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Israel increases budget for Judaising occupied Jerusalem

December 21, 2022 at 11:51 am

In this photo illustration, US Dollar [Mustafa Çiftçi – Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli-run Jerusalem Municipality has increased the 2023 budget for Judaising the holy city by NIS1 billion ($289,000), the Palestine Information Centre (PIC) reported on Tuesday.

According to Israeli Hayom, the municipality’s financial committee approved the development plan for 2023 to NIS 6 billion ($1,727,000), a 20 per cent increase over last year. This budget, said the newspaper, is the highest ever for occupied Jerusalem and includes allocations for education, planning and security, as well as settlement building in the city through plans to reinforce the Jewish presence.

Meanwhile, the PIC reported another Israeli newspaper monitoring the increase of settlement building since the rise of the far-right in the latest Israeli election. Zman Israel said that the increase in building work is concentrated in the settlements that the far-right pledged to legalise in the first 100 days of its control over the government. Settlers are racing against time to build new outposts for government recognition.

At the same time, the PIC reported that the Israeli Civil Administration has increased its restrictions on Palestinians building and extending their homes in so-called Area C of the occupied West Bank.

All Israeli settlements and settlement outposts are illegal under international law, as are the settlers themselves. It is a war crime to move citizens into territory under military occupation.

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