Resistance to the Wall and Settlement: 38,359 Violations Committed by the Occupation Army and Settlers Against Palestinians and Their Properties

SadaNews - The head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority, Minister Muayad Shaban, stated that since October 7, the occupation army and settlers have carried out a total of 38,359 violations against the lands, properties, and lives of Palestinians, exploiting the conditions of war and genocide being perpetrated against our people in Gaza and across all Palestinian territories in order to impose new realities on the ground and fragment Palestinian geography.

Shaban noted that the occupying state has adopted a clear colonial methodology in exploiting war conditions to re-engineer Palestinian geography with overt discriminatory colonial colors, imposing a coercive environment aimed at expelling citizens from Bedouin communities and implementing a methodology of collective punishment against the Palestinian people.

He added that the entirety of the colonial policies and procedures pursued by the occupying state are merely pre-planned steps that have been summoned from the cabinets of schemes to enact them under the pretext of emergency and war laws, aimed at transforming the military occupation into a permanent civilian presence with the goal of annexing land and stripping the Palestinian identity and depriving the Palestinian people of their inalienable rights.

Shaban indicated that the most prominent features of the post-aggression phase is the acceleration of measures undertaken by the occupying state. The occupying state has expedited its colonial settlement procedures on the ground. On one hand, it has increased land confiscations, while on the other hand, it has sped up the study of plans for the expansion of settlements in the Palestinian territories, as well as the issue of constructing and legitimizing colonial outposts.

Additionally, the settlers and colonial organizations have been handed control over actions against the attributes of the Palestinian people through demolitions and oversight of Palestinian construction, while protecting criminal settlers with an unprecedented series of laws in the Knesset.

The Occupying State Has Confiscated 55,000 Dunams and Established 25 Buffer Zones Around Settlements

Shaban added that the occupying state has hidden behind the cover of the horrific aggression against our people in Gaza by systematically confiscating Palestinian land, affecting 55,000 dunams, of which 20,000 dunams have been confiscated under the guise of adjusting the borders of natural reserves, and 26,000 dunams through 14 declarations of state land in the governorates of Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Qalqilya. They also confiscated a total of 1,756 dunams through 108 military orders aimed at establishing military towers, security roads, and buffer zones around the settlements, in addition to a rampant campaign to fragment Palestinian land by widening bypass roads and constructing settler roads exclusively, to complete the methodology of connecting colonial blocs and isolating Palestinian existence.

Shaban explained that the occupying state began, after October 7, to establish buffer zones around settlements through a series of military orders, amounting to 25 buffer zones around the settlements, most of which are concentrated in the northern West Bank, specifically in the Nablus governorate with 5 buffer zones, Salfit with 4 buffer zones, Qalqilya with 2 zones, and each of Tulkarem and Tubas with one zone each. Meanwhile, 5 buffer zones were imposed in the Ramallah governorate and another 5 in Bethlehem, with the last in Hebron. Shaban warned of the extension of this measure to include other settlements, thus isolating more lands and preventing citizens' access to them under military and security pretexts, paving the way for their transformation for the benefit of the settlements.

Planning Authorities Studied 355 Structural Plans and Legitimized 11 Outposts

Shaban added that after October 7, planning authorities in the occupying state studied a total of 355 structural plans for the purpose of building a total of 37,415 settlement units on an area of 38,551 dunams, with 18,801 units having been approved, while 18,614 new settlement units were deposited.

These plans were concentrated in the Jerusalem governorate with 148 structural plans (44 plans outside the borders of the occupied municipality and 104 in settlements within the municipality borders), followed by Bethlehem with 51 structural plans, Salfit with 48 plans, Ramallah with 38 plans, Qalqilya with 20, and Nablus with 19 structural plans, among others. He added that the occupying state decided to separate 13 colonial neighborhoods and consider them as neighborhoods, and issued a decision to establish 22 new settlements and decided to regularize the status of 11 outposts through governmental decisions added to a list of 68 agricultural outposts that the occupying government decided to provide with all the infrastructure necessary to establish them on the lands of the citizens.

Shaban stated that since October 7, the occupation army and settler militias have committed a total of 38,359 violations, with these violations concentrated in the Hebron governorate with 6,451 violations, followed by the Nablus governorate with 5,863 violations, Ramallah with 5,684 violations, and then the Jerusalem governorate with 4,915 violations. Meanwhile, settlers carried out a total of 7,154 violations, concentrated in Nablus with 1,688 violations and Hebron with 1,504 violations, which resulted in the death of 33 Palestinian citizens at the hands of settlers.

Settlers Ignited 767 Fires and Displaced 33 Bedouin Communities, Damaging 48,728 Trees

Shaban indicated that after October 7, the army and settlers deliberately caused harm by igniting a total of 767 fires in the properties and fields of citizens, including 221 fires in citizens' properties and 546 fires in agricultural fields and lands. He added that these violations were concentrated in the Ramallah governorate with 244 fires, followed by Nablus with 214 fires, then Hebron with 51 fires, and Tulkarem with 46 fires.

Shaban stated that the most dangerous forms of settler attacks are those represented by the coercive environment enforced by these individuals which leads to the displacement of dozens of Bedouin communities. He added that this plan is a government plan, with the task of execution entrusted to settler militias who threatened citizens with weapons and deprived them of grazing and water areas,

The measures of the occupation and the terrorism of its settler militias have led to the displacement of 33 Palestinian Bedouin communities composed of 455 families including 2,853 individuals from their residences to other areas, the most recent being the displacement of Deir Alla, Ain Ayoub, Al-Malihah, and Maghayir Al-Deir, among others, and the settlers' control over the site.

Shaban noted that assaults by settlement militias against the iconic Palestinian tree, particularly the olive tree, have resulted in the uprooting, destruction, and damage of a total of 48,728 trees, including 37,237 olive trees, with the governorates of Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Ramallah bearing the largest share of this destruction. He added that settlers, after October 7, with directions from the official level, established 114 new colonial outposts, an unprecedented number in a policy of bullying and imposing realities, concentrated in the Ramallah governorate with 30 new outposts, followed by Hebron with 25 outposts, Nablus with 18 outposts, and Bethlehem with 14 new outposts, while the number of permanent and temporary checkpoints (gates, military or earthen barriers) that divide Palestinian territories and impose restrictions on the movement of individuals and goods has reached a total of 916 military checkpoints and gates, including more than 243 iron gates that were established after October 7.

Executed 1,014 Demolition Operations and Delivered 1,667 Demolition Notifications for Palestinian Structures

Shaban pointed out that since October 7, the occupation authorities have executed a total of 1,014 demolition operations, marking a significant and dangerous escalation of actions against Palestinian buildings, clarifying that the demolitions affected 3,679 structures, including 1,288 inhabited homes, 244 uninhabited homes, and 962 agricultural structures, concentrated in the Jerusalem governorate with 880 structures, Hebron with 529 structures, and then Tulkarem with 464 structures. Shaban also indicated that the occupation authorities distributed 1,667 demolition notifications concentrated in the governorates of Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho, Jerusalem, Nablus, and Qalqilya, adding that among the notifications were 22 administrative notifications delivered to the residents of the village of Al-Malihah in eastern Bethlehem, which is in areas classified as A according to the Oslo Accords, emphasizing that this danger involves a serious precedent affecting Palestinian buildings in the natural reserve that is under the planning authority of the State of Palestine.

Shaban affirmed that confronting this fierce colonial onslaught is not the responsibility of a particular entity but rather a collective national duty. Our people, with all its components, including official and civil institutions, national factions, and youth and popular sectors, are called today to fulfill their full role in protecting their land, identity, and historical rights. He clarified that the unity of position and popular will is the first line of defense against policies of uprooting and displacement, and it is essential for thwarting the plans and colonial projects of the occupation.