Minister Mu’ayyad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, said that the Israeli occupation forces and settlers carried out 1,228 attacks in the West Bank during last August, which indicate crimes that amount to war crimes.
Shaaban explained in the commission’s monthly report, which came under the title “Occupation Violations and Colonial Expansion Procedures,” that the occupation army carried out 1,024 attacks, while the settlers carried out 204 attacks, and that the total number of attacks were concentrated in the governorates of Jerusalem (204 attacks), Ramallah (137 attacks), and Nablus (135) attacks.
He pointed out that the attacks ranged from armed attacks on Palestinian villages to imposing facts on the ground, field executions, vandalism, bulldozing of land, uprooting of trees, seizure of property, closures and barriers that sever the ties of Palestinian geography.
Theft and vandalism
He added that the settlers carried out 206 acts of vandalism and theft of Palestinian property, which affected vast areas of land, and stole 509 heads of sheep, and confiscated 9 vehicles, tractors, and other items. The settlers’ attacks also resulted in the uprooting of 477 trees, including 397 olive trees in the governorates of Hebron, Salfit, Bethlehem, Nablus, and Ramallah.
Shaaban pointed out that since the beginning of last August, the settlers have established 8 new colonial outposts, including 3 outposts on the lands of the Beit Hanoun Governorate, 2 outposts on the lands of the Nablus Governorate, 2 in Salfit and 1 in Tulkarm.
He said that last month, the occupation authorities seized a total of 367 dunums of citizens’ lands through 5 military orders, two of which were issued by the Blue Line crew, which is working to add new areas to previous confiscation announcements and targeted lands in the Bethlehem and Hebron governorates.
He pointed out that the occupation authorities carried out 62 demolition operations last August, affecting 78 facilities, including 36 inhabited homes, 8 uninhabited ones, and 13 agricultural and other facilities, and were concentrated in the governorates of Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem, Tubas and Tulkarm. It also notified the demolition of 74 homes and facilities in the governorates of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Salfit, Tubas and Hebron.
Forced displacement
Shaaban explained that the occupation’s plans have crossed many red lines to achieve its goals of displacing the Palestinians and imposing a coercive, repellent environment by arming the settlers and granting them immunity, protection and training, in addition to what the official agencies in the occupying state are doing in terms of storming cities and villages, executions, systematic sabotage of infrastructure and starving citizens.
He warned that “all the occupation’s measures these days aim to impose a state of forced displacement on Palestinian communities in all places of Palestinian presence,” calling on all Palestinian national institutions, factions, unions and labor forces “to stand up to their supreme national responsibility by taking practical and direct measures to stand by our people in these communities, especially in the Palestinian Jordan Valley and Masafer.”