RAMALLAH, April 23, 2011 (WAFA)- The National Bureau for the Defense of Land and Resisting Settlement said in its weekly report published Saturday that the Israeli government continues its policy of Judaizing Jerusalem and proceeds in its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in the city.
Israel has rapidly taken steps to increase settlement construction on all levels during the months of April and May and settlers have begun implementing a plan to evacuate 27 Palestinian homes and displace the residents in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, it said.
Israel, it said, approval the construction of 800 new housing units in the settlement of Givat Ze'ev, northwest of Jerusalem, to connect it with other settlements and the city of Jerusalem. A week earlier, Israel approved a plan to build 900 housing units in the settlement of Gilo, built on Bethlehem land, south of Jerusalem.
According to Yish Din, an anti-settlement Israeli organization, the Israeli Interior Ministry approved three new construction plans in Jerusalem to be implemented before Jewish Passover holiday. The construction will be on land of Beit Hanina and Shufat, north of the city, Jabal Abu Ghoneim, or Har Homa settlement, south of the city, and in Ras al-Amoud, east of the city.
In addition, it said, several settlement groups escalated their digging activities beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites located in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem. The digs are for religious and tourism projects.
The report also said that Israel is planning to force Palestinian students studying at government schools in East Jerusalem to learn Zionist teachings in an attempt to erase the Palestinian identity from the memory of the future generations. It said the Israeli ministry of education is planning to change the curriculum of the Arab schools in the city to make more pro-Israel.
In Hebron, Jewish settlers from Soussiya released large numbers of sheep onto crops owned by Palestinian farmers, ruining 400 dunums of fields planted with wheat, said the report. Israeli soldiers also seized olive trees from Khirbet Suya, adjacent to the settlements of Soussiya.
In Ramallah, Israeli soldiers raided a residential building in Al Mazra’a al-Qibliya, west of the city, where they conducted prayer and videotaped the area before leaving.
M.N./M.A.
