RAMALLAH, Tuesday, March 24, 2020 (WAFA) - Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation and in accordance with the Israeli Allon plan, Israel has been taking over Jordan Valley lands through the implementation of the policy of dispossession of the Palestinians, according to Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

He said in a report on Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Jordan Valley that 20% of the West Bank land is declared as closed military areas or firing zones, and the majority of that is in the Jordan Valley, adding that more than 100,000 dunums in the Jordan Valley have been allocated for settler agriculture use as 95% of the Jordan Valley is Area C according to the Oslo interim agreement.

In addition, he said, most of Israeli declared nature reserves are located in the Jordan Valley and along the west coast of the Dead Sea.

Israeli settlers have been transferred to live in the occupied State of Palestine in violation of international law and the 4th of Geneva Convention, said Erekat. The total number of illegal settlers living in the occupied State of Palestine exceeded 670,000 settlers, of those more than 12,700 settlers are living in small illegal settlements in the Jordan Valley and control 95% of the area of the Jordan Valley, while approximately 55,000 Palestinians in the Jordan Valley are confined to only 5% of the land, where Palestinians are deprived from using Palestinian land and resources.

The annexation plan announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2019 includes a blueprint for annexing 22.3% of the West Bank with 30 illegal settlements and 18 illegal settlement outposts, said Erekat.

The US President Donald Trump‘s Peace to Prosperity vision supports the annexation of the Jordan Valley that is consistent with the Israeli annexation plans, explained the PLO official. The illegal settlement construction in general has escalated since 2017 when Trump came into office.

M.K.