It was described as a settlement attack. Three huge projects to change Jerusalem's landmarks were revealed
The new settlement projects embody the American blessing of settlement
The weekly report of the Palestinian National Bureau for Land Defense and settlement Resistance monitored three huge settlement projects executed by the Israeli government, through which it seeks to control Jerusalem city and separate it from its surroundings north and south of the West Bank.
According to the report issued yesterday (Saturday), the Israeli Ministry of Housing plans to establish a new settlement district on the lands of the deserted Qalandia airport to expand "Atrout" settlement north of Jerusalem, and includes the construction of 11 thousand residential units extending on about 600 dunums confiscated by the occupation since the beginning of 1970s.
The plan includes digging a tunnel for settlers under Kafr akab district, adjacent to Qalandia airport, to link the new district with settlements gathering east Jerusalem .
The report described the implementation of settlement plans in the northern, southern and central areas of occupied Jerusalem as "a settlement attack that seeks to change the cultural and commercial face of the landmarks of the occupied city and the suburbs of Jerusalem."
The occupation authorities closed Qalandia airport with the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, and former Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant ordered the resumption of work on the settlement project after the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, in the past weeks, the Israeli government has begun to build 176 housing units in the settlement of Nawf Tzion on the foothills of Jabal al-Mukabar, south of occupied Jerusalem, and has ratified its plan in October 2017, in a field translation of US Secretary of State Mike Pompio's declaration of the legality of settlements.
With the completion of the construction in the settlement, "Nove Tzion" will become the biggest settlement center inside the Palestinian quarters in Jerusalem city, and with the completion of the planned construction stages, it will have a capacity of 550 settlement units.
The settlement was established as a private neighborhood by Jewish investors in the heart of Jabal al-Mukaber town, where in the early 1990s they presented a project to build hundreds of settlement units on an area of 114 dunums in the area, which was approved in 1993, and the construction was postponed until 2002, and started housing settlers some eight years ago.
The current construction is the first phase of the project, and the second phase includes two plans for the construction of 350 housing units, a hotel and an air train, and in the final stage 550 settlement units, a hotel and public service buildings will be built.
