هيئة مقاومة الجدار والاستيطان

Saturday, March 30, 2024: This morning, the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) issued a press release on the occasion of the forty-eighth anniversary of Eternal Land Day and half a year since the terrible aggression launched by the apparatus of the occupation state against all places of Palestinian presence, especially in the Gaza Strip. In its statement, the Commission addressed The most prominent measures of the occupation state that aim to control the Palestinian land and the real absurdity that these measures constitute in the Palestinian geography, aiming to eliminate any possibility of establishing a Palestinian state, emptying classified C areas, isolating the Holy City of Jerusalem from its Palestinian context, and tightening control over it through colonization and expulsion.

Minister Moayyad Sha’ban, the head of the Commission, stated that the area of Palestinian land controlled by the occupation state and subject to several occupational measures has reached 2380 km2, which makes up 42% of the total area of the West Bank, and 69% of the total classified C areas, these are the areas under the occupation’s military rule.

Mr. Sha’ban added that the occupation state took advantage of the dreadful aggression it lanunced against our people in the Gaza Strip to execute extensive land confiscation operations affecting 27 thousand dunums of Palestinian land. Among these, 15 thousand dunums were seized under the pretext of modifying the boundaries of natural reserves in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, and 11 thousand dunums through three land declaration orders in the governorates of Jerusalem and Nablus, and 230 dunums through 24 seizure orders for military purposes, preventing future access by citizens to thousands of dunums.

Mr Sha’ban stated that the occupation state had begun to establish buffer zones around the colonies through a series of military orders, which began with the “Rafafa” colony established on private citizens’ lands in Salfit Governorate and preventing citizens’ access to 384 dunums, then at the “Harasha” colonial outpost established on private citizens’ lands in Al-Mazra’a Al-Gharbiyah in the Ramallah Governorate prevents citizens from accessing 252 dunums, then in Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, specifically around the “Mitzpe Dani” colony, and prevents citizens from accessing 320 dunums, warning against extending this plan to include other colonies, thus isolating more lands and preventing citizens from Reaching it with military and security arguments.

 Mr Sha’ban added that after October 7, the planning authorities in the occupation state studied a total of 52 master plans to build a total of 8,829 colonial units on an area of 6,852 dunums. 1,895 units were approved, while 6,934 new colonial units were deposited.

These plans were concentrated in the Jerusalem Governorate with 13 colonial plans, most of them in the Ma’ale Adumim colony. This included the approval of a colonial plan that followed the occupation cabinet’s approval of the “legalization” of a colonial outpost under the name “Mishmar Yehuda”, which is located between the colonies of Efrat, established on the lands of the Bethlehem Governorate, and the Kedar colony, established on the lands of the Jerusalem Governorate. Following the Jerusalem Governorate, Bethlehem Governorate had 9 colonial plans for colonies established on its lands, most of which are concentrated in the colonies of Beitar Illit and Efrat. Salfit Governorate followed with 8 structural plans for colonies, most of which were in favor of the Ariel colony, then Ramallah Governorate with 7 plans for various colonies distributed throughout the governorate. Additionally, colonizers established 11 colonial outposts in addition to constructing 5 roads to facilitate the movement of the colonizers and connect the outposts to existing colonies.

Mr Sha’ban added that, since October 7, the occupation army and the colonizers’ militias have carried out a total of 9,700 attacks. These attacks were concentrated in the Jerusalem Governorate with 1,592 attacks, then the Nablus Governorate with 1,471 attacks, then the Hebron Governorate with 1,436 attacks, while the colonizers carried out a total of 1,156 attacks, concentrated In the Nablus governorates, with 388 attacks, and the Hebron governorate, with 276 attacks. These attacks caused the martyrdom of 12 Palestinian citizens at the hands of the colonizers. The number of attacks carried out by the Occupation army reached a total of 8,545 attacks, while they protected the colonizers in 194 terrorist incidents.

Mr Sha’ban added that, shortly after the terrible aggression, the occupation’s measures and the terrorism of its colonizers’ militia led to the forced displacement of 25 Palestinian Bedouin communities consisting of 220 families, comprising 1,277 individuals, from their places of residence to other places, the most recent of which was the displacement of the Ein As-Sukhun community in the Central Jordan Valley and the terrorist colonizers’ control of the site.

Mr Sha’ban stated that the measures of the occupation authorities and the attacks of the colonizers’ militias prevented citizens’ access to more than half a million dunums of agricultural land, especially those planted with olives in the last olive harvest season. This led to a decrease in the season’s production to its minimum levels, in addition to indicators of systematic targeting of the Palestinian tree, especially the olive tree. The Commission’s crews monitored attacks on more than 9,600 Palestinian trees by destroying, uprooting, and poisoning them, most of which were olive trees.

Mr Sha’ban said that the number of permanent and temporary checkpoints (gates, military or dirt barriers) that divide the Palestinian territories and impose restrictions on the movement of individuals and goods has so far reached a total of 840 military checkpoints and gates, of which more than 140 gates were installed shortly after the 7th of October.

Mr Sha’ban stressed that Land Day is a national occasion to affirm the original right of the Palestinian people to the land and that this inherent right is what protects their existence, and not the language of force and arrogance, or the complicity of the world. He added, that despite all the Israeli occupation’s tampering with Palestinian geography, we believe that this tampering is destined for disintegration and eventual disappearance.