هيئة مقاومة الجدار والاستيطان

On Sunday, October 6, 2024: the head of the Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC), Minster Mu’ayyad Shaa’ban, reported that since October 7, the occupation army and colonizers have carried out 16,663 attacks on Palestinian lands and properties. These aggressive actions are aimed at imposing new facts on the ground during the war and aggression against our people in Gaza Strip and other Palestinian territories.

Mr. Shaa’ban stressed that the Israeli occupying state's actions are no longer limited to areas classified as “C”, but have also expanded to include areas classified as “B”. This entails nullifying the remaining political agreements, the thing which challenges the international legitimacy, Security Council resolutions, and the unified global condemnation of settlements and the occupying state's behavior in Palestinian territories. Mr. Shaa’ban added that the occupying state's aggressive actions not only target Palestinian national resources, but also undermine international legitimacy and United Nations resolutions. He pointed out also that this critical moment demands an international protection to deter the occupying state's aggression against Palestinian land and people, and to stop the colonizers’ terrorism sponsored by the Israeli's official institutions.

Mr. Shaa’ban also explained that all the colonial policies adopted by the occupying state are pre-planned steps that were disguised by war and the security situation in order to carry them out and advance the settlement project. That is, fundamental and unprecedented changes are being made to the structure of the civil administration, a change that continues to serve as a colonial tool to solidify the occupation and control the land. For example, a civilian with a right-wing settler background has been appointed as Deputy Head of the Civil Administration with extensive powers. Additionally, a new director for the Planning Council, who previously worked in a settlement council, has been appointed. Planning powers have been withdrawn away from the Palestinian Authority and given to the occupation, particularly in areas classified as B, and the eastern Bethlehem desert extending from southern Jerusalem to northern Hebron, covering an area of 167 km2. These actions reveal the occupation's true intention to achieve its strategic goal through colonization land systematic segregation. This undermines the potential for establishing a Palestinian state in the future.

Mr. Shaa’ban emphasized that the period following the flagrant aggression on Gaza Strip has been marked by the occupying state's rapid implementation of colonial settlement measures. This includes increased land confiscation and accelerated expansion plans for colonies in Palestinian territories, as well as the establishment of agricultural outposts. These actions are carried out under the guise of war and emergency laws, through which the colonizers have been empowered with weapons and legislation that deprive the Palestinian from the possibility of defending himself.

Mr. Shaa’ban stated that the Israeli occupying state has been exploiting the conditions of the severe aggression against our people in Gaza Strip by carrying out systematic confiscation operations of Palestinian lands. These operations have affected 52 thousand dunums of Palestinian land. This includes the 25,000 dunums that were confiscated under the guise of amending the borders of nature reserves, the 24,000 dunums that were declared as “state lands” in the governorates of Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, and Bethlehem, as well as the 1,233 dunums were seized for military purposes. These actions aim at establishing military towers, security roads, and buffer zones around the colonies.

Mr. Shaa’ban emphasized that the Israeli occupying state has initiated the creation of buffer zones around the colonies through a series of military orders. Currently, there are 12 buffer zones surrounding colonies, primarily concentrated in the northern West Bank, specifically in Salfit and Nablus governorates. Additionally, Mr. Shaa’ban warned that this measure could be extended to include other colonies, the thing which would cause further isolation of lands and prevent citizens from accessing these lands under military and security pretexts, in preparation to transfer the lands for the benefit of colonies.

Mr. Shaa’ban mentioned that after October 7, the planning authorities in the Israeli occupying state proposed 182 master plans with the goal of establishing 23,267 colonial units on an area of 14,000 dunams. Out of these, 6,300 units were approved, while 17,000 new colonial units were deposited. These plans were concentrated in Jerusalem Governorate with 65 master plans, 25 of which were outside the municipal boundaries, and 65 within the boundaries, followed by the Salfit and Bethlehem governorates, with 22 master plans each. Mr. Sha’ban added that the colonizers established 29 colonial outposts after the 7th of October, under the protection of the occupation army. These colonial outposts were concentrated in the Hebron Governorate, with 8 colonial outposts, the Ramallah with 6 outposts, Bethlehem with 4 outposts, and 3 others in Nablus. Additionally, they paved 7 roads to facilitate the movement of colonizers and link outposts to existing colonies. He added that the Israeli occupation state decided to settle the status of (legalize), 11 colonial outposts and transform them into colonies or colonial neighbourhoods affiliated with existing colonies. They also referred a total of 9 other colonial outposts to legalization procedures.

Sha’ban added that since October 7, the Israeli occupation army and colonizer militias have carried out a total of 16,663 attacks. These attacks were concentrated in the Hebron Governorate with 2,813 attacks, then the Jerusalem Governorate with 2,771 attacks, then the Nablus Governorate with 2,322 attacks. The colonizers, on the other hand, carried out a total of 2,777 attacks, concentrated in the Nablus Governorate with 771 attacks, and the Hebron Governorate with 648 attacks. These attacks resulted in the martyrdom of 19 Palestinian citizens at the hands of colonizers.

Mr. Shaa’ban said that after October 7th, the Israeli occupation army and colonizers deliberately set a total of 275 fires in citizens' properties and fields, the latest of which was the fire and attack on the village of Jit, east of Qalqilia. He added that these attacks were concentrated in the governorates of Nablus with 120 fires, then Ramallah with 42 fires and Jenin with 26 fires. These fires varied between 79 fires that affected citizens' lands, fields, and crops, while 196 fires targeted citizens' properties, including residential apartments, buildings, cars, and others.

Mr. Shaa’ban stated that the most dangerous form of colonizer attacks manifests in the imposition of a coercive, repulsive environment, which has led to the displacement of dozens of Bedouin communities. He added that this plan is state-backed and that the task of implementing it has been assigned to settler-colonists who have threatened citizens with weapons and deprived them of grazing areas and water resources.

The Israeli occupation’s measures and the terrorism of its colonizers' militia have led to the forced displacement of 28 Palestinian Bedouin communities, consisting of 292 families, including 1,636 individuals, forcing them to leave their places of residence to other places. The most recent of these was the forced displacement of the Wadi al-Faw and Umm al-Jimal communities in the central Jordan Valley, where colonizers took control over the site.

Mr. Sha’ban explained that the systematic targeting of the Palestinian tree, especially of the olive tree by the colonizers’ militias, led to the uprooting, destruction and damage of a total of 14,280 trees, most of which were olive trees, with the governorates of Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron and Ramallah having the largest share of these destructions. Mr. Sha’ban added that the number of permanent and temporary checkpoints (gates, military or earthen checkpoints) that divide the Palestinian territories and impose restrictions on the movement of individuals and goods has so far reached a total of 872 military checkpoints and gates, including more than 156 iron gates that were installed shortly after October 7th.

Mr Sha’ban indicated that since October 7th, the Israeli occupation authorities have carried out a total of 689 demolitions, marking a significant and dangerous escalation in the attacks on Palestinian buildings. He explained that the demolitions affected 868 facilities, including 373 inhabited homes, 89 uninhabited homes, and 241 agricultural and other facilities. These demolitions were concentrated in the Jerusalem Governorate with 221 structures, Hebron with 204, and Nablus with 92. Mr Sha’ban also pointed out that the Israeli occupation authorities have distributed 630 demolition notifications for Palestinian structures, mainly in the Hebron, Qalqilya, Nablus, and Jericho governorates. Among these were 10 administrative notifications delivered to the residents of Al-Malha village in the eastern wilderness of Bethlehem, an area classified as "B" under the Oslo Accords. He emphasized that this represents a dangerous precedent, targeting Palestinian construction in a nature reserve that falls under the planning jurisdiction of the State of Palestine.