The National Office for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements said that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett explained, before his visit to Washington and his meeting with US President Joe Biden, the features of his government´s policy, which is based on continuing and deepening settlements and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Bennett said that he does not see a solution to the Palestinian problem in the near future and that his government will not annex the territories, but it will not enter into dialogue or negotiations with the Palestinians to settle the conflict, and stressed his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state and that everyone understands that.
He added: “We will achieve an important breakthrough on the economic side, but we will not try to resolve the 130-year-old conflict. I am the prime minister of all Israeli citizens, and my concern is to reach a compromise solution that satisfies everyone and that will expand settlements in the West Bank.”
He stressed that his government will adopt a long-term policy to expand the existing settlements in the West Bank. At the same time, he expressed his refusal to support the American plans to reopen its consulate in Jerusalem, ruling out a peace agreement with the Palestinians under his leadership.
His statements came in an interview with the American newspaper The New York Times, the first for him with an international news organization since he took office in June, succeeding Benjamin Netanyahu, and before his meeting with US President Biden on his first visit since taking office.
Expansion of the settlement “55” Street
The occupation government does not waste time or opportunities to provide appropriate conditions for the growth of settlements and settlements and harm the interests of Palestinian citizens. Last week, the Civil Administration of the Israeli occupation army approved the expansion of the settlement “55” Street in the north of the occupied West Bank, after rejecting the objections submitted by 35 farmers. Palestinians own nurseries on this street, and their lands are threatened with confiscation to expand the street south of Qalqilya.
The expansion of this settlement street, which links the “Kfar Saba” area, in the center of Palestine occupied in 1948, and Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, will lead to the theft of 68 dunums of land under private Palestinian ownership.
The approval of the new settlement plan comes ahead of Bennett´s meeting with the US President at the White House. It is the second road in the northern West Bank, which will become a two-lane road.
In the details of the project, the expansion of the aforementioned street section is part of a larger plan to expand Street No. 55, which is being implemented in phases. This plan was developed and undertaken by the Civil Administration and the Israel Streets Company. The settlement council has been pushing for this road project for many years, describing it It is an important road, linking the Kfar Saba exit, passing through the “Karnei Shomron” settlement and reaching Road No. 60 after the “Kedumim” settlement.
The head of the Samaria Settlements Council, Yossi Dagan, was quoted as saying: “This is a historic moment,” adding that the expansion of Route 55 has a dramatic significance for the region and the entire settlements, while the owners of the nurseries that employ hundreds of workers are afraid of building side service streets planned alongside Route 55. Which will lead to the confiscation of a very large area of ​​their land, which means the elimination of these nurseries.
According to the “Higher Planning Council” of the Civil Administration, the expansion of the nursery street section is part of a larger project to expand Street 55. The owners of the nurseries submitted objections to this settlement project, demanding that their nurseries be taken into account. He does not have the authority to implement a settlement related to the nurseries.
Draft laws to impose “Israeli sovereignty”
In parallel, the list of settlement projects is endless, as MK Orit Struck from the "Religious Zionism" bloc submitted 9 bills calling for the imposition of so-called "Israeli sovereignty" on the settlement blocs.
These projects are: a bill to impose sovereignty on the settlement bloc “Gush Etzion” west of Bethlehem and north of Hebron, a bill to impose sovereignty on the settlement bloc “Modi’in” between north Jerusalem and south Ramallah, and a bill to impose sovereignty over the city of Hebron (the Old City) and a neighborhood The city, a bill to impose sovereignty on the settlement bloc “Mensheh,” a bill to impose sovereignty on the settlement bloc “Lev Shomron” in the Nablus governorate, a bill to impose sovereignty on the settlement bloc “Benjamin Center” in Ramallah governorate, and a bill to impose sovereignty on the bloc Settler “Ma’araf Shomron” west of Nablus governorate, a bill to impose sovereignty on the “Ma’ale Adumim” settlement bloc east of occupied Jerusalem, and a bill to impose sovereignty on the settlement bloc “Ariel” on the lands of Salfit governorate.
Excavations at Qalandia Airport
On the other hand, Israeli crews are active to carry out infrastructure works in the land of Al-Quds International Airport in Qalandia, in preparation for the establishment of a new settlement that includes 9,000 settlement units.
Israeli bulldozers are active in excavation work in the airport land, even without obtaining final approval for the establishment of the settlement, which will completely isolate Jerusalem from its northern side from the city of Ramallah. Israeli housing includes the establishment of 9,000 housing units in the airport area.
According to Israeli sources, including the Peace Now movement, the next December 6th has been set for a discussion about depositing the plan, considering that approval of the deposit is the first approval needed in any subsequent approval process for the plan so that the public can then submit comments and objections within 60 days from the date of publication, and after hearing the objections in the subcommittee for objections in the District Committee, the plan is brought for approval, then the plan is published and permits can be issued to start construction. If this plan and its construction are approved, this will be the first new settlement in East Jerusalem since The Netanyahu government built the Har Homa settlement on Mount Abu Ghneim in 1997.
2,500 dunams are threatened in Jerusalem
On the other hand, the Jewish National Fund is seeking to seize about 2,500 dunams in East Jerusalem, and the Fund´s Board of Directors is expected to meet next week to discuss and approve a budget of 100 million shekels to take measures to register large areas of land.
This step is considered a harbinger of possible eviction lawsuits against Palestinians who currently live in areas targeted by the Jewish National Fund for deportation, and the Fund claims that it owned land before 1948.
In this context, the “Ir Amim” organization that specializes in following up issues of Jerusalem and Jerusalemite citizens who are subject to displacement said that documents The JNF reveals that these lands include no less than 2,500 dunams in East Jerusalem that were purchased before 1948 and are under the auspices of the Israeli General Guardian, and the National Fund can claim them based on the discriminatory legislation of 1970 that allows the acquisition of property in East Jerusalem in which it resides. Predominantly Palestinian, based on the alleged pre-1948 Jewish ownership claim.
It is known that there is no parallel legal procedure for the Palestinians who lost their lands on the Israeli side of the Green Line in the 1948 war, and this is the same legislation that is based on the current ongoing eviction demands against Palestinian communities in Sheikh Jarrah and Batn al-Hawa (Silwan) and families in the Old City and parts of the city. other from East Jerusalem.
The “Ir Amim” organization pointed out that in the past years, the JNF has participated in eviction claims against Palestinian families who live in homes that the fund claims to own, and this was sometimes carried out with the complicity of settler organizations such as the “Elad” settler organization, as in the case of the Somrin family. in Silwan, which is currently before the courts.
It is known that 75 Palestinian families on an area of ​​35 dunums are currently threatened with eviction from property claims filed by settler organizations in Sheikh Jarrah, and there are 85 families on an area of ​​5 dunums facing a similar threat in Batn al-Hawa in Silwan. The Guardian General to the JNF will lay the groundwork for thousands of potential eviction requests in the course of implementing the occupying power´s policy of ethnic cleansing.
In the ongoing field settlement activities and in preparation for the establishment of a settlement outpost, settlers set up two mobile homes on citizens’ lands in the town of Deir Istiya in the Salfit Governorate in the Harikat Abu Zuhair area, west of the town, near the settlement of “Hafat Yair.”
The occupation authorities are seeking to seize more lands in Salfit to complete the settlement project called “Greater Ariel,” by linking all the settlement outposts in the area, and isolating the governorates from each other.
