During a visit to Daher al-Maleh lands in Jenin the mayor of Shaked settlement accompanied by the head of Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank and a representative of the Civil Administration cold-heartedly told the Palestinian land owners that new settlement units will be built on their property.
While Israeli bulldozers were levelling privately-owned Palestinian lands in Daher al-Maleh Shaked’s mayor told the Palestinian families that they should accept the new land confiscation and settlement expansion works as a ” reality” since they are approved by the Ministry of Interior.
Majed al-Khatib a Palestinian resident of Jenin who had his lands bulldozed in the ongoing campaign told the PIC that Shaked has turned from a residential bloc into a large industrial entity expanding rapidly on more Palestinian lands located behind the Apartheid Wall.
Al-Khatib added that the illegal settlement expansion currently taking place in that area does not receive enough media coverage.
Massive changes
Anti-settlement activist Tareq Mahmoud told the PIC that after the construction of the Apartheid Wall in the western side of Jenin province in 2002-2003 Israel gradually brought the settlements of Shaked Hinanit Reihan and Tel Menashe together in one settlement bloc called Reihan.
The bloc was in a later stage linked with main roads in Mei Ami and Katzir settlements in the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories seizing vast tracts of Palestinian-owned lands in Ya’bad Barta’a Umm al-Riham and Amra areas.
Mahmoud said that Shaked is known for its large industrial area with 9 major factories working in various sectors. Furthermore he added Shaked enjoys multiple privileges that are not found in any other settlement in the 1948 occupied Palestine including unmatched electricity and water services and reduced taxes.
Head of Daher al-Maleh village council Omar al-Khatib said that the number of Israeli settlers living in Shaked between 1981 and 2002 did not exceed 600 but the settlement has grown remarkably in the past decade.
“This dangerous settlement bloc is creeping silently on the lands of this area which has been divided and isolated by the wall. It all falls in line with a larger scheme to take over the entire territory” he warned.
