WEST BANK (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Israeli occupation government has started constructing a new settlement in Bethlehem province, specifically on the lands of Battir village, which is located between the towns of Husan and Al-Khader.
According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, the settlement, named “Nahal Hilts,” was approved as a direct response to the wave of international recognitions of the State of Palestine in June of last year.
The Commission explained that the Israeli regime earmarked 120 dunums for the new settlement before deciding to annex an additional 600 dunums of Palestinian land for its construction, adding that the construction of the settlement already started.
The Commission warned that the establishment of this settlement is intended to deepen the separation between Bethlehem and Jerusalem provinces, as a step towards the gradual implementation of the “Greater Jerusalem” plan, which threatens the geographic contiguity between the northern and southern West Bank.
The Commission also said that the Israeli army’s civil administration issued six military orders on Monday, allocating a total of 16,200 dunums for the “pastoral activity” of Jewish settlers.
“The occupation state is not only encouraging the establishment of agricultural and pastoral outposts but is also actively protecting them by officially allocating vast areas of land to settler militias,” the Commission said.
The first military order has targeted the lands of Salfit and Ramallah provinces, specifically the villages of Deir Ballut and al-Lubban al-Gharbi, allocating 2,600 dunums for settler grazing. These areas had previously been declared “state land”.
The second, third, and fourth orders targeted Ramallah province, allocating 1,505 dunums in Kafr Malik village and 4,900 dunums in Deir Jarir village for the same purpose. The fifth order targeted al-Fari’ah Valley in Jericho province, allocating 426 dunums, while the sixth order allocated 8,700 dunums in Tubas, according to the Commission.
The Commission warned that the Israeli regime intends to legalize 70 agricultural and pastoral colonial outposts as part of coalition agreements between its ruling parties, adding that allocating land for colonizer grazing would solidify these outposts by granting them vast areas, turning them into bases for further terrorist attacks against Palestinian citizens and their properties.
“By the end of 2024, the number of pastoral outposts had reached 137, blocking access to a total of 489,000 dunums of Palestinian land,” the Commission pointed out.
In this regard, the Hamas Movement has said the Israeli occupation’s accelerating settlement expansion and land grabs in the West Bank reflects a criminal mentality based on eliminating anything that is Palestinian, including people, trees and soil.
“All the crimes that are being committed by the occupation in the West Bank and across the Palestinian land will not change our confidence that it is a temporary entity that will be removed by the strength of the Palestinian people and their determination to reclaim their land and rights,” senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi stated on Tuesday.
