Israel's illegal settlement plan in occupied West Bank is 'dangerous': Palestine
Palestine says a plan to build nearly 9,000 settler houses poses "a direct threat to the geographical and demographic links between Jerusalem and Ramallah."
The Jerusalem Governorate warned against what it called a “dangerous” Israeli settlement project for building 9,000 illegal settler houses in the occupied central West Bank.
“The Israeli occupation authorities are seeking to implement a dangerous settlement plan on the lands of Jerusalem International Airport and neighbouring areas,” the governorate said in a statement on Monday.
It considered the plan “a direct threat to geographical and demographic links between Jerusalem and the city of Ramallah.”
The Israeli plan aims to establish nearly 9,000 settlement units in densely populated Palestinian areas, including Kafr Aqab, Qalandia, Al-Ram, Beit Hanina, and Bir Nabala, “which deepens the policy of separation and isolation imposed on the city and its surroundings, and undermines any political horizon based on the two-state solution,” the statement said.
An Israeli committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss advancing the plan, which may include the allocation of some areas for the project.
Separately, the Israeli army is set to demolish 25 residential buildings in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied northern West Bank later this week, local authorities told AFP. Abdallah Kamil, governor of the Tulkarem governorate, said he was informed of the planned demolition by COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for civilian coordination.
Faisal Salama, head of the popular committee for Tulkarem camp, said the demolition order would affect 25 buildings housing up to 100 families.
“We were informed by the military and civil coordination that the occupation will carry out the demolition of 25 buildings on December 18, Thursday,” he told AFP. The Israeli military said it was “looking into it.”
Israeli funding request advances settlement plan
According to the statement, the Israeli Finance Ministry recently requested the transfer of about $5 million to the Ministry of Environmental Protection for allegedly rehabilitating polluted lands, including Jerusalem International Airport, “in a step that practically accelerates the implementation of the settlement project.”
The governorate warned that implementing the plan "will lead to the establishment of a settlement enclave separating northern Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.”
The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an official Palestinian body, earlier said that Israel had seized 2,800 dunams of land (one dunam equals 1,000 square meters) in the West Bank last November, "through squatting and expropriation orders and amending the borders of state lands."
The UN has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, warning that they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.
Last July, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark opinion that declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.