Uprooted Palestinian: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM – سلام القدس عليكم: Israel allocates $563m for settlement activity - Suspicious groups discovered purchasing land in Jerusalem

Sunday 2 January 2011

Israel allocates $563m for settlement activity - Suspicious groups discovered purchasing land in Jerusalem

Israel allocates $563m for settlement activity

[ 01/01/2011 - 04:29 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu has allocated 563 million dollars budget for the settlement activity in the next two years, a Hebrew paper reported.

Ha'aretz said on Friday that the budget was mainly earmarked for extending services to Israeli settlements, rehabilitating their infrastructure, and providing security for the settlers in addition to building new suburbs and roads leading to them.

The Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem had witnessed an upsurge lately in a bid to impose a de facto situation on the ground in any future settlement in the region.

Suspicious groups discovered purchasing land in Jerusalem

[ 01/01/2011 - 04:52 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Suspicious groups have been creeping into the predominantly Arab Jerusalem district of Silwan and offering residents to purchase land and claim to be sponsored by Arab and Islamic funds, the Wadi Halwa Information Center said, adding that locals uncovered that the would-be buyers were working to leak land into the hands of Jewish settlers.

Unidentified persons began a few weeks back handing out cards to register Jerusalemites who wished to sell property, some of the agents disguised as tool repair technicians who would enter homes and offer legal aid in cases involving Jewish settlers.

A local real estate agent known by Wadi Halwa residents for buying property was quoted as saying he planned to build after being issued a permit by Israel's Jerusalem municipality. But the municipality has zoned the neighborhood as a green section and does not issue building permits there.

The Wadi Halwa Information Center reported two separate incidents in Wadi Halwa and Wadi Batn al-Hawa of agents constructing there and leaking the property over to Jewish settlers.

Israel has made obvious moves to take full control of east Jerusalem, placing special emphasis on the targeted Silwan section. Authorities have announced plans to convert the area into a national historic park that would become part of the Jerusalem settlement known as David's City.

The occupation authorities had also taken significant steps in 2010 to separate east Jerusalem from the West Bank while violating the internationally recognized rights of the Palestinians, the Israeli rights group B'Ttselem reported to open the new year.

According to the report, Israeli troops killed a total of 67 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last year. In another context, Israel's military prosecutor has yet to indict the soldiers who lethally fired at civilians.

Israel leveled 39 Palestinian homes and 90 more structures in 2010 mostly in the Issawiyya, Silwan, and Suwar Baher sections of the holy city, the Jerusalem Land Research Center reported Saturday. 280 citizens were ejected from their homes in the process and 242 more homes were ordered to be demolished.

The report reads that Jewish settlers erected 543 residential units that year, while 6,732 units were approved to be built. There are currently at least 5,458 Jewish settler homes spread over 17 settlements constricting the holy city of Jerusalem.

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