Expert warns of settlement plan separating Nablus from Ramallah

Khalil Tafakji, a Palestinian expert on Israeli settlements, warned on Sunday of a plan to build settlements with the aim of separating Nablus from Ramallah, two major West Bank cities, Felesteen newspaper reported.

Speaking to Mawtini, a local Palestinian radio station, Tafakji said: “The state of Israel is a state of Israeli settlements, including a group of Palestinian communities connected with each other through tunnels. This is the reality in the Palestinian [West] Bank.”

He pointed to the Israeli project to confiscate hundreds of dunams from the lands of Jalood, Termis’ea and Al-Mogheir based on military order 50 which was issued in 1983.

“This order stipulates the connection between the Israeli settlements and separating Nablus from Ramallah,” he said.

“This isolates the Palestinian residents in these areas and undermines the Palestinian control over the Palestinian lands,” he added.

Tafakji explained that the continuous violence of Israeli settlers against Palestinian farmers, the closing of streets and the confiscation of land in these areas is part of this project.

He also revealed that Israel is planning to build 1,690 new settlement units in the West Bank city of Qalandia and will also expand the industrial zone, noting this is part of a new settlement project which was decided on in 1994.