31 dec 2017
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The ruling Israeli Likud party is to convene, on Sunday, to vote on urging party leaders to formally annex the occupied West Bank to Israel, and allow unlimited construction in illegal Jewish settlements.
A number of party heavyweights have released statements or videos expressing support for the vote, which will take place at the Avenue Conference Centre, near Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli newspaper Times of Israel said.
They include Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.
The keynote address, at the confab, was reportedly given to longtime Netanyahu opponent and former cabinet minister Gideon Sa’ar, also a backer of the resolution.
Likud activists in the illegal settlements of the occupied West Bank, who gathered over 900 signatures of Central Committee members, called for allowing the resolution to be presented without requiring the consent of party leaders.
The resolution reads: “Fifty years after the liberation of Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank], and with them Jerusalem, our eternal capital, the Likud Central Committee calls on Likud’s elected leaders to work to allow unhindered construction and to extend Israeli law and sovereignty in all the areas of liberated settlement in Judea and Samaria.”
Extending Israeli law and sovereignty means considering the occupied Palestinian lands as part of Israel, which was built on 78 per cent of Palestine’s area occupied in 1948.
A number of party heavyweights have released statements or videos expressing support for the vote, which will take place at the Avenue Conference Centre, near Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli newspaper Times of Israel said.
They include Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.
The keynote address, at the confab, was reportedly given to longtime Netanyahu opponent and former cabinet minister Gideon Sa’ar, also a backer of the resolution.
Likud activists in the illegal settlements of the occupied West Bank, who gathered over 900 signatures of Central Committee members, called for allowing the resolution to be presented without requiring the consent of party leaders.
The resolution reads: “Fifty years after the liberation of Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank], and with them Jerusalem, our eternal capital, the Likud Central Committee calls on Likud’s elected leaders to work to allow unhindered construction and to extend Israeli law and sovereignty in all the areas of liberated settlement in Judea and Samaria.”
Extending Israeli law and sovereignty means considering the occupied Palestinian lands as part of Israel, which was built on 78 per cent of Palestine’s area occupied in 1948.
The Israeli occupation authorities seized Palestinian lands in al-Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, and ransacked Palestinian homes.
Anti-settlement activist Mohamed al-Tamimi said the occupation authorities seized Palestinian lands covering an area of 20 dunums near Israel’s Halamish settlement outpost.
Al-Tamimi added that the Israeli forces fenced off the targeted land with barbed wire and denied the owners’ access into the area.
The activist also said that the Israeli authorities razed cultivated lands at the main entrance to the village, leading to fistfights with Palestinian locals.
At the same time, Israeli forces rolled in the nearby Deir Nidham village and rummaged into Palestinian homes.
Anti-settlement activist Mohamed al-Tamimi said the occupation authorities seized Palestinian lands covering an area of 20 dunums near Israel’s Halamish settlement outpost.
Al-Tamimi added that the Israeli forces fenced off the targeted land with barbed wire and denied the owners’ access into the area.
The activist also said that the Israeli authorities razed cultivated lands at the main entrance to the village, leading to fistfights with Palestinian locals.
At the same time, Israeli forces rolled in the nearby Deir Nidham village and rummaged into Palestinian homes.
30 dec 2017
Eyewitnesses from Bruqin town, west of Salfit city, on Saturday reported that new housing units and infrastructure are being built for the Israeli settlement of Brukhin in the northern area of the town.
They told the PIC reporter that Brukhin is expanding at the expense of the Palestinian farmers' lands from which they are constantly expelled by the settlement's guards.
Palestinian researcher Khalid Ma'ali said that Israel's settlement expansion projects are in full swing in the villages and towns of Salfit province, adding that there are 25 Israeli settlements stretching over lands belonging to 18 Palestinian residential communities in Salfit.
Ma'ali pointed out that Brukhin was established in 1999 as a small outpost before the head of central command at the Israeli occupation army, Nitzan Alon, signed an order to turn it into an "official settlement" administered by the Regional Settlement Council.
They told the PIC reporter that Brukhin is expanding at the expense of the Palestinian farmers' lands from which they are constantly expelled by the settlement's guards.
Palestinian researcher Khalid Ma'ali said that Israel's settlement expansion projects are in full swing in the villages and towns of Salfit province, adding that there are 25 Israeli settlements stretching over lands belonging to 18 Palestinian residential communities in Salfit.
Ma'ali pointed out that Brukhin was established in 1999 as a small outpost before the head of central command at the Israeli occupation army, Nitzan Alon, signed an order to turn it into an "official settlement" administered by the Regional Settlement Council.
