JERUSALEM, Thursday, August 6, 2026 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation authorities on Thursday ordered the removal of the wild vegetation and olive trees from the lands of Jaba' town near Jerusalem, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.

It said that the occupation authorities issued a military order to remove wild vegetation and olive trees from Palestinian-owned land in the Jaba' Plain area of the town, covering a total area of 2 dunums and 502 square meters, as part of a plan to expand the colonial Road 437, which extends from the Hizma military checkpoint to the Jaba' roundabout.

It noted that the order forms part of a broader colonial project aimed at reshaping the road network surrounding Jerusalem through the expansion of the existing road, the seizure of privately owned Palestinian land, the establishment of buffer zones, and the linkage of Israeli colonies north and east of Jerusalem to the colonial road network, in a manner that serves plans to consolidate control over the land and isolate Palestinian villages and towns.

It added that the occupation authorities had recently issued another military order to seize 5 dunums and 283 square meters of land in the town of Jaba' under the pretext of "military purposes." The order falls within a broader plan to construct and expand a colonial road linking Road 60 near the Jaba' military checkpoint to Israel’s apartheid wall alongside the colony of Neve Yaakov.

It stressed that the ongoing takeover of Palestinian land, uprooting of trees, and implementation of colonial road projects constitute a systematic violation of Palestinians' rights to their land and are part of a policy aimed at entrenching a new colonial reality in the Jerusalem governorate and undermining the geographic and urban continuity between Palestinian towns.

K.F.