Palestinian sources on Thursday unveiled an Israeli scheme to confiscate thousands of dunums of land north of Tulkarem city for settlement purposes.
Mayor of Qaffin town Jihad Ta’ma told Quds Press that the Israeli occupation authorities have recently confiscated 14 dunums of lands located between Qaffin north of Tulkarem and Ya’bad southwest of Jenin claiming that they are “state lands” although they are privately-owned by Palestinian citizens.
Ta’ma explained that this confiscation campaign is aimed at expanding and annexing Harish settlement built near the Green Line separating the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories and the West Bank.
He pointed out that Israel since it occupied Qaffin in 1967 has seized thousands of dunums of the village’s lands in favor of settlement projects with the aim of imposing new facts on the ground and consolidating settlement in the West Bank.
Israel’s settlement construction is a systematic activity that is not limited to residential buildings but also includes schools institutes universities health centers industrial areas and even road networks connecting settlements together.
The UN Security Council on 23rd December 2016 adopted a draft resolution to halt the illegal settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories since it undermines the two-state solution and the peace process.
