Palestine- Gantz and Netanyahu Compete over Annexing More Land in OPT

(MENAFN- Palestine News Network) Bethlehem/PNN/By: Madeeha Araj,

The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in his latest weekly report , that the Israeli Occupation forces assault against the Palestinian citizens in the West bank including Jerusalem is continued, practice a policy of ethnic cleansing, confiscate and bulldoze their lands. Settlers also continue their provocations and attacks against the Palestinian farmers while harvesting their olives, and stealing their crops.

For its part, the B'Tselem Center recorded a sharp rise in the demolition of Palestinian houses under the pretext of having no licenses. Between 2004 - 2018, the Israeli authorities demolished every year about 54 houses in the East Jerusalem, while the number of houses demolished since the beginning of 2019 until the end of last September amounted to 140 houses in East Jerusalem between 2004 and 2019, more than 3,118 Palestinians of whom 1,671 minors, were deported.

During the same period, the Israeli occupation municipality in Jerusalem forced 28 Palestinians to demolish their homes in 2019 at their own in order to avoid paying high fines to the municipality. It was reported that the demolitions concentrated in Beit-Hanina, Shu'fat, Isawiya, Ras-Amud and Jabal al-Mukaber, Tur, Al-Thawri and Sheikh Jarrah. In return, Israel exerted great efforts to prevent the construction in the Palestinian areas, thus, it has confiscated more than 24,500 dunams since 1967, most of which are privately owned Palestinian land and built 11 neighborhoods for the Jew.

In the Nablus Governorate, the Rahalim's settlers cut down 60 olive trees near the Yasuf and Sawiya villages south of Nablus. They also cut down scores of olive trees, and destroyed 42 fruitful olive trees in the Burin village south of Nablus. Moreover, Israeli occupation forces prevented farmers from the Sabastia town, northwest of Nablus, from harvesting olives and expelling them from their land under the pretext of having no permits.

In the northern Jordan Valley, the Israeli authorities ordered to evacuate an agricultural land in the Bqe'a plain, southeast of Tubas, where the Israeli occupation forces stormed the land and notified farmers of the evacuation of a land and uproot 350 olive trees, remove a fence and a water collection well with a capacity of 70 cubic meters, and an agricultural room. Meanwhile, in an important decision of the highest European Judicial Authority, the European Court of Justice ruled on Nov. 13th to oblige Israel to put a poster explaining the source of food produced in the settlements and exported to the European Union for moral considerations. The court said that under the EU laws on labeling, the source of the food must be clarified so that consumers can choose based on ethical considerations.

It was reported that Israel has sent warning messages to European countries, threatening of damages that would affect their relations with Israel if their countries implement the resolution of the court. Israel is trying to get the support of the US administration and Congress on that. In this regard, the US authorities demanded pressure on the EU to stop the issuance of such resolution.

In a new position condemning the occupation and its settlement policies, the UNs' General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding Israel to stop the exploitation of natural resources in the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan. 156 countries voted in favor of the resolution, which affirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the population of the Syrian Golan over their natural resources, including land, water and energy resources..

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