The Israeli occupation forces decided to remove one of its military barracks in Al-Shuhada Street, the largest neighborhood in the Old City of Hebron, and the reason "to establish a new settlement outpost in the area."
At the end of the 1980s, Israeli occupying forces seized the main bus station in the heart of the Old City of Hebron. The land was confiscated for security reasons and a military base was established to protect the settlers in the city.
Today, after 30 years of confiscation, the caravans used for the forces were removed from the military base. According to international law, when the security reasons are over, the land must be returned to its owners. But Israel did not do so. This area was a security point for the protection of settlers. Today, it has become the cornerstone for the establishment of the largest settlement in Hebron 16 years ago.
The Israeli government approved a plan to build 31 settlement units, submitted by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and agreed to allocate NIS 21.6 million ($ 5.9 million) for the construction of settlement units, kindergartens and public areas. 700,000 shekels per unit of settlement units will be built in the new settlement project in the heart of Hebron, which comes within the framework of the development of the Jewish community.
"A new Jewish neighborhood in Hebron will be built for the first time in 16 years, and the settlement project is part of the development of the Jewish community in Hebron," Lieberman said in remarks after the cabinet meeting.
Strategic location
The founder of a group of human rights defenders in the old town of Hebron, Imad Abu Shamsia, stresses that the seriousness of the new settlement decision is that it provides more control and the extension of the settlement will within the Old City. The danger of this focus is the creation of a strategic settlement site, In Hebron, to link them together.
The new outpost, according to Abu Shamsiah, is located between the settlement of Tel Rumeidi and al-Dabuya on the one hand, and the settlement of Al-Hesba and the Golden Center on the other, which will create an integrated settlement entity in Hebron to strengthen the occupation of the city and tighten the control of the Ibrahimi Mosque.
"The new settlement decision is added to the settlements in the Old City, including Beit Hadassah, Tel Ramidi and Ramat Avino. This adds new settlement units. This area is called an integrated Jewish neighborhood in the heart of Hebron," Abu Hashmisa told Emirates Today.
"A few weeks ago a meeting of settlers was held in all the settlements in the Old City, and today their plan has been implemented on the ground, and they are only a short distance from the establishment of the Jewish settlement they are seeking to build."
A new settlement bloc
"The settlement project came after the Israeli authorities announced that the settlers of Kiryat Arba were given the right to establish a municipal council in Hebron," said Abdel Hadi Hantash, a map and settlement expert in the city of Hebron, who reinforce the decision to build 31 settlement units in the heart of Hebron. Settlement outposts located in the vicinity of the city in this municipality ».
He added that «the occupation authorities rename the streets and the withdrawal of powers of services from the municipality of Hebron, in these parts of the city, both in the area of (H2) under the control of the Israeli or outside, and cut to the Kiryat Arba, and separating this area from the city of Hebron, The practical separation of this area as Israel did in the city of Jerusalem, when separated from the West Bank ».
"The Old City of Hebron and the settlement blocs in the new settlement blocs of Kiryat Arba, like the large settlement blocs in the West Bank, are the same: Ariel, Gush Etzion and Ma'aleh Adumim," says Hantash.
Closure and settlement siege
The establishment of the settlement outpost, or as the new Israeli government calls it, will lead to the imposition of a settlement siege on the Old City by linking all the settlements to each other. This will make the lives of the residents of the Old City even more difficult. To expand the siege imposed on them for dozens of years, as confirmed by the mayor of Hebron, Tayseer Abu Sneineh.
"The old town has been closed for 32 years. The Israeli forces on Shuhada Street, which will witness the establishment of the new settlement bloc, will have 512 shops. The settlement outpost that will be built will certainly impose a comprehensive closure that will start from The settlement of Tel Meridi, and ends in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, the largest settlements in the West Bank and Hebron, this neighborhood will strengthen the closure and siege and more closure, and means ending all meanings of life in the Old City ».
"The residents of the Old City are under siege because of the five outposts erected between their houses, as well as the checkpoints and gates that separate them from the Haram and the rest of the town," he said.
Abu Sneineh points out that the outpost is located in the heart of the Old City, where dozens of gates and military barriers divide the town into several sections.
According to Hebron's mayor, the number of roadblocks in the Hebron governorate is 97, of which 71 are in the old town of Hebron. They are used to control, restrict and restrict Palestinian movement, as well as 24 observation towers and 14 closed gates.
- 97 checkpoints in Hebron, including 71 in the town
The old used to control, restrict and restrict movement
Palestinians, in addition to 24 observation towers,
And 14 closed gates.
- The new settlement outpost imposed a siege on the town
By linking settlements to each other
Some, which disturbs the lives of parents more,
And tighten the screws on them.