Palestine: Israeli occupation has invaded most of West Bank
On the 46th anniversary of Land Day, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has revealed that the Israeli occupation has exploited more than 76% of area C of the West Bank.
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The areas confiscated for military purposes amount to about 18% of the area of the West Bank.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics revealed on Wednesday that "Israel" is exploiting 76% of the area classified as "C" of the West Bank lands under its control.
The agency released a statement on the 46th anniversary of Land Day, as its events date back to 1976, when “Israel” confiscated vast areas of Palestinian land, which led to the outbreak of demonstrations that resulted in deaths and injuries.
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The statement added that the Israeli occupation directly exploited 76% of the total area classified as (C), as the settlement regional councils control about 63% of it."
The “Oslo 2” agreement of 1995 classified the lands of the West Bank into 3 areas: “A” under full Palestinian control, “B” under Israeli security, civil and Palestinian administrative control, and “C” under Israeli civil, administrative and security control, and the latter constituted about 60% of the area of the West Bank.
The statement explained that "the areas confiscated for military purposes amount to about 18% of the area of the West Bank, while the Annexation Wall (established in 2002) isolated more than 10% of the West Bank, causing damage to more than 219 Palestinian communities."
The statement adds that the Israeli occupation exploits more than 85% of the total area of land in historical Palestine (the West Bank, Gaza, and occupied lands), noting that the number of Israeli colonial sites and military bases reached 471 sites by the end of 2020 in the West Bank, including 151 settlements and 26 outposts.
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As for the number of settlers, the statement estimated them to be about 712,815, who carried out 1,621 attacks against Palestinians and their property in 2021.
In the year 2021, Palestinians witnessed a significant increase in the construction and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, as it was approved to build more than 12,000 colonial units, including about 9,000 on the lands of Qalandia Airport.
The statement said that in 2021, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished 1,058 Palestinian buildings, including 353 housing units and 705 facilities for various uses.
The number of prisoners reached 4,400, including 160 children and 33 women, at the end of last February.
The number of Palestinians is estimated at about 13 million and 800 thousand, of whom 5 million and 300 thousand live in Palestine (the West Bank, Gaza, and occupied Al-Quds), about 1.6 million inside the '48 occupied Palestinian territories, and more than 6 million migrants in Arab and foreign countries.
