Occupied Jerusalem, April 18 (SANA)The National Office for Land Defense and Settlement Resistance affirmed in its weekly report that the Israeli occupation government is advancing a large-scale settlement plan designed to impose new colonial realities on Palestinian land, severely undermining prospects for an independent Palestinian state.
According to the report, issued Saturday, the occupation authorities secretly approved the establishment of 34 new settlements in the West Bank in early April, raising the total number of settlements approved by the current government to 102 an approximately 80% increase that signals an unprecedented acceleration in settlement expansion.
Palestinian Wafa Agency said the announcement was deliberately delayed to avoid international criticism, particularly from the U.S. administration during heightened tensions with Iran, and was only disclosed after a ceasefire was reached.
The report further documented ongoing land seizures and destruction in Salfit, Jenin, and Nablus, where hundreds of olive trees have been uprooted and agricultural lands ruined, threatening Palestinian livelihoods.
In the northern Jordan Valley, new pastoral outposts are being established in strategic locations to fragment Palestinian communities and facilitate silent forced displacement. Settler violence has also escalated, with attacks on villages, arson, vehicle destruction, and livestock theft often carried out under the protection of occupation forces.
IZ/MZ
