It is surrounded by 4 settlements, military checkpoints and bypass streets
10,000 Jerusalemites in the town of Hizma face collective punishment
The occupation besieges the town of Hizma from all sides.
Emirates today
Muslim Abu Helu: The security bypass street, tightens the policy of suffocating the Palestinian population, and isolating them within narrow lands that do not exceed an area of 950 dunums
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To the northeast of the Holy City of Jerusalem, the town of Hizma is distinguished by its strategic location, as it is the main northern gateway to the Holy City, while a road connects with the center of the West Bank cities, connecting its north to its south.
The town of Hizma is a station for travelers from the West Bank to the Holy City, and vice versa. Its borders reach the city of Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan Valley areas in the West Bank to the east, while it is linked to the villages and towns of Shuafat, Beit Hanina, Al-Ram, and Anata in the Holy City of Jerusalem from all directions. other.
This status has become an antiquity after an eye, as the town is witnessing a tight siege from the settlements perched on its lands, which besiege it from all sides, in addition to establishing military barriers, building settlement streets, and the apartheid wall swallowing large areas of its residents’ lands, which turned it into a captive and isolated town. Complete and absolute from its Palestinian surroundings, and from the center of the Holy City.
Street Siege
Accordingly, approximately 10,000 Jerusalemites from the town of Hizma suffer arbitrary Israeli measures, a suffocating siege, and continuous collective punishment, which exacerbate their suffering, in light of the occupation’s closure of the entrances to the town, confiscation of land for the benefit of settlement expansion, and the construction of settlement streets, according to Mayor of Hizma Municipality, Muslim Abu Helou.
In an exclusive interview with Emirates Today, the mayor of Hizma said that the occupation built a settlement street, last June, extending from the entrance to the main town of Hizma, to the Al-Shaab area near the main street connecting Hizma and the village of Jaba, north of the city of Jerusalem.
It shows that the new street is a security road for the passage of the occupation and settlers, while it is adjacent to the homes of citizens in the town of Hizma, devouring 13 dunums of private residents' lands, with a length of 1,000 meters and a width of 16 meters.
Abu Helu points out that the bypass security street tightens the policy of stifling the Palestinian population and isolating them within narrow lands that do not exceed 950 dunums of the total area of the town, which is estimated at 14,000 dunams.
“The occupation confiscated 4,000 dunams of the total area of Hizma town, and 9,000 dunams outside its master plan, in the interest of settlement expansion and the construction of bypass roads, in addition to the construction of the apartheid wall,” Abu Helu says.
As a result of the construction of bypass streets, the occupation prohibits farmers from accessing their agricultural lands to plow and cultivate, as it is claimed that they are security lands, because they are adjacent to bypass streets and settlements perched on their lands and properties.
Multiple violations
According to the data of the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories “B’Tselem”, Israel confiscated a portion of Hizma lands, to build the settlements of “Psgat Ze’ev” and “Neve Yaakov” west of the town, and to construct the separation wall that isolated it from the city of Jerusalem. The Geva Binyamin settlement to the north, and the Anatot settlement east of Hizma.
It is also adjacent to the settlement Street No. (437), for which the occupation forces confiscated about 300 dunums of land from the residents of Hizma town.
In addition, the town of Hizma is subjected to a series of Israeli violations, which are embodied in the harassment of the indigenous Palestinian population, storming their homes, assaulting and arresting them.
The mayor of Hizma says, “The occupation is setting up permanent checkpoints at the northern and southern entrances of Hizma, and iron gates to enter the town, which isolates it from its Palestinian surroundings, while soldiers are permanently stationed at these checkpoints, in preparation for the almost daily incursions and arrests against Jerusalemites.”
Not only that, but the occupation is intensifying its policy of demolishing the facilities of the Jerusalemites in Hizma, the latest of which was the demolition of 20 shops belonging to the al-Khatib family, in early August, in order to expand the settlement street that the occupation built in early June.
The Jerusalem lawyer, Medhat Dhiba, said: "The occupation court in the Holy City had rejected a petition submitted by the (Rajabim) Settlement Association, to demolish commercial facilities in the Jerusalemite town of Hizma, last June."
He added, "However, the occupation issued new decisions to demolish it, on the third of last August, and its bulldozers carried them out within eight hours, the next morning, under the pretext that it is located within the boundaries of the occupation municipality in the city of Jerusalem."
Choking
This negatively affects the lives of the residents of Jerusalem, in addition to closing the entrances and exits of the town through military checkpoints, which negatively affects the movement of movement, the provision of health and educational services and the search for job opportunities outside the isolated town limits.
The tragedies of the residents of Hizma town are not limited to the siege of streets and settlements, to devour the remaining areas within the boundaries of the Jerusalem town’s lands, but also affect the residents’ freedom to expand and build on their land.
The mayor of Hizma says: “The occupation prevents citizens from expanding the town’s master plan, as the Jerusalem municipality forbids Jerusalemites to expand horizontally in building houses on their lands, despite the overcrowding.”
Abu Helu goes on to say: "While the municipality allows settlements in the vicinity of Jerusalem to expand permanently, on lands stolen from the original Palestinian population."
According to data from the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories “B’Tselem”, Israel confiscated a portion of “Hezma” lands, to build the settlements of “Psgat Ze’ev” and “Neve Yaakov” west of the town, and to construct the separation wall that isolated it from the city of Jerusalem. The settlement of "Geva Binyamin" was established in the north, and the settlement of "Anatut" east of "Hizma".
The tragedies of the residents of the town of Hizma are not limited to the siege of the streets and settlements, to devour the remaining areas within the boundaries of the town’s Jerusalem lands, but also affect the stifling of the residents’ freedom to expand and build on their land.
The occupation erects permanent checkpoints at the northern and southern entrances to Hizma, and iron gates to enter the town.
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