Newly-released statistics show a sharp rise in the building and expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Quds Press reported on Sunday.
According to a report issued to mark Palestine Land Day today, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said that the number of Jewish settlements and outposts now stands at 448.
This one on the left is the 1947 partition plan of Palestine.
The one on the right is what is left of Palestine currently because of illegal Israeli settlements. Palestinians fully lost the North part btw and now they only have the red separated parts. pic.twitter.com/J9e915B1Od
— samuel Edward (@SamEdwardd) March 29, 2020
This includes 150 settlements approved by the Israeli government, 26 outposts that are regarded as extensions of approved settlements and 128 outposts that have been built without the approval of the government.
In the report, the PCBS pointed out that the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank was 671,007 by the end of 2018. Furthermore, last year, the Israeli occupation authorities approved 8,457 new settlement units and 13 new outposts.
Netanyahu Announces Thousands of New Homes for Illegal Settlers in West Bank, East Jerusalem
February 20, 2020 News
https://t.co/bLFJdYgBLI pic.twitter.com/OcVbImeZx1— Andrea Kühne (@AndreaKhne1) February 23, 2020
In the same period, the Israeli authorities demolished 678 Palestinian facilities, including 251 residential buildings, and issued 556 orders for Palestinians to stop work on building new homes or renovating older premises.
Under international law, Jewish settlements constructed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories constitute a violation of international law and are considered illegal.
(Palestine Chronicle, MEMO, Social Media)
