Ramallah, November 29, 2025 (WAFA) – A report prepared by the National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlement said that the Jerusalem Governorate, like the northern Jordan Valley, is once again being subjected to a colonial attack, which has broad and serious repercussions on the future of the areas surrounding the city of Jerusalem, and on the vast agricultural lands in the Tubas Governorate and the northern Jordan Valley.
In his weekly report, which covers the period from November 22 to 28, he added that in this context, the occupation authorities have begun to use multiple means under different names to control Palestinian lands, but with the same result: to fatten the “colonial project” at the expense of the land and local Palestinian communities, sometimes using what they call military orders and other times what they call judicial orders.
He pointed out that the occupation authorities recently issued military orders under which large areas of land in the Tubas and Northern Jordan Valley governorates are being seized to build a military road, by seizing lands, some of which are privately owned (Tabu), and some of which are state lands, extending from the Ain Shibli area, passing through the Al-Baqi’a plain southeast of Tubas, and the Ainun area near the Tubas plain, and Yirza east of Tubas, reaching to the east of the village of Tayasir, east of the city of Tubas.
Estimates vary regarding the length of this “military” road. While the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission states that, according to the maps attached to the project, its length exceeds 22 kilometers, and it seizes about 1042 dunams of citizens’ land, it turns it from a temporary military route into a strategic corridor that redraws the geographical structure of the northern Jordan Valley, and establishes a new stage of gradual annexation that is being established step by step without an official declaration, and completely reshapes the field scene east of Tubas, and deprives farmers and herders of access to the eastern plains, which are the backbone of economic and environmental life in the region.
Other sources indicate that the purpose of the seizure is to construct a military road extending from Ein Shibli to the Tayasir checkpoint, with a length of more than 40 kilometers, and that the occupation machinery continues bulldozing work at the eastern entrance to the village of Ein Shibli, with the aim of moving the Hamra military checkpoint on the road connecting Nablus, Tubas and Jericho, and bringing it closer to the village, which will lead to isolating the governorate from its surroundings, in addition to seizing 180,000 dunams of the governorate’s lands, and will reinforce the policy of isolation and separation pursued by successive Israeli governments, in the context of the policy of fragmenting the Palestinian areas.
In parallel with these military orders specific to the Tubas Governorate and the northern Jordan Valley, and within the framework of stealing and seizing West Bank lands by force, in order to strengthen colonial construction, the so-called commander of the Central Command in the occupation army, Avi Blot, signed 10 new judicial powers that would intensify colonization in the West Bank, and turn a number of outposts, pastoral farms and neighborhoods near settlements into independent settlements with all the plans and privileges that entails.
Among the neighborhoods, outposts, and farms whose jurisdiction has been updated are: Juder (Tefetz) in the Tulkarm Governorate, “Leshem” in the Salfit Governorate, “Karm Ra’im,” which was a colonial neighborhood separated from the “Talmon” settlement in the Ramallah Governorate and transformed into an independent settlement, “Neria” to the east of Deir Ammar in the Ramallah Governorate, “Avot,” the Gilad farm in the Qalqilya Governorate, “Evi Hanahal” in the Bethlehem Governorate, Farshim (Eil Neve), as well as boundary modifications for the “Mashua” and “Har Adar” settlements in the Jerusalem Governorate.
The move comes as part of what is called the wave of regulation led by the “Settlement Administration” of the occupation authorities. Since the beginning of 2025, 39 new judicial areas have been signed, and 30 new settlements have been granted official status, as part of the implementation of the government’s decision to establish 50 new settlements in the West Bank. Defining a judicial area is a central and important stage in establishing a settlement, as it allows for the establishment of infrastructure and the development of plans.
Smotrich commented, “We continue to strengthen settlements and deepen their roots throughout the Land of Israel. Defining areas of jurisdiction is a Zionist, security, and national step that brings stability and a future to tens of thousands of citizens.”
In addition, the occupation army issued a military order last Monday to seize more than 77 dunams of land belonging to the residents of the towns of Al-Za’im and Al-Issawiya, east of Jerusalem. The seizure order comes within the framework of Israeli policies aimed at seizing land in the vicinity of East Jerusalem.
At the same time, on the seventeenth of this month, a group of settlers established a new outpost in East Jerusalem, in the Sur Baher neighborhood, after they fenced off an area of land estimated at ten dunams. The land is located in an open area near the eastern ring road and the Sur Baher neighborhood.
Sources in the occupation municipality in occupied Jerusalem indicate that the project is most likely linked to the “Elad settlement association”, and it appears that the establishment of this outpost is the first step on the road to establishing a settlement, as the settlers at this stage seek to identify and control the land, in an area that is considered to be in advanced stages of land ownership settlement and which the settlers claim to have purchased.
A study conducted by the non-governmental organization “Bimkom”, which monitors settlement operations in East Jerusalem, revealed that the government is exploiting the settlement process mainly to enable the state and settlement groups to seize Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem and register them according to the Settlement Law, which was approved by the occupation government in 2018.
It appears that the government is promoting colonization, specifically in places where Israeli groups claim ownership, and it is likely that the settlers’ claim of purchase has led to the advancement of settlement operations on the ground.
In Jerusalem, the occupation authorities also issued demolition and evacuation notices for commercial shops, justifying the demolition notices by claiming that the buildings to be evacuated are illegal and do not have building permits, while the Palestinians link them to a colonial project that passes through the town of Al-Eizariya.
All the shops that were notified of the evacuation are located in Area C, which is under Israeli civil and security control, according to the Oslo Accords between the Palestinians and Israelis.
This measure constitutes a comprehensive destruction of the economy and the interests of citizens. It is not only about shops or citizens’ lands, but it goes beyond that towards cutting off social communication, especially in the context of implementing the project approved by the Civil Administration last August, the “ E1 ” project for new colonial construction, which extends over an area of 12 square kilometers east of Jerusalem.
Officially, there is no Israeli link between the demolition and eviction notices and the larger colonial project, according to Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at the Israeli anti-settlement organization Ir Amim, but he believes that Israel wants “to take the land in Area C without the people… which leads to an increase in the number of settlers and the evacuation of Palestinian communities.”
In a move that had been stalled for some time, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee approved, last Tuesday, in its first reading, a bill that would allow settlers to directly purchase properties in any area of the West Bank without going through the Civil Administration of the occupation army, which constitutes an advanced step in the plan to annex the West Bank and impose Israeli sovereignty over it.
The bill aims to repeal the Jordanian law regarding the rental and sale of real estate to foreigners in force in the West Bank, which settlers see as restrictions limiting their ability to seize lands and properties in the West Bank regardless of the classification of the areas therein. It is called “Eliminating Discrimination in the Purchase of Real Estate in Judea and Samaria,” for the year 2023, and was submitted by Knesset members Moshe Solomon of the Religious Zionist Party (Smotrich), Limor Son-Har Melich of the Jewish Power Party (Ben-Gvir), Yuli Edelstein (Likud Party), and a group of Knesset members.
The proposal calls for the repeal of the Jordanian law relating to the leasing and sale of real estate to foreigners, which is in effect in the West Bank, and allowing any settler to purchase real estate rights in areas “A”, “B”, and “C”, without the need for permission from the Civil Administration.
In light of the Israeli occupation army and terrorist settlers’ violation of the West Bank, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights “B’Tselem” said that the situation in the occupied West Bank is witnessing a complete violation of the lives of Palestinians by terrorist settler organizations and Israeli army forces.
The center reported in its latest report that since October 2023, Israel has killed approximately 1,004 Palestinians, including 217 minors, at least 21 of whom were killed by settlers.
B’Tselem’s Director General, Yuli Novak, explained that the situation is deteriorating daily as a result of the absence of any internal or external mechanism to prevent Israel from carrying out what she described as ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and called on the international community to abolish the immunity that Israel enjoys and to hold those responsible for crimes against Palestinians accountable.
Novak added that the Israeli army pursues a lax and unrestricted open-fire policy, including aerial bombardment, and recruits and arms thousands of settlers into regional defense battalions and standby teams within the settlements.
She noted that armed settlers attack Palestinians daily, burning homes and crops, looting and killing, while Israeli law enforcement authorities rarely investigate them, and no legal convictions have been recorded, despite most of the attacks being documented.
The following is a summary of the weekly violations:
Jerusalem
Three Bedouin families from the Al-Ara’ara clan were forced to abandon their homes in the Al-Hathroura Bedouin community near Khan Al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, under the weight of settler attacks that have escalated dangerously, following the establishment of a new outpost in the vicinity of the community, and in the town of Mikhmas, where settlers attacked farmers while they were plowing their lands, and tried to prevent them from working in the area.
Others also attacked the town for the second time within hours, and burned down an agricultural shed.
In the Abu Falah Bedouin community, east of Jerusalem, settlers attacked a flock of sheep belonging to citizen Daoud Abu Dahouk, before assaulting the child Amer Daoud Abu Dahouk while he was herding the livestock, causing him injuries.
In Jerusalem, the occupation forces demolished a shop in the Bab al-Amoud area belonging to citizen Iyad Abu Asnina.
Hebron
Settlers from Shimon and Karmiel and a number of outposts established on citizens’ lands in the Badia and Masafer Yatta attacked citizens’ vehicles with clubs and threw stones at them, causing material damage to a number of them. Meanwhile, others closed the road to the village of Al-Zuweidin and Khirbet Fateh Sidra, and proceeded to plow and sow citizens’ lands east of the village of Shaab Al-Batim in Masafer Yatta, while simultaneously preventing the landowners from plowing their lands and seizing their agricultural tractors.
In the village of Birin, settlers from the settlement of “Kiryat Arba” and under the protection of the occupation forces stole four heads of cattle at gunpoint, belonging to citizen Nour Azmi Idris.
Others from the outpost of “Shimon” also launched a series of attacks on the lands of the village of Al-Zuweidin in the desert east of Yatta, and deliberately rammed their vehicle into a vehicle carrying three citizens at the entrance to the village, causing serious damage to it.
Meanwhile, armed settlers attacked a number of farmers in the Hawara area, east of Yatta, and forcibly prevented them from accessing their lands and plowing their fields.
Bethlehem
The occupation forces demolished a three-story house under construction in the town of Al-Khader, each floor measuring 250 square meters, belonging to citizen Imad Hassan Abu Sarra, on the pretext of building without a permit.
Meanwhile, settlers smashed a vehicle in the Al-Minya area, southeast of Bethlehem, belonging to citizen Osama Hussein Abayat, and others attacked farmers in the Wadi Abu Ayash area in the village of Al-Rashayda.
Ramallah
Israeli occupation soldiers and settlers opened fire on citizens in the village of Deir Jarir, resulting in the young man Baraa Maali being shot directly in the chest with live ammunition. He was later pronounced dead.
In the town of Deir Dibwan, settlers destroyed olive trees, while others in the town of Turmus Ayya carried out bulldozing work in the area adjacent to the “Shilo” settlement to expand it.
Others stormed a house in the town of Silwad and destroyed its contents. In the village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa, the occupation forces uprooted dozens of olive trees and forest trees while bulldozing dozens of dunams of citizens’ land on the western side of the village, which is adjacent to the military checkpoint at its entrance.
The occupation authorities also notified the citizens of their intention to bulldoze approximately 50 dunams on the eastern and western sides of the village, most of which are planted with olive trees.
In the town of Turmus Ayya, settlers continue to build a road on citizens’ land that connects the Turmus Ayya plain to the “Shilo” settlement, which means seizing hundreds of dunams of land.
In the town of Atara, settlers burned a number of olive trees, causing significant damage, while others poisoned sheep in the “Al-Khalail” area, resulting in the death of three of them.
In the village of Abu Falah, settlers burned down an agricultural room and wrote racist slogans in the area.
Nablus
The occupation bulldozers have begun carrying out bulldozing work in the Masoudia area to pave tourist roads, in implementation of a plan aimed at controlling large areas of citizens’ land and converting them to serve colonial projects in the region.
In the village of Iraq Burin, settlers bulldozed agricultural land, uprooted about 200 trees, and destroyed retaining walls and water networks on land owned by citizens: Fathi Ahed Faqih, Omar Talal Qadus, and Ahmed Muhammad Qadus.
Near the village of Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya, settlers set fire to six tourist villas under construction in Jabal Tarouja, located between the villages of Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya and Ammouriya, belonging to citizen Khalil Abu Suneina and a number of partners.
In the town of Beita, settlers cut down and uprooted dozens of olive trees in Jabal Qamas, while others attacked a nursery in the village of Deir Sharaf, smashing and damaging the crops.
fetal
The occupation authorities issued a military order to remove trees on an area of 59 dunams of land in the town of Zububa.
Northern Jordan Valley
Settlers established a new outpost within the Al-Auja Bedouin community on the ruins of one of the abandoned houses in the community, and built iron barracks and corners within the site.
Settlers have already begun establishing an outpost in Khirbet al-Hadidiya, after a period of announcing the construction of a road there by a military order to seize hundreds of dunams of the Khirbet’s land. Others stormed the “Shahwan” archaeological site at the entrance to the Ain al-Sultan camp, while another group stormed the Upper Diouk Spring west of Jericho, amidst strict military measures and the deployment of occupation forces in the vicinity of the place.
S.K.