For quite some time now, the Israeli occupying state and the international community have been practicing a state of contradiction regarding colonial expansion, which is accelerating in enormous rate. On the one hand, the international community has explicitly declared its position on the illegality of this colonial expansion, which does not exceed more than being “rhetoric”, with no subsequent actions or stances, and is only applied in case of building new colonies. On the other hand, this international position has completely disregarded what the occupying state has come to call the “natural growth” of the colonies, that is, by expanding these colonies and establishing new residential units. Thus, the occupying state, and in order not to be exposed to a series of condemnations, has considered every construction in the colonial area to be an expansion of the colonies and merely paving the way for the natural growth of these entities.
At this point, the colonial expanding efforts in the territories of the West Bank and Jerusalem adopted a new strategy, in which the Israeli occupation avoids announcing the establishment of new colonies, instead; the Israeli government claims that it only opens the way for natural growth of these colonies. Many colonies were built under this fake claim. This also explains the repeated names for many colonies, such as the colonies of Kedah, Kedah East, Talmon, Talmon B, and so on.
This is the same thing happens regarding the so called “legalizing” the colonial outposts. The occupying state often intends to provide these colonial outposts with electricity and water networks and approving their master plans, in order to consider them an extended neighborhoods belonging to a colony, not a new colony by itself. , just as what is being done these days to legalize three new colonial outposts close to the Eli colony between the cities of Ramallah and Nablus (Bulgay Hamayim, Heuvel, and Neve Sheham). These outposts, despite the occupation’s announcement of its intention to legalize them, the Israeli government, up to this moment, still considers them to be extended neighborhoods belonging to the same colony. This also applies to the so called “Mitzpe Danny” outpost, for which plans were approved to legalize it, but up to this moment, the Israeli government considers it to be one of the neighborhoods of the Ma’ale Mukhamas colony, east of Ramallah.
Many of the recent plans issued by the planning authorities in the occupying state claim that they want to expand the existing colonies, but after reviewing the maps of the announced plans, it turns out that the Israeli government intends to establish new colonies located far away from the colony that it claims to be expanded.
The occupying state deposited a master plan bearing the number 2/6/510 for the purpose of reorganizing an industrial area for residential use in the so-called “Kiryat Arba” colony, which is established on citizens’ lands in Hebron, but after reviewing the maps of the master plan, it turned out that the targeted plot of land is located in an area that was confiscated in 1982 and is a large geographical area away from Kiryat Arba. It is the same place where the colonizers established the so-called “Matisa Afhai” outpost in 2018. Thus, the occupation’s intention is to legalize what the colonizers did and to establish a new colony in the region, specifically on the lands of the village Beit Ainun, north of Hebron.
Furthermore, 2023 also witnessed the issuance of lots of bids to establish 1,773 colonial units to expand the so-called “Ariel colony”, which is established on citizens’ lands in Salfit Governorate. However, after reviewing the maps, it turned out that the occupying state intends to establish a new colony on the citizens’ lands under the name “Ariel West.” What is worth noting is that the plan for the new colony in Salfit was approved in 1992 and bore No. 1/3/130 at that time.
The same thing occurred in Bethlehem Governorate, specifically in June 2022, when a new master plan was submitted for deposit for the expansion of the so-called “Har Gilo” colony, which was built on citizens’ lands in Bethlehem Governorate. The plan at that time bore the number 1/4/ 401 and aimed at establishing 952 new colonial units, but it turned out that the occupying state was hiding an intention to establish a new colony called “Carmel” that would segregate the towns of Al-Walaja and Bitir in the Bethlehem Governorate.
Mr. Shaa’ban stressed that the occupying state, through these plans and allegations that are being promoted, is trying to mislead the international community by falsifying facts and concealing the facts that is being imposed on the ground. Its main goal is to undermine the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state, to segregate the Palestinian geography, and to isolate its villages, towns, and cities, making it unsuitable for Palestinian living.
There are many evidences indicating that the occupying state has not stopped building new colonies despite avoiding announcing it explicitly, instead; the Israeli government only announces specific expansions here and there.This reveals that the colonial game is once again like a rolling fireball, moving non-stop, eating from the land and not being satisfied.