Repetition of Nakba? Israel calls tenders for new west bank settlement units

Amid the rising death tolls of Palestinians after Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities have invited tenders for work on more than 1,000 new housing projects in the occupied West Bank. Despite the stay calls of Arab and international bodies, the policies of settlement expansion in view of greater Israel are expanding in Palestinian territories.

As per media reports the new settlement units will be located in Beitar Illit, Efrat, Kiryat Arba, Ma’ale Ephraim, and Karnei Shomron. In addition, 89 units will be constructed in the Gilo settlement west of occupied Jerusalem.

According to the housing construction project, it will have a large residential complex that includes a commercial complex, a kindergarten, public areas and medical clinics.

The housing construction policies on the occupied west bank are being enforced again after 23 years.

As soon as the policies of Israeli settlements in West occupied banks came out, the Palestinians started raising concerns about its potential effects and increasing settler violence against Palestinians to change their identity in the area.

Palestinians say the policies which have already been done in past with the worst consequence will violate the 1997 Hebron Protocol, under which Israel is obligated to preserve the land and identity of Palestinians in the area.

Residents of Hebron are in constant fear that the settlement expansion will result in more military checkpoints which may lead to more humiliation and a huge number of Israeli military presence in the areas.

Following the tender call, The Prime Minister of Palestine, Mohammed Shtayyeh on Monday called on UNESCO to intervene in the matter to prevent Israeli authorities from occupying further land and establishing a settlement adjacent to the Village of Sebastia, near Nablus, along with the humiliation of Palestinians it would cause severe damage to the historic site of the area.

Speaking at a meeting of the Palestinian Cabinet in Ramallah, Mohammed Shtayyeh raised his concern that the settlement expansions in Hebron are a continuation of the Nakba Massacre or catastrophe where lakhs of Palestinians were forced to leave the land and some of them were killed for not vacating the place, that also began with the seizure of Palestinian land on the formation of Israel in 1948.

Palestinian human rights activists have also called on the European Union (EU) to cancel the free visas to Israeli settlers and their leaders resing in the settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem who aim to visit Europe.

These policies have been drafted after a right-wing party Likud headed by Benjamin Netanyahu won recent elections in Israel.

Following the win, thousands of Israelis protested in several cities against the Benjamin Netanyahu-led party, on January 28, 2023, in views on the proposed legislation, which the government claims is required to tame a judiciary that exercises excessive power but which critics claim eliminates an essential check on those in authority.