Sunday 26 April 2009

IOA plans to confiscate 12,000 dunums of Palestinian land to expand settlement


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[ 26/04/2009 - 10:41 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority is planning to expand the settlement of Maaleh Adumim, east of occupied Jerusalem, after annexing 12,000 dunums of Palestinian land.

The Israeli radio on Sunday reported that a special committee of the housing ministry had finalized the expansion scheme, which is now waiting for the minister's endorsement.

The broadcast said that the committee was proposing the annexation of the Kidar settlement, which groups 800 settlers, to Maaleh Adumim, which means that all the lands between them, estimated at 12,000 dunums, would be also annexed.

The step meant that the Maaleh Adumim settlement, which is located east of occupied Jerusalem, would extend to south of the holy city other than its previous expansion to the north.
Palestinian sources said that the IOA was planning to build 6,000 new housing units in the area, adding that the expansion of Maaleh Adumim, the biggest settlement bloc in the West Bank, would separate the northern area of the West Bank from its southern area.

The incumbent Israeli government is pondering a number of solutions to the isolated settlements in the West Bank, not dismantling them but rather annexing them to nearest settlement blocs, which would lead to more land grabbing.

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