal expansion of Israeli telecommunications companies within the West Bank, resulting in economic losses.