Israel approved 1,149 settlement units in February

A new report claims that in February alone the Israeli government approved the building of 1,149 settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem, for which companies are now bidding. The report, issued by the International Affairs Department at the Palestinian Liberation Organization, also revealed that in the same month Israel armed forces killed 3 and detained 612 Palestinians.

“A People Under Occupation” was released on 4 March, and gives details of the accelerating “Judaization” process of Occupied Jerusalem, especially the areas in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque and in the Old City.

As a result of the continuous excavations carried out by the Israelis, wide cracks 7 metres long have appeared in the northern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque. These cracks are increasing in size daily.

According to the report, throughout February Jewish settlers took control of more than 510 acres of land, 10 from the village of Sinjil in Ramallah and 500 acres on the peak of a mountain in the village of Jalud, near Nablus in the north of the West Bank. Hundreds of settlement units have been set up on those sites.

Detailing many of the Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians and their properties, as well as the environment, the report also recorded damage to Palestinian crops and the fact that 640 olive and grape trees were uprooted in February.