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15 Apr, 2014

More home demolitions, land-grabs in Israeli drive to wipe Palestine off the map

RAMALLAH, April 14, 2014 – (WAFA) – Center of Information concerning Israeli Settlement and Apartheid Wall Affairs highlighted Monday the escalating pace at which house demolitions  are carried out and demolition notices are served since the beginning of the current year of 2014.

Since the beginning of the current year, Israeli authorities have handed 191 demolition notices for Palestinians’ properties and carried out 90 demolitions that involved the demolition of 27 houses, 4 tents, a mosque, 43 structures, 4 water tanks, 3 public utilities and 8 commercial shops, said the center in a report.

According to Director of the Center Jamil al-Barghouthi, the demolitions and demolition notices have targeted all West Bank areas, primarily Jerusalem; which has formed a part of the Israeli occupations and settlers’ systematic policy to Judaize Jerusalem and displace its indigenous people.

Al-Barghouthi called upon relevant international institutions and human rights organizations to immediately intervene to protect the Palestinian people and hold the Israeli occupation accountable for such crimes.

Israeli Forces to Seize Hundreds of Dunums of Land near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, April 10, 2014 – (WAFA) – Israeli forces notified residents of  al-Khader and Nahalin to the south of Bethlehem Thursday of their intentions to seize hundreds of dunums of Palestinian-owned agricultural, according to a local activist.

Coordinator of the Anti-wall and Settlement Resistance in al-Khader Ahmad Salah said that forces announced its decision to seize about 1,000 donums of land under the pretext of being ‘state property to which entry is prohibited’.

High-level Israeli army and ‘Civil Administration’ officers from ‘Gush Etzion’ illegal settlement left notices in land known as Khalet al-Fahem, al-‘Abseyya, al-Zaytouna, al-Karami and others belonging to farmers from al-Khader and Nahalin,

Salah added that the total area of lands to be seized is around 984 donums. The orders gave 45 days to appeal at court to stop the decision.

Israeli Minister Announces Largest Settlement Project in Southern West Bank

TEL AVIV, April 13, 2014 (WAFA) – Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Ya’alon, announced on Sunday that works began for the largest project of expanding the settlement bloc of Gush Etzion in the south of the West Bank. He confirmed that a 984-dunum area of land in southern and west of Bethlehem were seized last week for the benefit of this project.