Israel to seize land near Bethlehem

Israeli occupation authorities Tuesday issued a military order to take over tens of dunums of land that belong to Palestinian people of the village of Nahhalin, near Bethlehem, for the benefit of building 70 new housing units for Jewish settlers, a local official told WAFA. Deputy Head of the village’s council Jamal Najajreh said that the land are filled with olive trees, and are estimated by tens of dunums (1 dumun = 100 square meters), located to the west of the village, close to the illegal Jewish settlement of Bitar Ellit. He added that this plan of building 70 housing units along with public buildings, as announced by the Israeli authorities, “aims to link the nearby illegal settlements Bitar Ellit and Jv’ot to each other, which will tighten the closure on the village and deprive a number of the village’s families of their sources of living.” Njajreh called on all institutions and humanitarian organizations in the world to intervene immediately to stop this “arbitrary decision, for it will cast a negative result on the village, and will make living in it more like living in a large prison surrounded by settlements.”