Sana'a-Saba:
The Zionist entity seeks to annex the occupied West Bank and eliminate the Palestinian dream of establishing an independent state. The Zionist enemy is accelerating its efforts toward achieving this goal, with the latest development being its demand to dissolve the so-called "civil administration," which oversees settlement affairs in the West Bank.
In this context, Bezalel Smotrich, the so-called Minister of Finance and Minister of War in the Zionist government, revealed a series of measures he is advancing to annex 60 percent of the West Bank to the occupying entity. These measures include the imposition of Zionist sovereignty over Jewish settlements, with plans to extend sovereignty to the rest of the region.
Smotrich stated: "Israel will close the Civil Administration Unit of the occupation in the West Bank with the goal of annexing the West Bank to Israel. He discussed this plan with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to implement it during the term of US President-elect Donald Trump, according to Zionist media reports from Friday.
The enemy media suggested that closing the "Civil Administration" Unit of the occupation army is a step toward implementing the annexation plan. They claim it "provides civil services" to about 250,000 Palestinians in Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank and is under Zionist civil and security control, according to the Oslo Accords.
The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas issued a statement Friday night, stating: "The announcement by the Minister of Finance of the occupation, Bezalel Smotrich, regarding the confiscation of about 24,000 new dunams of Palestinian land in the West Bank for the purposes of annexation and settlement expansion confirms his progress in executing the policy of his fascist government. This policy aims to extend control over the entire West Bank and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and it categorically exposes the colonial intentions of the occupation while denying the rights of the Palestinian people."
The movement emphasized that these dangerous decisions, coupled with the escalating settlement policy, are accompanied by increasing crimes and attacks by settlers on the villages and cities of the West Bank. These actions will be met with greater steadfastness and escalating resistance in the pursuit of liberation from the occupier and the cleansing of land and holy sites. The steadfastness of the Palestinian people will ultimately thwart the annexation and displacement plan, regardless of the sacrifices involved.
For his part, the Chairman of the Palestinian National Council, Ruhi Fattouh, called on the international community to confront the dangerous colonial plan announced by the right-wing Zionist government and the radical Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. This plan involves seizing 24,000 dunams of West Bank land to expand racist and illegal colonial settlements.
The Palestinian Mujahideen movement, in a statement Saturday morning, considered Smotrich’s announcement regarding plans to close the Civil Administration in the West Bank as one of the dangerous steps toward annexing the West Bank and imposing full control over it.
"The successive criminal statements by Smotrich regarding the annexation of the West Bank reveal the extent of the imminent danger targeting the West Bank in particular, and the Palestinian cause in general," the statement added. It stressed that these criminal steps against the just Palestinian cause require a unified Palestinian response based on resistance to confront and defeat these plans.
The Mujahideen movement called on the masses of the Palestinian people and resistance groups to escalate their confrontation with the forces of the Zionist enemy and its criminal settler hordes, aiming to thwart these criminal schemes through popular and national will.
It is noteworthy that approximately 600,000 Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank, while 250,000 Palestinians reside in towns and villages surrounded by settlements, under the control of the army and the Zionist civil administration.
The step that Smotrich is taking now is to dismantle the civil administration apparatus and transfer all governing responsibilities in the West Bank to the Zionist government, its ministries, and government departments, which effectively means annexing the region to Zionist sovereignty.
Just a few hours after Smotrich announced the confiscation of more than 24,000 dunams of West Bank land, he issued another statement to close the so-called "civil administration" of the occupation army, with the aim of annexing the West Bank. This move furthers the goal of eliminating the Palestinian dream of establishing an independent state.
Experts and observers of Zionist affairs state: "This step by Smotrich represents a qualitative leap in the efforts of the occupying entity, which is controlled by extremist religious Zionism, aiming to achieve a set of political and strategic goals, the foremost of which is the elimination of the Palestinians' dream of establishing a state on their occupied land."
According to experts and specialists, the occupying entity seeks to accomplish these goals by intensifying settlement expansion, which will lead to the creation of the so-called Greater Jerusalem / al-Quds, an area covering ten percent of the West Bank.
The new Zionist decision to confiscate Palestinian land is in addition to the confiscation of tens of thousands of dunams since October 7, 2023, continuing to this day.
The Zionist enemy is focusing on three main settlement blocs: "Gush Etzion," "Ma'ale Adumim," and "Ariel," which are not merely small settlements but large settlement fingers extending deep into the 1967 borders.
The heads of settlements in the occupied West Bank have repeatedly stated that the "Civil Administration" should not be the body responsible for providing services to the half-million settlers living in the West Bank. The extreme Zionist right has made several attempts to shut it down, but each time these efforts have failed for various complex reasons.
Smotrich had previously pledged that "2025 will be the year of Zionist sovereignty" over the occupied West Bank, according to Zionist media.
In parallel with the genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Zionist enemy’s army and settlers have escalated their attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, including occupied al-Quds. This has resulted in the martyrdom of 805 Palestinians and the injury of approximately 6,450, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
While the Zionist genocide in Gaza, with U.S. support, has left over 150,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, the majority of whom are women and children, more than 11,000 are still missing. Meanwhile, massive destruction and famine have led to the deaths of dozens of children and the elderly.
more of (Reports) |