Israel confiscates 350 acres in occupied Jerusalem in just three weeks

The Israeli occupation authorities have confiscated 350 acres of land in the occupied city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area in the past three weeks. Details of the land grab have been given in a report prepared by the Department of International Relations at the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which described the illegal settlement operations in East Jerusalem as a “war crime” and “state terrorism”. The ongoing theft of Palestinian land is, claims the PLO, “undertaken by the right-wing extremist government in Israel for the purpose of the Judaisation of the city and its annexation, so as to make the implementation of any political solution possible.”

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The PLO report pointed out that Israel has approved the construction of 734 housing units for settlers in the city since the beginning of 2012. The organisation believes that this is part of Israel’s colonisation plans, which include one-sided legislation to give a veneer of legality backed up by its military power. “The international community,” the report continued, “is still turning a blind eye to Israel’s illegal practices and settlements in Jerusalem.” This, it adds, gives the Israeli government additional encouragement to accelerate the rate of settlement construction and the depopulation of local Palestinians through the demolition of their homes, the confiscation of their identity cards and the construction of the annexation wall.

Calling on the world community and the UN Security Council “to take decisions binding on Israel, as an occupying power,” the PLO said that every effort should be made “to stop these [Israeli] policies that are against international and humanitarian law as well as international legitimacy resolutions, which criminalise the settlements and consider them illegal and immoral.”