Report: Settlement in the West Bank is expanding and encroaching on Palestinian heritage sites

Nablus - Ma'an - The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in its periodic report that settlement in the West Bank is expanding and encroaching on Palestinian heritage sites. The office added in a statement today, Saturday, that the occupation state's settlement activities do not stop, even in war conditions, as they are an integral part of it. The report noted that the Israeli Minister of Finance and Minister of Settlement in the Ministry of the Occupation Army, Bezalel Smotrich, announced at the beginning of this month the start of the establishment of a new settlement on the lands of the village of Battir in the Bethlehem Governorate. Smotrich said in a post on the "X" platform that linking the "Gush Etzion" settlement bloc in the southern West Bank to Jerusalem is a "national mission and a historic moment," and indicated that the new settlement "Nahal Helitz" will be within the "Gush Etzion" settlement bloc. And that the Blue Line team in the Civil Administration, which Smotr ich has tightened his control over, has completed its professional work and published a new Blue Line for the new settlement in "Gush Etzion." This means the start of the construction procedures for the aforementioned settlement. The report added, "This new settlement, which is being planned to be built in Palestinian heritage sites, is one of five settlements that the Israeli government approved two months ago to be established in the West Bank, in response, it claims, to the Palestinian side's approach to international forums against the State of Israel, and in response to the recognition of the State of Palestine by Norway, Spain and Ireland last May, and a month later by Slovenia and Armenia." He continued, "It is known in this regard that the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had taken three important decisions in July 2021 regarding the status of the preservation of Palestinian sites listed on the World Heritage List in Danger, at a meeting held in the Chinese city of Fuzhou, which included the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, the site of Palestine, Land of Olives and Grapes: The Cultural Landscape of the Terraces of Southern Jerusalem - Battir, and Hebron - the Old City. The decision of the World Heritage Committee regarding the World Heritage Site "Palestine, Land of Olives and Grapes: The Cultural Landscape of the Terraces of Southern Jerusalem" emphasized the exceptional importance of the site, and condemned the violations of the occupation authorities and the settlement activities targeting the site, starting with the establishment of settlement outposts, roads, and a plan to establish an industrial zone, a large part of which is located in the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site on the lands of the town of Battir, which leads to great harm to the World Heritage Site and affects its exceptional universal values, integrity, and authenticity." This came at a time when settlers began targeting the area. On one of the hills of the Palestinian village of Battir, south of occupied Jerusalem, settlers built an illegal settlement outpost on the lands of the town, which is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Israeli occupation government at the time asked those in charge of the settlement outpost to evacuate because it was built without government approval and is therefore considered illegal under Israeli law. The settlers did not comply with the request and it was not implemented. In fact, the settlers raised the Israeli occupation flag on a pole in the new settlement outpost, and several mobile homes and a sheep pen were placed in an area covered with olive trees owned by Palestinians, without the occupation authorities taking any action. 'However, the establishment of this outpost is not the only source of concern for the town of Battir. The settlement of 'Helitz' that is being planned to be built next to the village is quickly becoming a greater source of concern. This Helitz is one of five settlements deep in the West Ba nk that were approved by the Israeli government on June 27. The Israeli outpost and the Helitz settlement that the occupation government approved to establish and is located within the UNESCO-protected area of ??Battir, is one of four sites listed on the World Heritage List of humanity in the occupied West Bank, and its inclusion on this list provides it with technical, legal and material assistance to protect it from any danger,' the report said. 'For information only, the agricultural terraces of Battir are supported by stone walls and ancient irrigation pools that collect water flowing from springs, and they contain ancient irrigation canals that are more than 2,000 years old, which earned them the privilege of being included on the World Heritage List in 2014. That year, UNESCO approved the State of Palestine's request to recognize the ancient terraces of Battir as a World Heritage Site. The request was submitted against the backdrop of Israel's intention to build an apartheid separation wall in the area . The agricultural landscape of Battir has been preserved over the years, and Palestinian farmers continue to develop it. According to the environmental organization 'EcoPeace', whose members include people from Israel, Jordan and Palestine, the establishment of a new settlement in the place violates the restrictions imposed on it within the framework of the laws protecting World Heritage Sites.' He pointed out that the goal of establishing the "Helitz" settlement is clear and is reflected in the statements of government officials and the positions of the settlers. It is to link the city of Jerusalem and its settlements to the "Gush Etzion" settlement bloc, which means isolating Battir with its cultural heritage and the neighboring Palestinian villages from the city of Bethlehem and the rest of the occupied West Bank, in a clear violation of the International Charter for the Preservation of World Heritage Sites, which Israel signed in 1999 and withdrew from seven years later, in response to the positions of the United Nations organization regarding Palestine's membership in the organization and its defense, according to international laws and its obligations, of Palestinian heritage sites under threat. In order to build this settlement, the Civil Administration published a map of the area (approximately 600 dunams) and allocated it for the establishment of the aforementioned settlement within the borders of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. This comes within the framework of building the other four settlements, which the occupation government has approved since the outbreak of the brutal war on the Gaza Strip, and the accompanying construction of more than 8,000 housing units in settlements built on an area of ??24,000 dunams, which the Blue Line team in the Civil Administration had classified as state land. The report confirmed that the head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Yaron Rosenthal, praised the occupation government's approach, and said that Helitz will create a continuity of Jewish settlement betw een Gush Etzion and Jerusalem. He noted with satisfaction that anyone walking from Gush Etzion to Jerusalem will only see Jewish settlements. In response to the accusations of harming the World Heritage Site in Battir, Rosenthal invoked myths and the sayings of soothsayers, saying: 'The construction of the new settlement will take into account the environmental sensitivity of the Refaim Valley. For me, the heritage in the Battir area also requires the return of the Jews to the areas from which they were expelled at the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt. After thousands of years in which much Jewish blood was shed for those slaughtered by the Romans in the valleys in the area, we can preach that the sons have returned to their borders,' he claimed. 'The construction of this settlement is not isolated from the general trend of the Netanyahu-Ben Gvir-Smotrich government to advance destructive activities not only to prevent communication between Palestinians but also to impose as many restrictions as possible that wo uld prevent the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. To prevent this communication, the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir proposed last week, during a meeting of the security cabinet, imposing severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In that proposal, Ben Gvir called for preventing Palestinians from moving in Area C entirely and limiting their movement to Areas A and B under the Palestinian Authority. He reiterated that 'the settlers' right to life is more important than the freedom of movement of Palestinians.' Meanwhile, Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism party, said via the X platform that his life's mission is to build the Land of Israel and thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger the State of Israel. He added, 'This is not a political (issue), it is a national and existential one.' That is why he has taken on responsibility for civil issues in addition to his position as Finance Minister. Ju dea and Samaria (i.e. the West Bank occupied by Israel). 'Indeed, Smotrich established his own authority in the headquarters of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, and appointed the extremist settler Hillel Rot as deputy head of the Civil Administration for Civil Affairs. In effect, Rot became the governor of the West Bank in all areas, after Smotrich granted him all the powers of the head of the Civil Administration in the Settlement Directorate, which became a political body in Smotrich's ministry. After filling the positions of department heads in the Civil Administration, he appointed activists in the Religious Zionism Party in it and appointed an engineer from the 'Revava' settlement as director of the planning office in the Civil Administration, which is the highest authority in the field of planning and construction in the West Bank. To deepen his control over the Civil Administration, Smotrich dismissed the 'legal advisor for the West Bank, who is subordinate to the military prosecution and clo sed his department, and after he appointed more than 20 lawyers whose tasks include implementing the actual annexation and Judaization of the area. These lawyers are quickly changing the regulations with the aim of allowing the development of the area for Jews only.' Indeed, according to Israeli reports, during the past year and a half there has been zero planning for the 300,000 Palestinians living in Area C and zero building permits, in addition to the regular demolitions, including the demolition of water wells and schools. The declaration of state land has quadrupled, building permits have quadrupled, and random settlement outposts have been established without permits, amid a complete ban on law enforcement against settlers who violate building laws. The report said, 'Among the forms of thieving on citizens' lands to provide protection for settlers, the occupation authorities practice a policy of seizing their lands for so-called military purposes. Last Monday, the Israeli occupation authorities notifie d the seizure of about 18 dunums of lands from the villages of Asira al-Qibliya, Burin, and Madama, south of the city of Nablus, under the pretext of using them for military purposes, close to the 'Yitzhar' settlement, known for hosting large numbers of 'price tag' terrorists whom the occupation government calls 'hilltop youth.' The confiscated lands are located in Basin No. 8, the site of al-Marj and Jabal al-Nadhr from Burin lands, Basin No. 4, the site of Khallet al-Marj, Bir al-Marj, and al-Aqida from Madama lands, and Basin No. 1, the site of Lahf Salman from Asira al-Qibliya lands. This is not the first time, and it will not be the last, that Palestinian lands in the area have been seized, which is considered a prelude to turning them into a vital area for settlement activities for the most extremist settlement in the region. A few years ago, the occupation army issued a decision By confiscating about 4000 dunums of Palestinian land in the village of Asira al-Qibliya alone, for military purposes in the basins of the obstacles, Lahf Suleiman, al-Uqda, the obstacles of al-Burais, Khallet al-Naqr, al-Shaqiq, al-Krum, and the obstacles of al-Sahila, and their confiscation came under the pretext of military purposes. These confiscations for military purposes have one meaning, which is to impose a security cordon for a settlement from which terrorism is launched against towns and villages south of the city of Nablus, and from which the terrorists launched their attacks on the "Crystal Night" in Huwara in March of last year. This is a security cordon that prevents landowners from reaching their lands due to the permanent presence of the occupation forces. On another note, the West Bank has witnessed, over the past few days, an escalation in the acts of violence, vandalism and terrorism by settlers, alongside the brutal war waged by the occupation forces on cities and camps in the northern West Bank. The editorial staff of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz described the situation in the West Bank in its editorial on t he 8th of this month as savage, 'without religion or faith.' The lives of the Palestinian residents, who are legally responsible for protecting the occupying power, the State of Israel, have become unsafe, even if they are just children. Since October 7, chaos has reigned in the West Bank. Settlers arrive in the village of Qaryut, throw stones and burn agricultural land, and a 13-year-old girl is killed by Israeli army fire in her home. In the colloquial Israeli military language: 'Forces rushed to confrontations between dozens of Palestinians and dozens of settlers in the area, which included stone-throwing, and worked to disperse the disturbances in the area by firing into the air.' Of course, it is not possible without an empty announcement that the army is 'examining the circumstances of the girl's death.' So it is investigating. Haaretz adds: A direct line runs between causing the death of the girl in Qaryut and causing the death of human rights activist Aisha Nur Izgi Igi, a young woman with American an d Turkish citizenship, who was shot dead by soldiers participating in a demonstration against the settlements in the town of Beita, near Nablus. In her case, it seems that they are trying to present a superficial appearance of a serious examination. She was an American, not just a Palestinian child living under occupation. The weekly violations documented by the National Office for the Defense of the Land were as follows during the reporting period: Jerusalem: The occupation authorities forced citizen Raed Al-Rajabi to demolish his two-apartment house for him and his son, under the pretext of building without a permit in the town of Beit Hanina, north of occupied Jerusalem. The Israeli occupation forces demolished the two-story house of citizen Moatamen Abdul Sami Subaih in the town of Hizma, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, and demolished a commercial store owned by Jerusalemite Bassam Abdul Omari in the Al-Mashrou' area, and distributed demolition notices for 3 other houses in the town. In the town of Bid du, northwest of occupied Jerusalem, the occupation forces demolished a house containing a private garden and a swimming pool belonging to citizen Wael Al-Saifi, three commercial stores, and a 150-meter-long retaining wall belonging to citizen Bajis Al-Sheikh. Settlers also assaulted the young man Daoud Wissam Hamouda, while he was heading to his workplace, and he sustained injuries and bruises in various parts of his body. He was also electrocuted, and was found unconscious. Hebron: The occupation forces demolished 18 houses in the Taybeh area in the town of Tarqumiya, each house measuring approximately 100 square meters, and expelled approximately 35 families from their homes in the area, after declaring it a closed military zone in the area adjacent to the settlements of "Telem" and "Adora". They also demolished a house belonging to citizen Anis al-Natsheh in the Farsh al-Hawa area west of the city of Hebron, and a warehouse for building materials in the Bir al-Sufla area, belonging to citizen Shawqi al-S hamali from the town of Idhna, with an area of ??800 square meters, and a house, a water well, and retaining walls in the Khalidiya area affiliated with the town of al-Karmel east of Yatta, and damaged water tanks owned by citizen Osama Ghanem Ahmed Abu Aram. In Masafer Yatta, a group of settlers attacked citizens' property and the water pipeline, vandalized water tanks and cave roofs, while the occupation authorities seized, under the name of a 'military order,' a 767-square-meter plot of land in the village of Umm al-Khair in the Shu'aib community in Masafer in order to build a settlement wall around the 'Karmiel' settlement. Armed settlers with rifle butts assaulted the head of the Susiya village council in Masafer Yatta, Jihad al-Nawaj'a, while he was driving his vehicle from the Wadi Ma'in area to the village of Susiya. He was transferred to Yatta Governmental Hospital for treatment after sustaining fractures in his ribs. Armed settlers also assaulted a group of citizens in the village of Zanuta, near th e town of Dhahiriya, while they were at a water well belonging to the Batat family. They beat them and prevented them from using the well. Large numbers of settlers stormed the Ma'in Well site in Masafer Yatta, prevented citizens from approaching the place or moving around it, set up a tent in the place, polluted the well water, and performed Talmudic prayers in the place. Bethlehem: The occupation forces demolished two floors (the second and third) of a house in the Ein Juwaizah area in the village of Al-Walaja, belonging to Bassem Abd Rabbo, under the pretext of not having a license, and a tent erected on the ruins of a previously demolished house belonging to Ahmad Nasr Abu Al-Teen, bulldozed his land and uprooted trees, and notified a house of demolition belonging to Muhammad Saeed Al-Sikh Al-Araj, with an area of ??100 square meters and inhabited by residents. The occupation forces also stormed the Dhat Al-Nitaqayn Girls' School in the town of Al-Khader and wrote racist slogans on the facade of one of i ts classrooms. Meanwhile, settlers cut down olive trees with an electric saw in the Khalayel Al-Loz area, southeast of Bethlehem, belonging to citizens from the Abayat family. Ramallah: The occupation forces bulldozed vast areas of land belonging to the village of Umm Safa, estimated at about 200 dunums planted with olive and grape trees in the Jabal al-Ras area, while settlers who gathered on the main street near the settlement of "Beit El" attacked citizens' vehicles with stones. Nablus: Dozens of settlers, under the protection of the occupation army, stormed the village of Awarta, south of Nablus, to perform Talmudic rituals in Islamic shrines, while others from the "Rahalim" settlement attacked citizens' homes in the village of Yatma and set fires around them. On Mount Ebal in the city of Nablus, the occupation forces notified the halt of work on residential buildings under construction near Al-Najah Hospital and the Quran Memorization Academy in the north. Dozens of settlers also attacked the "Al-Yatma wi" area near Mount Sabih in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, which led to the outbreak of clashes. Settlers from the "Itamar Settlement" cut down olive trees and damaged the fence of agricultural lands east of the village of Rojib, east of Nablus. Others attacked citizens' vehicles and threw stones at them on the road near the "Yitzhar" settlement, south of the city of Nablus. Salfit: The occupation forces demolished a house under construction owned by citizen Muhammad Hael, in the town of Deir Ballut in the area called "Dahr Rijal", while settlers from the "Yakir" settlement broke about 12 olive trees in the "Khalat al-Najjara" area west of Deir Istiya, owned by citizen Musleh Yousef Mansour. It is noteworthy that earlier, about 20 olive trees were broken in the "al-Mughibeh" area, owned by the same citizen. The occupation forces also notified the cessation of work and construction on a playground and houses in the village of Rafat, west of Salfit. Jordan Valley: Dozens of settlers organized a provocat ive march on Road 90 near the village of Al-Jiftlik, north of Jericho, under heavy protection from the occupation forces, which closed the road to Palestinian citizens and prevented them from passing, which obstructed movement and hindered farmers from reaching their lands. Settlers forcibly occupied an abandoned house in the vicinity of the Bedouin community of Ras al-Ain, north of Jericho, and settled there, bringing a flock of sheep and setting up a pen next to it, in addition to a water tank. Meanwhile, the occupation authorities demolished an agricultural facility that included more than 5 agricultural barracks, some of which were used for palm trees and some for sheep, and uprooted palm trees in the village of Marj Na'ja, north of Jericho. An armed settler from the "Zohar" settlement outpost also attacked students of the Bedouin Al-Ka'abneh School in the Arab Al-Malihat community, northwest of Jericho, and prevented them from reaching their school. Source: Maan News Agency