Jewish settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem increase by three times in 2017
RAMALLAH (AA) — Israel has seized around 2,500 acres of Palestinian land, destroyed 500 buildings and constructed eight new Jewish settlement units in 2017, according to Palestine’s Land Research Center (LRC).
According to the report of the center, Israel seized Palestinian lands with “military aims” and the “aim to construct Jewish settlement units” in the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem.
The report also recorded 900 incidents of violence and attacks of Israeli forces in East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to Israeli and Palestinian law institutions, activities of Jewish settlement in West Bank and East Jerusalem have increased by three times in 2017 compared with the previous year.
Peace Now movement also announced that Israeli government approved the construction of 1,982 houses in 2015, 2,629 houses 2016 and this figure increased to 6,500 in 2017.
Israel’s Minister of Public Works and Housing, Yoav Galant, on December 24 announced a plan to build 300,000 new houses in East Jerusalem under the name of “housing on the land of united Jerusalem, the capital of Israel”.
Jewish settlement building activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered to be one of the most important obstacles in front of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that was halted in April 2014.
The Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently accelerated the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
It has been stated that Israel has established 131 settlements in the West Bank, 10 in East Jerusalem and 116 in the regions of the Hill of the West Bank since 1967.
It is said that Israel wants to bring the number of settlers in the West Bank to a million in a short period of time, while half a million residents are currently living in Jews settlements in Palestinian soil and 220,000 in the settlements in East Jerusalem.
6,742 Palestinians arrested
Israeli army detained 6,742 Palestinians along the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank in 2017, according to Palestinian organizations Sunday.
In a joint statement, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-linked Palestinian Committee of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs, Palestinian Prisoners Committee, Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said the arrests in 2017 included 1,467 children, 156 women, 14 Palestinian Legislative Council members and 25 journalists.
The statement also said some detainees were later released.
As of Sunday (Dec. 31), there are 6,950 Palestinian prisoners, including 359 children, 22 journalists and 10 MPs, in Israeli prisons, it added.
There are also 450 prisoners who are under “administrative detention”.
Under the policy of administrative detentions, prisoners can be held without trial for periods ranging from six months to a year.
Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and detain local Palestinians, claiming they are “wanted” by Israeli security agencies.
The statement also said 2,436 Palestinians, one third of whom are children, have been arrested in occupied Jerusalem.
Tension has mounted in the Palestinian territories since Dec. 6, when U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking angry demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza.