Resisting the Wall and Settlement: 1821 Violations Committed by the Occupation and Its Settlers in Last July

SadaNews - The Chairman of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Minister Muayyad Shaaban, stated that the Israeli occupation forces and settlers carried out more than 1821 violations during the past July.

Shaaban clarified in the Commission's monthly report on "Violations of the Occupation and Colonial Expansion Procedures" that the occupation forces carried out 1355 violations, while the settlers executed 466 violations, with the bulk of the violations concentrated in Ramallah governorate with 302 violations, Hebron with 300, and Nablus with 293 violations.

He pointed out that the violations ranged from armed attacks on Palestinian towns and villages to imposing realities on the ground, field executions, sabotage, land leveling, uprooting trees, seizing properties, and checkpoints that sever the ties of Palestinian geography.

Shaaban noted that the terrorist attacks by settlers targeting Palestinian towns, villages, and Bedouin communities concentrated in Ramallah governorate with 126 violations, Hebron with 103 violations, Nablus with 83 violations, and Bethlehem with 39 violations.

He added that the escalating terror of the settlers is no longer an isolated form within the context of the colonial occupation state, but has long been a true expression of the behavior of the occupying state, which sponsors terrorism, intimidation, and displacement alongside the genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Shaaban indicated that the terrorist attacks by settlers resulted in the martyrdom of 4 citizens in Silwad and Al-Mazra'a Al-Sharqiya in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, and in the village of Umm Al-Khair south of Hebron. They also caused the forcible displacement of two communities, Arab Al-Malih in Jericho and Deir Alla in Bethlehem, amounting to 50 Palestinian families consisting of 267 individuals, continuing the sequence of imposing a coercive environment driven by the official apparatus in the occupation state, bringing the total number of Bedouin communities that have been forcibly displaced due to the settlers' terrorism to 33 since October 7, 2023.

He added that the settlers carried out 232 acts of sabotage and theft of Palestinian properties, affecting vast areas of land, and also led to the uprooting, destruction, and poisoning of 2844 trees, including 2647 olive trees, in the governorates of Bethlehem with 1800 trees, Nablus with 640 trees, and Jenin with 320 trees.

He indicated that the settlers attempted to establish 18 new colonial outposts since the beginning of last July, characterized mainly by agricultural and pastoral features, five of them in Hebron governorate, and two each in Salfit, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jericho, and one in Tubas and another in Jenin.

Shaaban confirmed that the escalation in establishing colonial outposts in the recent phase can only occur under clear instructions from the political level in the occupation state aimed at imposing new realities on the ground and further tearing apart the Palestinian geography, as the settlers take on the task of effecting change on the land, and then the official level transforms this change into a fait accompli by legalizing and consolidating it into a colonial site that receives all services.

He pointed out that the occupation authorities confiscated a total of 31 dunams of citizens' lands during the period covered by the report through 5 orders for military purposes, aimed at establishing 3 buffer zones around the "Sidi Bouaz" outpost on the lands of Al-Khader and others on the lands of Arab Al-Ti'mira in Bethlehem governorate, and the third completes a previous order on the lands of Kufr Labad in Tulkarem governorate around the "Afni Hivet" settlement, while the other orders aimed at establishing colonial roads in Hebron governorate specifically on the lands of Al-Shuyukh and Sa'ir and the last on the lands of Jin Safout in Qalqilya governorate.

He pointed out that the occupation authorities carried out 75 demolition operations during July, affecting 122 facilities, including 60 inhabited houses, 11 uninhabited, 22 agricultural facilities, 26 sources of livelihood and others, concentrated in Jerusalem governorate with 53 facilities, Ramallah governorate with 22, and Bethlehem governorate with 18 facilities.

Shaaban indicated that the occupation authorities distributed 33 demolition notices for Palestinian facilities, continuing the sequence of tightening restrictions on Palestinian construction and the natural growth of Palestinian towns and villages, which is currently being translated by a significant increase in demolition operations. The notifications were concentrated in Bethlehem governorate with 19 notifications, Hebron with 6, plus 3 notifications in Qalqilya and Tubas, and one each in Tulkarem and Jerusalem.

He added that the occupation state has adopted a dangerous approach regarding Palestinian construction, firstly by an unprecedented intensification of demolition operations in all areas, and secondly by forcing citizens to bear the costs of demolition as happened recently in Masafer Yatta.

Shaaban indicated that planning authorities in the occupation state studied 34 structural plans in July for the benefit of settlements in the West Bank, and 5 within the municipal limits of the occupation in Jerusalem.

He stated that the planning authorities in the occupation state approved 22 structural plans for West Bank settlements and deposited 12 plans amounting to the approval of building 4492 new colonial units and depositing 1095 new colonial units on an area estimated at 5268 dunams.

He noted that the Jerusalem municipality approved one plan and deposited for subsequent approval 4 plans concerning settlements within the limits of the occupation municipality, amounting to 260 colonial units that have been deposited without the approval of any new colonial unit, on an area estimated at 46 dunams of citizens' lands.

Shaaban added that the maps attached to the structural plans indicated the intention of the occupation state to gradually legalize colonial outposts surrounding the "Alialy" settlement established on citizens' lands in Qaryut, Al-Sawiya, and Al-Lubban in Nablus governorate, namely the "Nof Harim" and "Nafi Shuham" outposts by depositing the structural plan numbered יוש/ 1/ 6/ 237 which aims to establish 118 colonial units on an area of 26 dunams.

Meanwhile, the same plans show the approval of the occupation state for a structural plan concerning the Ma'ale Amos settlement established on citizens’ lands in Bethlehem governorate specifically the lands of Arab Al-Rashaida to legalize the "Avi Hanahal" outpost through the structural plan numbered יוש/ 2/ 4/ 413, which aims to build 76 colonial units on an area of 112 dunams of citizens' lands.

The attached maps also showed the intention of the occupation state to legalize a colonial outpost through depositing the structural plan numbered יוש/5/ 513 which relates to the "Giv'at Hanan" outpost by building 107 new colonial units on an area of 132 dunams.