WEST BANK, (PIC)
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued demolition and land-leveling operations on Thursday across various parts of the West Bank, targeting agricultural structures and vital infrastructure, causing widespread damage to land and property.
In the city of Beit Jala, west of Bethlehem, the IOF demolished a shed at the eastern entrance of the town of Al-Khader, belonging to Ziad Hussein Dar Issa, under the pretext of lacking a permit.
In a related development, the IOF also demolished an agricultural room in the village of Al-Walaja, northwest of Bethlehem, owned by Walid Atta Rabah, also citing lack of permits, as part of an ongoing policy targeting Palestinian agricultural presence in the area.
In the northern Jordan Valley, the IOF escalated their attacks by destroying agricultural water lines and networks in the village of Atuf, southeast of Tubas, cutting off water to hundreds of dunums of farmland. Local sources reported that ongoing land-leveling operations for more than two months have deprived around 12,000 dunums of land in Atuf and the Al-Baqi’a plain of water sources.
These measures are part of a broader plan implemented by the Israeli authorities since the beginning of the year, including the construction of a military road and a separation barrier on residents’ land in Tubas Governorate. The project, known as the “Scarlet Thread,” targets more than 1,042 dunums, with expectations that thousands more dunums will be isolated behind it.
The escalation of these violations reflects a systematic policy aimed at undermining the Palestinian agricultural sector and imposing new realities on the ground, particularly in areas classified as “Area C.”
Approval of major settlement project in Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied Jerusalem
Israeli authorities have approved a plan to establish a large Haredi Jewish religious school (“yeshiva”) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Occupied Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement on Thursday that the approval comes amid a clear exploitation of regional tensions and the ongoing US-Israeli war dynamics to push forward settlement projects aimed at entrenching new realities in the city.
It noted that the so-called “District Planning Committee” of the Israeli municipality in Occupied Jerusalem approved the plan on Monday, despite objections submitted by human rights groups. The school, named “Or Somayach,” is set to be built in the heart of Sheikh Jarrah, reflecting continued efforts to expand settlement presence in Palestinian neighborhoods.
According to the statement, the project includes the construction of an 11-story building over an area of approximately five dunums at the southern entrance of the neighborhood, opposite Sheikh Jarrah Mosque. It will include dormitories for hundreds of Haredi Jewish students, as well as housing units for faculty members, raising concerns about significant demographic and geographic changes in the area.
The governorate emphasized that Sheikh Jarrah is one of the most prominent and strategically important neighborhoods in Occupied Jerusalem, as it was the first Palestinian neighborhood established outside the Old City walls. It also hosts key Palestinian institutions, including the “Orient House,” formerly the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization before its closure by Israeli authorities in 2003, the Palestinian National Theatre, and several diplomatic missions, making it a central target of Israeli policies.
It added that what is happening in the neighborhood represents a clear manifestation of colonial policies in their most explicit form and amounts to “full-fledged forced displacement,” facilitated by a dual legal system that protects settlers while being used to suppress Palestinians and strip them of their rights.
The governorate further stressed that the establishment of so-called Talmudic academies in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods, including Sheikh Jarrah, is not merely educational but rather a political tool aimed at altering the identity of Arab neighborhoods and pressuring Palestinian residents to leave, alongside policies of demolition and deliberate neglect of infrastructure.
It concluded by warning that this plan is part of a broader series of rapidly advancing settlement projects targeting the neighborhood, particularly in the Umm Haroun area and northern Sheikh Jarrah, alongside increasing threats to evict dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in favor of settler organizations.
The governorate also noted that international silence on these policies encourages the Israeli authorities to continue imposing facts on the ground, stressing that defending Occupied Jerusalem is no longer solely a political issue but a legal, humanitarian, and moral struggle requiring urgent and serious action.
