Israeli occupation's settlement expansion erases Palestinian villages

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Norwegian Refugee Council
11 Aug 2023 14:18
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A new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council highlights the forced displacement of Palestinians as "Israel" continues its practices for settlement expansion.

Palestinian protesters attend a demonstration against the Evyatar settlement outpost, south of Nablus, on June 4, 2021, in the West Bank. (AFP)

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), in a new report, stated that illegal Israeli settlers continue to systematically annex Palestinian lands and expel hundreds of Palestinians from their homes, causing some Palestinian communities to vanish off the map.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation infringes on Palestinian lands on a daily basis, kicking residents out of their homes.

According to the NRC, in the previous 20 months, about 500 Palestinian landowners from seven towns had been forcefully uprooted.

The NRC’s country director for Palestine, Ana Povrzenic, exclaimed that “There are entire Palestinian communities being wiped off the map, a shameful legacy of unrelenting violence, intimidation and harassment perpetrated by Israeli settlers and, in some cases, encouraged by Israeli authorities."

Povrzenic further added that “The rapid establishment of settlement outposts and takeover of Palestinian land is choking Palestinian communities, destroying their livelihoods, and putting Palestinian lives at risk. Palestinians have no choice but to flee, leaving behind their homes, schools, and jobs.”

Following intensified Zionist harassment and intimidation, about 89 Palestinians, including 39 children, were forcibly displaced from Ras At-Tin town, east of Ramallah.

The community's grazing pastures were seized over by Israeli settlers, who also built a vineyard on the stolen land near an Israeli military base.

According to the NRC, approximately 60 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank are at increased risk of forcible displacement as a result of Israeli violence that has been grounded in settlement expansion practices alongside their fairly discriminatory policies and practices.

“Without holding Israel accountable, more and more Palestinian communities will be forcibly transferred,” warned an NRC official adding, “How many more Ras At-Tins must there be before the international community acts?”

More than 279 settlements have been constructed since "Israel" occupied the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

Israeli Court annuls petition demanding removal of 'Homesh' outpost

The Israeli occupation High Court, on August 3, annulled a petition demanding the removal of the illegal Israeli outpost of "Homesh" in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported.

The Israeli Knesset rescinded legislation in March, ordering the evacuation of four settlements, including "Homesh", in the occupied West Bank 18 years after it was passed. The original law mandated the evacuation of four illegal Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank as well as "Tel Aviv's" disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

The law being repealed would allow Israelis to return to the settlements built on private Palestinian land on condition of approval by the Israeli occupation military.

Established on occupied Palestinian land in the late 1970s, the "Homesh" settlement was evacuated in 2005, as part of the disengagement plan, under the instructions of then-Israeli occupation Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The occupation government announced its decision in June to hasten the process of approving settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, in addition to giving Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich even more authority to approve new construction of settlement projects.