Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Israel plans 4,000 new settler units

Defying international law, Israel plans to build around four thousand new settlement units in two areas across the occupied Palestinian West Bank. 

The regime’s announcement of approving the planning and building of 3,988 settler units has alarmed human rights organizations and the international community. 

An official with the Tel Aviv regime claims there is a "growing need" for settlements as the Israeli settlers increase in occupied Palestine in the latest bid to deprive the Palestinian natives from their land.

More than half a million Israeli settlers live in the occupied Palestinian territories, “with many more even wanting to move there”, the Israeli official added.

The regime’s Planning Council for the occupied West Bank is set to give its final approval for building 2,536 new settler units and approve plans for an additional 1,452 settlement units.

The 2,536 settlement units are said to include 761 units for the Beitar Illit settlement, 534 units for Shvuet Rachel, 364 for Dolev, 168 for Neria, 156 for Kiryat Arba, 136 for Givat Ze'ev, 114 for Ma'aleh Michmash, 106 for Tal Menashe, 92 for Zofim, 64 for Revava and 40 for Efrat.

Meanwhile, the 1,452 settlement units include 500 units for the Elkana settlement, 286 units for Kedumim, 192 for Sha'are Tikvah, 170 for Immanuel, and 110 for Mevo Horon, 90 for Dolev, 56 for Negahot, 32 for Nokdim and 16 for Ma'aleh Adumim.

Regime officials say initial intentions were to advance plans for close to 6,000 settler units but were told to cut around 1,800 to 2,000.

Qatar has been among the latest country to condemn the motion calling on the international community to act urgently to prevent the occupation authorities from approving the plans and forcing them to stop their settlement policies in the Palestinian territories.

Israel has reportedly told its top ally the United States that this measure would likely shore up Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's fragile coalition ahead of the return of the Knesset from the summer session.

Israeli settlements and their expansion in the occupied territories are illegal under international law, yet the regime continues to violate the UN charter.

This comes on the backdrop of an Israeli decision last week to uphold an expulsion order that would force at least 1,000 Palestinians out of their ancestral homes in the occupied southern West Bank where they have been residing for decades.

According to a publication by Doctors without Borders In the occupied West Bank “systematic repression and discrimination by Israeli authorities against Palestinians continue, with home demolitions, forced relocations, and violence on the rise.”

“For many people, such experiences have long-term consequences, particularly when they come on top of pre-existing trauma from previous episodes of violence.” the international medical NGO added. 

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