Occupied Jerusalem, Feb.03 (SANA) Head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Minister Mu’ayyad Shaaban, affirmed that Israeli occupation forces and settlers carried out a total of 1,872 attacks against Palestinians, their lands and properties during last January, in continuation of the “systematic terrorism policy” pursued by the occupation.
The Palestinian WAFA News Agency quoted Shaaban as saying that occupation forces carried out 1,404 attacks, while settlers carried out 468 attacks, which were mainly concentrated in Hebron, Ramallah and al-Bireh, Nablus, and Jerusalem. These attacks included physical assaults, burning trees and crops, preventing farmers from accessing their lands, in addition to the seizure of properties and the demolition of homes and facilities.
Shaaban pointed out that settlers’ attacks led to the forcible displacement of 125 Palestinian families, including the complete displacement of families from the Shallal al-Auja community, as well as the displacement of families in the vicinity of Birzeit town and Atara village, north of Ramallah. Shaaban explained that settlers carried out 349 acts of vandalism and theft targeting Palestinian properties, and uprooted, damaged and poisoned 1,245 olive trees, while occupation forces destroyed 151,000 tobacco seedlings in Jenin province.
Shaaban clarified that settlers attempted to establish nine new colonial outposts since the beginning of the current year, while occupation authorities studied 21 structural plans in favor of settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, aimed at building thousands of colonial units, in addition to seizing 744 dunums of Palestinian land.
He added that occupation authorities carried out 59 demolition operations targeting 126 facilities, including inhabited homes and agricultural structures, and issued 40 new demolition notifications, as part of the continued restriction on Palestinian construction and the deepening of the annexation and settlement project.
With the continuation of occupation policies aimed at emptying the land of its owners and imposing new settlement facts by force, Palestinian bodies warn of the danger of international silence regarding these violations, which threaten the Palestinian presence and Palestinians’ historical rights.
