Palestine warns of ‘dangerous’ Israeli plan to build 9,000 settler homes in central West Bank

By Qais Abu Samra and Betul Yilmaz

RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL (AA) – The Jerusalem Governorate warned Monday against what it called a “dangerous” Israeli settlement project for building 9,000 settler homes in the central West Bank.

“The Israeli occupation authorities are seeking to implement a dangerous settlement plan on the lands of Jerusalem International Airport and neighboring areas,” the governorate said in a statement.

It considered the plan “a direct threat to geographical and demographic links between Jerusalem and the city of Ramallah.”

The Israeli plan aims to establish nearly 9,000 settlement units in densely populated Palestinian areas, including Kafr Aqab, Qalandia, Al-Ram, Beit Hanina, and Bir Nabala, “which deepens the policy of separation and isolation imposed on the city and its surroundings, and undermines any political horizon based on the two-state solution,” the statement said.

An Israeli committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss advancing the plan, which may include the allocation of some areas for the project.

According to the statement, the Israeli Finance Ministry recently requested the transfer of 16 million shekels (about $5 million) to the Ministry of Environmental Protection for allegedly rehabilitating polluted lands, including Jerusalem International Airport, “in a step that practically accelerates the implementation of the settlement project.”

The governorate warned that implementing the plan "will lead to the establishment of a settlement enclave separating northern Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.”

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an official Palestinian body, earlier said that Israel had seized 2,800 dunams of land (one dunam equals 1,000 square meters) in the West Bank last November, "through squatting and expropriation orders and amending the borders of state lands."

The UN has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, warning that they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

Last July, International Court of Justice issued a landmark opinion that declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.