The head of the Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Mu’ayyad Shaaban, said that Israeli occupation authorities have issued a tender for the construction of 3,401 settlement units east of occupied Jerusalem.
اضافة اعلان
In a statement released on Wednesday, Shaaban stressed that this move represents an extremely dangerous development amid the accelerating assault on Palestinian land through settlement plans, noting that Israeli authorities have effectively moved from the planning and approval stage to actual implementation.
He explained that this project is among the most dangerous settlement plans that had been formally frozen for more than three decades, pointing out that it comes as a continuation of the “E1” plan, which Israeli authorities approved last August after a delay of nearly 30 years due to international pressure.
Shaaban added that launching the tender process practically means completely separating Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and linking the Ma’ale Adumim settlement to the city, thereby undermining any realistic possibility of establishing a geographically contiguous Palestinian state. He called on the international community to move beyond expressions of verbal concern and take concrete steps to halt Israeli measures.
In a related development, dozens of settlers on Wednesday stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the Noble Sanctuary, under the protection of Israeli police.
The Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem said in a statement that 621 settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound through the Mughrabi Gate in groups, performing Talmudic and provocative rituals in its courtyards under the protection of Israeli police.
