Palestinians plan another tent village
PALESTINE: Palestinian activists have devised plans to set up another
tent village in the occupied Palestinian territories as a sign of
protest against Israel’s settlement policies.
The exact location of the planned tent village has not been announced
yet, but it is expected to be set up at the site of Israel’s future
settlement projects, referred to by the Israelis as E1. The move came
following a forced evacuation of some 200 Palestinian and foreign
activists, who had set up makeshift tents in the Israel-occupied
Palestinian territory of the West Bank on Friday to confront a recent
Israeli plan to construct new settlement units in the area. It is the
second time that the pro-Palestine activists are using the tactic to
protest against Tel Aviv’s settlement construction policies.
On Sunday, Israeli forces attacked the activists’ tent camp and
forcibly evacuated them.
Palestinian protesters said that at least six activists were wounded
in the attack.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday slammed Israel’s attack on
peaceful Palestinian protesters, calling the protest non-violent. Ban
reiterated that the Palestinians reserve the right to stage peaceful
demonstrations, urging Israel to respect the inalienable right of the
Palestinian people.
The UN chief also called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to abandon his new plans of settlement construction in the West Bank.
Despite international condemnations, Israel has announced new plans
to construct 170 new settler units and 84 “guest rooms” in the West Bank
region.
The E1 project aims at connecting the West Bank settlement of Maale
Adumim to the occupied Palestinian territory of East al-Quds
(Jerusalem), about six kilometers away. The plan will cut off the
northern part of the West Bank from the south.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal
settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and
East al-Quds.
The UN and most countries consider the Israeli settlements illegal
because the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are
hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on
occupied lands.
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