The Israeli Jerusalem municipality’s construction and planning committee on Wednesday approved the building of 3,700 settlement units south of Jerusalem, The New Arab reported.
The construction plan targets the area between the occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem, which is under the administration of the Palestinian Authority.
Israel approves 3,500 new settlements to cut off occupied East Jerusalem from Bethlehem:#EndIsraeliWarCrimes #EndTheOccupation #FreePalestine #SaveSheikhJarrah #BoycottSettlements #EndApartheid #RecognisePalestine #ICC #StopArmingIsraelhttps://t.co/KThbRaWLc0
— Palestine in the UK (@PalMissionUK) January 6, 2022
The new settlement plan would “further cut the continuity between Jerusalem and Bethlehem”, Khalil Tafakji, the head of the maps unit at Jerusalem’s Orient House and an expert on Israeli settlements in Jerusalem, told The New Arab.
Jamala Jumaa, coordinator for Stop The Wall, a Palestinian campaign against Israeli settlements, told The New Arab that “the Palestinian neighborhood of Sur Baher would be separated from Jerusalem by new settlement units”.
This will have a demographic impact on the Jerusalem area, Jumaa added.
zochrot: The JNF has facilitated the growth of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian communities of Occupied East Jerusalem, intimately participating in the Judaization of the area and ethnic cleansing of its Palestinian residents. Recently, the JNF approved a $100 million … pic.twitter.com/SEc0DGBuQZ
— Johann Spischak (@SDGMasterglass) October 8, 2021
“[It] also means at least 15,000 Israeli settlers more in Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, and on Palestinian occupied land. It is a clear daylight violation of international law,” Jumaa added.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem in June 1967 and annexed it in 1981, in a move considered illegal under international law.
(WAFA, PC, Social Media)
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