The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission has revealed a plan being developed by the Israeli occupation authorities to build a group of large colonial neighborhoods in the West Bank.
The head of the authority, Mu'ayyad Shaaban, said in a press statement on Wednesday that the new neighborhoods that the occupying state plans to build are located in the Qalqilya and Bethlehem governorates, with a new neighborhood on lands east of Qalqilya and two other neighborhoods in the Bethlehem governorate.
He added that the occupying state today studied a master plan for the settlement of Kedumim, built on the lands of citizens in Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya, for approval later. It is worth noting that this plan was submitted for deposit in 2012, and aims to establish a new neighborhood on an area of 280 dunams, with the aim of building 1,352 new colonial units, as the new neighborhood will be connected by a bridge to the settlement.
Shaaban explained that the intensification of construction in the settlements east of Qalqilya aims to consolidate the colonial bloc extending from the far east of the governorate to the 1967 borders in the west, in order to isolate more Palestinian villages and fragment their geography.
He added that the maps attached to the master plans indicated the occupation state's intention to expand the "Nukdim" settlement, which is built on the lands of citizens in the villages of Arab al-Ta'amra, southeast of Herod's Castle in the Bethlehem Governorate, by approving a master plan that aims to establish a new neighborhood belonging to the settlement for the purpose of building 290 new colonial units on an area of 239 dunams, through the master plan that bore the number (Yush/12/411).
Shaaban explained that he is not far from the first plan that leads to the construction of a neighborhood affiliated with the "Nokdim" colony. After reviewing the maps attached to the master plan for the "Ma'ale Amos" colony, it became clear that the occupying state intends to establish a colonial neighborhood affiliated with the colony, through depositing the plan bearing the number (Yush/8/1/413), which aims to build 148 new colonial units on an area estimated at 42 dunams of land in the village of Kisan, south of the Bethlehem Governorate.
He said that what is striking in the recent phase is the occupation state's tendency towards a policy of establishing colonial neighborhoods geographically distant from the mother colony, with the aim of seizing as much geographical space as possible in preparation for declaring them separate colonies, as happened in the occupation government's recent announcement of recognizing the separation of 13 new colonial neighborhoods and considering them full colonies.
Shaaban added that the planning authorities in the occupying state studied 21 master plans for West Bank settlements and six plans for settlements within the boundaries of the occupied Jerusalem municipality last April. They approved 10 master plans and submitted 17 other master plans. The April plans targeted a total of 3,030 dunams of citizens' land.
شارك برأيك
Israeli occupation intends to establish new colonial neighborhoods in Qalqilya and Bethlehem.