Israel Intensifies Occupation of Palestinian Territories Ahead of So-Called ‘Jerusalem Day’
This week, the Israeli civil administration ordered a new wave of demolitions in Al Eizariya, a Palestinian village located three kilometers from Jerusalem, where bulldozers destroyed 50 businesses on a road near Ma’ale Adumim, the largest Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Authorities justified the measure by arguing that the structures were built illegally on military land, while the Palestinian government and non-governmental organizations denounce that these actions are directly linked to the so-called E1 project, an initiative that seeks to create territorial continuity between Jerusalem and the settlements in the area.
The timing of these demolitions, coinciding with Israel’s preparations to celebrate Jerusalem Day on May 14—which commemorates the capture of its eastern side after the 1967 war—has intensified criticism of its territorial expansion policies.
Omar Rayub, from the Jerusalem Governorate’s Information Office, pointed out that the expansion of ‘Israeli Jerusalem’ entails the forced displacement of Palestinians living in the surrounding areas, and warned that it is one of the largest occupation projects since 1967.
The text reads, “Israeli bulldozers demolished around 50 Palestinian shops in al-Eizariya, southeast of Jerusalem, as part of a road project linked to the settlements. The demolition was carried out despite appeals to the Supreme Court.”
In recent weeks, several Palestinian communities near Al Eizariya have also received threats of eviction. On March 25, Israeli authorities approved the ‘Shami’ project, with the aim of relocating Palestinian Bedouin communities near East Jerusalem to a new plot of land of less than eight hectares.
The Israeli NGO Ir Amim, which monitors the so-called ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem, links these demolitions to the E1 project, approved last August, which will connect new settlements to the city and further hinder the viability of a Palestinian state.
Regarding this plan, Finance Minister and settler Bezalel Smotrich declared at the time: “This will be the final nail in the coffin of the two-state solution.”
With this initiative, Israel will divide the West Bank in two and seize an additional 3%. Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at Ir Amim, explained that we could blindly point to any area on the map within the ring around Jerusalem, zoom in, and see that the E1 settlement pattern has been copied and pasted throughout the city.
The researcher added that instead of creating continuous strips of settlements, as before, Israel seeks to divide Palestinian territory with these new settlements, and asserted that this expansion goes hand in hand with the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
According to the latest Ir Amim report, around Jerusalem, Israel is promoting the construction of the Zeev settlements to the north; the Gush Etzion settlement bloc to the south; and others within Palestinian neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem.
Tatarsky pointed out that the strategy of the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to displace Palestinians from the villages and towns of Area C of the West Bank —which represents 61% of the territory and is under Israeli control— to Areas A and B, thus consolidating control over the first piece of land.
Author: HGV/JF
Source: Al Jazeera English
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