By: Madeeha Araj,
The National Bureau for defending land and resisting settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that at a time when the American Administration disclosed its ‘Deal of the Century’s’ plan at the White House, which is biased to the Israeli Occupation, and oppresses the Palestine cause and liquidate it. The International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda announced her intention to open a comprehensive investigation into possible war crimes committed by Israel in the Palestinian territories. Knowing that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet issued a few days ago a report of extraordinary importance on companies that have illegal business activities at illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Accordingly, the UN Human Rights’ Council published a black list of 112 companies that perform such activities. The publication of the list has caused a shock in Israel as it portrayed these settlements contradict and violate the International Law, despite the fact that the American Administration maneuvers to prove the opposite.
The blacklist included 94 Israeli companies, and 18 companies from 6 other countries. They include a number of banking, and mobile phone companies as well as Israeli Construction Company (Ashtrom), telecommunications company (Bezeq) and the technology company (Matrix). The Dutch Company for booking of rooms and hotels via the Internet, and three other Dutch companies as well as American tourism companies, such as (Trip Advisor, RBNP, Expedia, three British companies, two French companies and another company, which its main-office is in Luxembourg, and some others based in Thailand were also listed.
The Palestinian leadership, civil society organizations and the Arab League welcomed the publication of the listو and considered it an opportunity to put pressure on these companies to back down, and an opportunity to expand the activities of the global campaign to boycott Israel. For its part, Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization based in New York, said that publishing the blacklist of companies is a major progress in the way of holding them accountable, because they violate international law and international legitimacy resolutions.
At the same time, the Israeli PM Netanyahu announced that his government started to prepare maps for the annexation of settlements, valleys and areas north of the Dead Sea in coordination with the American Administration’s plan. During an election speech to the Likud party activists held in the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim, Netanyahu added, his government is going to demarcate the lands that will be Part of the State of Israel with the support of the American administration, whether the Palestinian Authority accepts or refuses the “deal of the century.” Netayahu also said the names of the crew was appointed to prepare maps in preparation for annexing parts of the West Bank to Israel, and it consists of Minister Yariv Liven, Ambassador to Washington, Ron Dramer, Director General of the Israeli Government, Ronen Peretz, and the National Security Council.
Within the context and in a new step towards imposing Israeli sovereignty on the occupied West Bank, the Israeli Energy Authority announced the expansion of the electricity network to serve settlements located on Palestinian lands in the West Bank, provided that a high pressure network be developed to provide services to all settlements, with a cost estimated at NIS 3-4 billion.
As for the Israeli Ministry of Justice, it appointed the attorney of the Ateret Cohanim Settlement Association, Abraham Moshe Segal as a custodian of the properties of a Palestinian company in the occupied Jerusalem, although he works against it in various judicial procedures by fake companies. The Palestinian company runs a hotel in a building in the Old City In Jerusalem, Ateret Cohanim claims to have bought it and is working to vacate it. A Justice Ministry’s official was quoted as saying that Segal’s appointment to dismantle the Palestinian company required an investigation of a conflict of interest. Ateret Cohanim claims that it bought the Petra Hotel in the Hebron area from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, and it was proven that this deal was concluded by fictitious companies established by the settler association with the aim of purchasing 3 buildings in the Old City in 2004.
On the ground, settlement activity continued in a number of governorates of the West Bank, in Bethlehem, the Israeli occupation forces notified the confiscation of scores of agricultural donums east of Bethlehem in areas of (Ein Al-Haweiah, Hsaynat, wad Al-Hamra from the Husan village, and Qornet Abu Ali, and Khallet Ghazawi, Wadi Fukin, all along the “Haddasa” settlement in favor of establishing an industrial zone, and settlement units.
In Nablus, the Israeli Occupation Authorities are planning to build a settlement road to link the Aile and Shilo settlements to the south of Nablus with the Jordan Valley settlements. This settlement road is about 8 km long passes through fertile agricultural lands in the villages of Qaryut, Jalud, and al-Mughair, south of Nablus, until the lands of the village of Fasayil in the central Jordan Valley. Knowing that the occupation government approved in 2014 a plan to construct dozens of roads and bypass roads for West Bank settlements that extend a 300-km with the aim of seizing thousands of dunums of Palestinian land and strengthening its control over large areas.
In Salfeet, the occupation forces continue to bulldoze the lands of the area called “Khalat-Jami”, located between the towns of Haris and Burqin, with an area estimated at 250 donums, belonging to the Islamic Waqf Department, in addition to 120 donums belonging to the family of Omar Abdel-Hafiz Fazaa.
