IOA To Confiscate 1500 Dunums Of Land In Jericho

Jerusalem, 10 Rabi’ul Akhir 1437/20 January 2016 (MINA) – The Israeli Occupation Authority (IOA) is scheduled to declare in the coming weeks that 1,500 dunums (roughly 1.5 million square meters) of land near Jericho as “state land”, according to the Israeli Army Radio on Wednesday morning.

The reports indicate that the land has been partially declared as state land while the rest will be used for settlement construction,The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

On the other hand, nearly 35 Israeli settlers from Elad settlement organization stormed under heavy police protection a Palestinian-owned building in Silwan town in occupied Jerusalem.

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Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained in a statement issued Wednesday morning that nearly 35 settlers from Elad settlement organization supported by Israeli Special Forces raided the neighborhood of Baydoun in Silwan and entered the residential building through its main gate easily without any resistance or objection by its owners who were not even at home.

The center pointed out that the settlers had the keys of the building.

The Jerusalemite center underlined that the building consists of two floors built before the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem, pointing out that the seized building is surrounded by a large land adjacent to the settlement outpost seized in 2014.

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The confiscated building is owned by Ahmad Abu Ter who sued his tenant few years ago for back rent. Few weeks ago, he effectively evacuated the tenant.

Shortly after evacuating the tenant, Abu Ter started building the second floor without any objection from the Israeli municipality crews who used to stop Jerusalemite buildings construction under the pretext of being built without permit.

This was not the case with Abu Ter who is clearly involved in the building confiscation as it was handed over “peacefully” to settlers after the completion of the construction process, the center stated.

Silwan, in particular, has seen in recent years an influx of Israeli settlers at the cost of home demolitions and the eviction of Palestinian families.

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Some 579 homes have been destroyed in the city over the last twelve years, leaving 2,133 Palestinians homeless in total, according to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.(T/P008/R07)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)